Sunlight seeped through the closed curtains of Ellie's bedroom, landing on her face and slowly waking her up. She reached for her phone that was charging on the nightstand, it read quarter to nine. Sighing, she managed to drag herself from the warmth of her bed.

She pulled up the blinds that covered the window above her bed, looking out at the bustling streets below her apartment. The apartment was nestled in one of the quieter streets of New York City.  It was a standard two-bedroom complex with other basic necessities.

She lived with her twin sister, Brooklyn Miller. The two girls had been attached at the hip since birth, so when they moved out of their parent's place, buying an apartment together was the natural selection.

As close as the two were, they were almost polar opposites. Ellie had spent most of her life as what many would call a wallflower, always having her head in her sketchbook and never one to be involved in anything, unless, of course, it was an art show.

Then there was Brooke, who'd been involved in extracurricular activities since elementary school, never with one for very long, until she took up archery in freshman year. God, when she was in her element, there was no stopping her, she was so good in fact she'd earned herself a few nicknames, her favourites being Legolas and Katniss Everdeen.

Ellie rummaged through her closet, throwing many pastel knit sweaters onto the ground as she tried to find something suitable for work. She worked as a curator at an art gallery in one of the more upper-class areas of New York. The owner of the gallery, Carol, was an older but spunky woman, Ellie figured she was definitely a hippie during her earlier years.

When she'd first applied for the job, Carol had taken a real liking to her artwork, telling her she had the potential to grow immensely in the art industry. Hearing such positive praise from an adult that wasn't her mother or father was a real proud moment for her. But she didn't try to brag about it, ever the humble girl she was.

Eventually, Ellie settled on a sage green mini-skirt with a plain white knitted sweater. Topped off with white sneakers. She glanced at herself in the mirror that was positioned above her dresser, ignoring the tubes of paint, brushes and blank canvas she had yet to use, they were only a sliver of the full extent of her art supplies, which had to be kept in the storage closet because of how tight on space the two girls were.

Turning the handle on her bedroom door, she walked out into the living area that also lead into the kitchen. Not seeing her sister, she rightfully assumed she was still fast asleep. Ellie often envied her sister, for how late she got to sleep in, whereas Ellie was almost always out of the apartment by nine o'clock, Brooke only had to be at the police station before noon most days. 

Ellie grabbed her white shoulder bag from off the coat hanger that rested on the wall by the front door. Opening the door, she pulled her house keys from the bag, rarely taking them out of there, and locked the door behind her. Brooke wouldn't be up for at least another hour anyways.

Stepping out into the world that was New York City, she walked down the streets she knew by heart, having grown up not far from where the apartment lay. Stopping in front of Starbucks, she entered for her daily dose of caffeine, a Grande Iced Latte.

As Ellie waited for the employees to start on her order, she decided to check her Instagram, mostly to see if anything interesting was going on elsewhere in the world. One of the baristas then called her name, pulling her attention away from her phone and indicating that her drink was ready.

Taking a sip out of the cup, humming slightly from the taste she'd grown to adore, she continued down the sidewalk. Whistles and catcalls came her way from ignorant men who clearly were desperate for a quick fuck, not that they would ever admit that.

Paying no mind to them, Ellie held her head high as she walked past them, not even sparing them a side glare. As sad as it was, it was something she had grown up around and she learned to tune it out.

Walking down a few more blocks she reached the gallery. Large glass doors gave passersby a way to view the inside of the elegant gallery. She unlocked the doors and flipped on the light switch, beginning to prepare to open for the day.

Placing her, half-empty, Latte on the front counter, she pulled out her sketchbook and began to doodle anything she could think of onto the page. She knew Carol didn't mind if she did so, considering how slow business could be in the mornings. As her pencil danced across the paper, her sketch began to take shape, the shape of a butterfly specifically.

Butterflies had always been something that Ellie had drawn, she'd always found the entire process of the insect transforming from a regular caterpillar to a magnificent butterfly, a true display of artwork that nature could perform. In fact, for her's and Brooke's eighteenth birthday the two girls had gone out and got their first tattoos together, Brooke had gotten a simple B placed behind her ear whilst Ellie had gotten two butterflies tattooed just above her wrist.

At the sound of the glass doors opening, she lifted her head from the sketchbook to see a woman, dressed in a powder blue blazer and matching pants, checking out some of the artwork that was currently displayed.

"Hi, can I help you?" Ellie asked the woman as she walked over to her.

The woman turned to her, a warm and pleasant smile on her face. "Yes, I walk past this gallery every day on my way to work, I really like the artwork that I see and I was hoping to be able to purchase a piece for my home office"

Ellie nodded. "Absolutely, did you have any size preferences, any colours or styles that you would be interested in?"

"I was thinking something sort of nature-esque. A lot of green with some floral designs too, if you have something like that" She listed off what she wanted.

Taking in her words Ellie then remembered one of the new pieces they had gotten from one of the artists the gallery regularly showed off. "I think we have just the piece you might be looking for"

She took her to where the picture was hanging up, Harper and Carol having hung it up just yesterday.

"This is it right here, we just got it in yesterday. It's from one of our regular artists and I think it checks all the boxes off your list of what you're looking for, but what do you think?" She then turned to see the woman's reaction to the painting.

It was a gorgeous piece, with different floral designs professionally etched into the artwork with each flower ranging in warm tones beautifully complementing the dark green that the background forestry was painted as.

The woman's face lit up upon seeing the artwork. "It's lovely, sweetheart, I'll take it" She beamed. Ellie nodded, always thrilled whenever she pleased a customer. The two of them walked back up to the front counter, the woman pulled out a sleek black card to purchase the artwork with.

