A/N: Hey guys. Bit of world building at the moment but hey, it's necessary. I have some free time this week so expect a few additional chapters. Thanks for the continued support.
Chapter 9: Beauty sleep.
Humphrey's POV:
I was silent as I drove through the suburbs of Jasper, my thoughts wandering a bit as I recalled the day I'd had. The radio was playing but I wasn't really listening, only tuning in when the GPS interrupted the music to give me directions. Charlie's house was a little out of town but it was thankfully only a 15 minute drive. As I drove I looked out at the usual smattering of houses, normal one or two story houses mostly with the occasional expensive looking estate filled with mansions. As I got further out the houses got slightly bigger in general but most notable was the size of the land they were on as I noticed a farm or two.
After another minute of driving I arrived, inspecting what was to be my home for the next few years as I rolled the car slowly up the driveway and stopped in front of the open garage. It was a decently sized two story house, similar to what one might've seen in an estate closer to town. The block of land wasn't huge, surrounded on three sides by paddocks that I presumed belonged to the neighbours since Charlie had made no mention of owning animals. 'Doubt she'd have time anyway being a full-time teacher and basketball coach.' I thought to myself as I gazed at a group of three horses that were looking my way from one of the paddocks.
I turned my attention away from the house and surrounds and looked into the garage, which I realised that Charlie must've left open for me as I saw her car in one port, leaving the other free aside from the boxes and stuff left all over the floor. 'She wasn't kidding about needing to clean up huh?' I thought to myself with a sigh. Leaving my car running I got out, quickly going into the garage and beginning to clean up, boxing all the loose miscellaneous junk and moving the boxes to the side so I could get my car in. 5 minutes later I'd made just enough room and returned to my car, driving it in and shutting it off.
I got out and pressed the button to close the garage door, figuring I'd clean up properly tomorrow since I had the day off. I walked through the inner door, noting that it took me directly into a conjoined kitchen, dining and living room that must've accounted for the majority of the ground floor. Charlie was sitting at the dining table, doing some kind of work but she looked up and smiled as I entered the room.
"Hey Humphrey, I thought I heard you. Find the place okay?" She asked, sitting back with a little sigh as I joined her at the table.
"Hey Ms. Imnriss. Yeah no problems getting here, I was just making room in the garage." I replied, stretching my arms as I noticed how tired I was. 'Another long day.' I thought to myself.
"Please, Humphrey, call me Charlie. At least when we're here." She said, pausing slightly before adding in a serious tone, "It's a different story at school though."
I chuckled and nodded, "Alright, duly noted. And... thanks Charlie." I replied, trying out saying it aloud. I thought it might've been awkward to call someone who was going to be my teacher by their first name but it felt right. 'All the others insisted I address them formally when we were learning as well. Guess it's just a universal thing?' I thought to myself as Charlie spoke once more.
"Well your room will be upstairs on the left." She said, gesturing vaguely to the flight of stairs to one side of the room. "I've gotten it set up enough for you, at least for tonight. Since you've got a day off tomorrow I'll leave you some money and you can go shopping to get yourself settled in properly alright?" She concluded to which I nodded. As I stood up, intending to go and check out my room as well as the rest of the house Charlie spoke up about one last thing that I hadn't even realised was bugging me.
"Dinner will be in 5. Just pizza tonight since I usually can't be bothered cooking after practice. I got vegetarian since I didn't know what you liked, that okay?" She said, looking a little more concerned about how I'd reply than I thought was necessary. 'Guess she hasn't had someone to look after in a while.' I figured as I smiled and nodded.
"That sounds fine Charlie." I replied aloud before turning and heading upstairs. Entering the room that she'd said was mine I was surprised at how nice it was. To the left was a large wardrobe with mirrored sliding doors and next to that was a closed door which upon inspection I saw led to an ensuite bathroom with a shower, basin and toilet. Exiting the bathroom I continued my inspection of the room, opening the shutters on the large window covering most of the wall opposite the entrance and overlooked the paddock that I'd seen the horses in earlier. The only other notable feature was the double bed and bookshelf to one side. 'I could get used to coming home to this every night.' I thought to myself as I smiled, thinking back to some of the places I'd been forced to sleep.
Flashback, Southern France, several years prior.
I hauled myself through the small window, falling onto the hay below with a soft 'flump'. I let out a huge sigh as I lay there, shivering so hard that my teeth were chattering almost loud enough to drown out the heavy rain that pelted against the roof of the barn I'd broken into. I felt a little bad but the storm had come out of nowhere and I'd had no other choice, not to mention my relief to finally be out of the wind and rain far outweighed my guilt. The barn had been locked but I'd managed to climb a gutter and enter through a second story window, not an easy task in strong winds and pelting rain but I finally got there and my arms and legs were in agony as a result. I lay there for another moment before thinking I should probably change out of my drenched clothes but it was too late, I was exhausted and sleep claimed me, pulling me almost instantly into a deep slumber until late the following morning, where I awoke to find a rather angry farmer staring down at me with his arms crossed.
End Flashback.
"Dinner!" I heard Charlie yell from downstairs, dragging me from my memories as I shook my head to clear it and left my room, heading back downstairs.
The following morning.
I woke the following morning to find the sun streaming in through the blinds that I had forgotten to close the night before, painting the inside of my eyelids a smattering of yellow and red. I groaned and covered my eyes with my arm as I rolled over, lying still for a moment before getting up. I dressed and headed downstairs to find that Charlie had already left for work, leaving me a house key on the dining table. I shuffled into the kitchen, getting myself a glass of juice which I almost spat out as I looked at the clock on the wall, reading a little after 10:30am. 'I'm going to need to set an alarm tomorrow if I don't want to be late on my first day...' I thought to myself.