She then guided me through the house, and it looked very homey on the inside – everything wooden, with this rustic touch, dried flowers in clay vases, all paintings of woods on the walls, a leather couch and two armchairs, a small hardwood coffee table, a bookshelf stuffed with books, obviously, cure curtains on windows and a sleeping place for a dog in the corner.
“You have a dog here?” I asked curiously.
“yes, his name is Jax, he’s pretty old but extremely lovable! He’s out on a walk with my husband now. Are you allergic?” the sound of her chatter was soothing. She was a very nice woman, I thought.
“No, I actually love animals,” I reassured.
“Good! This town sometimes reminds me of a zoo!” she laughed.
“How come?” Lasked.
“Oh, well..” she paused for a tiny bit. “The woods here are fool of foxes, deer’s, even wolfs. Mother nature did bless us with inhabitants.”
“That’s very nice. It means that the ecology here is good.” I tried to maintain the conversation, but I guess my brain was slowly shutting down because clearly, I sounded like a very bad mock of a Discovery Channel show. This obviously amused the woman because she started laughing so hard and contagious that I joined her.
“Sorry, I’m just a bit off my game!” I apologised.
y name is
“No worries, dear, no worries! And you are most certainly right. The air, the water and everything in this region is good! And by the way, my Shirley!” She finally decided to introduce herself.
“It’s a beautiful name, Shirley, and it’s very nice meeting you.” It was nice indeed. It seems that everyone I meet in this town is lovely so far. “Thank you, dear! Now let’s get you settled p, so that you could get some good night sleep and get rid of those horrible bags under your eyes!“. Shirley guided me to my room, and thankfully, she wasn’t walking fast because, with each minute, my pace seemed to slow down. I guess all the stress was finally getting to me. We soon stopped near a big wooden door, that apparently led to my room for tonight. The room was decorated in the same manner as the living room – wooden floors and walls, a vintage chandeller that shed some warm yellow light, a massive bed in the middle of the room, a small carpet in front of it, a cupboard with a mirror right across from the bed and a small bench under the window.
“So, this is your room, 1
1 hope you like it!” Shirley continued her chatter.
“The bathroom is on the right through this door, and the shower is also there. All the doors have locks if you feel like you need privacy, but I assure you that no one is going to barge in at night.” she laughed.
“Thank you once more, this is wonderful,” I said with a grateful smile. “At what time do I need to check out?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about that! We don’t have any strong policy on this one, and you are our only visitor this week, so no worries. You just get your needed rest, wake up when you wake up, and we’ll deal with everything later!“, she said in her sunny bright voice.
“Thank you again. Good night!” I gave her a small wave.
“Sleep tight, dear!” she suddenly hugged me. Her embrace was warm and reassuring. It’s been Jong since someone hugged me like that.
The moment I opened my mouth about what happened to me at home, my parents distanced themselves from me.
And the moment they found out I was pregnant, well, yeah. I guess I don’t have parents anymore. So this bug was very needed, even if it came from a total stranger.
“Thank you,” I whispered in her hair, allowing myself to relax and embrace her warmth for a minute.
“See you tomorrow.” she threw me one more warm look and closed the door behind her.
There I stood in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar town in the middle of nowhere, all alone and confused. Then it suddenly hit me – I have no idea what to do next with my life.
Chapters