They discussed the delivery and shipping details. The total amount spent was nearly almost as much as her monthly rent. As big of an art geek as she was Ellie could never fathom spending as much as some socialites did on pieces of art, especially when they would usually hang in a guest bedroom, rarely seeing the piece again.

After all the payments went through the system the woman left, praising Ellie for her work ethic and the gallery for how beautifully organised it was. The woman's praise was a change of pace from the typical nitpicking Ellie had grown used to hearing from upper-crust.

A few more hours passed and not much else happened around the gallery, one or two more potential customers came in but nothing really came from their visits, so Ellie was just left to her own devices which she was fine with. Always an introvert at heart.

The door again opened only this time instead of a customer it was Harper, one of the other girls who worked alongside Ellie. Glancing at the clock behind her, Ellie saw that her shift was just about done, having been so lost in doodling that she'd lost track of time.

"Hi, El" Harper greeted as she walked up to the front desk.

"Hey Harp"

The two began to gossip about their lives, and although they were just work friends that didn't mean they didn't enjoy talking to one another. Until the topic of the upcoming showcase was brought up.

"You nervous at all?" Ellie asked her curiously.

Harper nodded. "Yeah, I'd be surprised if any of us weren't" She threw her bag down behind the counter where Ellie's was.

She had a point too. For this showcase, Carol had asked many of her friends to spread the word about it, hoping that would help bring in some extra cash for the gallery. There was also some pressure on the employees as well, as Carol had been gracious enough to allow Ellie, Harper and Ivy, the other employee they worked alongside, to hang one of each of their own works during the showcase.

With the affluent crowd that the showcases seemed to draw, it meant that by selling their artwork to some upper-class member of society, they would not only earn a fair bit of cash but also begin to possibly break through into the world of the art industry.

"I guess you're right" Ellie noted. The two girls chatted for a bit longer before Ellie decided to clock out. Bidding Harper goodbye, she exited the gallery and began her walk back to her apartment.

Sauntering down the ever-busy streets of New York, Ellie soaked in the beauty of the afternoon. Mentally painting a picture of the city in her mind, one she could only hope she'd get to recreate through her artwork.

Reaching her home just twenty minutes later, she kicked off her sneakers and threw her bag onto the couch. Glancing at the time on her phone she saw she had a few hours before Brooke was supposed to get back so she ran into her bedroom to grab some of her brushes and one of the canvases off her dresser.

Unlike the other canvases on her dresser, this one was already covered in paint, since Ellie had been working on this piece for a few days. She also grabbed some of her paints for the storage closet as well as a towel to place underneath the canvas so as to not get paint on her's and Brooke's new coffee table.

Staring at the artwork for a few minutes, she tried to figure out what colours to use in the painting. Eventually, she reached for one of her paler green tubes and squeezed out as much of the varnish as she could onto a tiny paper pallet she'd made using a scrap piece of paper.

Her brush strokes were calm yet purposeful. The green filled in the canvas that was now beginning to take shape. Ellie kept at it for at least another few hours, with each minute that passed she was able to lay out her vision on the canvas.

Packing away her paints and other equipment at half past six, she took her canvas into her room and laid it on her dresser so it had time to dry without Brooke accidentally touching the wet paint, again.

Walking back out to the kitchen, she decided to start on dinner for her and Brooke. Ellie was thankful that both she and Brooke weren't picky eaters, it made cooking dinners for the two of them easy, since they both would pretty much eat anything.

She quickly settled on making a simple Chicken Pasta and got to work. Letting the pasta boil, she began to prep the chicken. After ten minutes, all she had left to do was to add some final toppings including parmesan, crumbled bacon and parsley.

As she began to dish out her portion, the sound of the front door opening alerted her that Brooke was finally back.

"Hey Brookie" She called out cheerfully.

After some brief shuffling, Brooke then appeared from behind the tiny wall that hid the front door from the kitchen. "Hey El" She greeted in her tired but silvery voice.

Picking up on the exhausted tone in her sister's voice she passed a sympathetic smile towards her. "Busy day?" She queried.

Brooke nodded. "Yeah, the station's a mess with almost everyone trying to double-check everything is in place for tomorrow night's transfer" She explained.

Ellie, and in fact all of New York, had heard about the Shredder being transferred to a new long-term facility. He had been in police custody since his attempts to release the toxic gas from atop the Sacks tower.

Of course, when Brooke had first applied to be an officer, it had made Ellie a tad nervous considering her sister would be working in relatively close proximity to one of New York's most notorious criminals.

"Oh and the captain's telling us who's gonna be a part of the entourage that helps relocate Shredder" Brooke then announced as a smile spread across her features. It was a smile that Ellie had seen several times throughout the years and one that worried her, especially following her previous sentence.

"Oh god, you didn't volunteer did you?" Ellie asked nervously, praying the answer would be a resounding no.

But since it was Brooke instead she received an unapologetic. "Yep"

A sigh fell from Ellie's lips. "Oh, why?" She shook her head at her, as she began to dish out a second plate of Chicken Pasta, this time for Brooke.

Brooke chuckled slightly. "Because I'm an idiot" She playfully mocked what Ellie normally called her whenever she did something extreme, at least according to Ellie.

"That you are" Ellie then quipped as she handed Brooke her plate.

The two sisters ended up on the couch eating and talking while some generic tv show played in the background. Because of the limited space in their apartment, the two girls often either ate together at the kitchen island or on the couch.

It was how they often closed out their day. Some may have said that it was a tired, somewhat cliche routine but for the two sisters, it felt comfortable. It felt perfect.