✩𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗✩
✩𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚛/𝟹𝟸/𝚋𝚒✩
✩𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛 ✩
✩𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚍: 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚎✩
✩𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚍: 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚎✩
Charlie rose found herself awakened on top of a frame-less mattress, a too small cover draped across her sprawled out form. With her face long buried in an unfamilar set of pillows, and her feet threatening to dangle off the bed, her eyes opened onto white fabric.
She lefted her head up quickly, an angerly confused expression on her face. It felt warmer than her truck, and it was certainly more comfortable.
Oh yeah, she lived here now.
Her arms relaxed and she let her face fall back onto the pillow, not quite falling back asleep. It was that liminal space after you've woken up, where you don't worry about anything and you forget your purpose besides resting. It was fading away, mostly due to the fact that her nose was stopped up and barely letting her breathe.
She started gathering herself to sit up, this time slower and rubbing her nose. The winter really did take it's toll on her sinuses, even before the outbreak. She shed the cover, revealing her oversized orange shirt and half-asleep expression. Her eyes focused on the empty room in front of her. Nothing but this mattress and an old foldy table she'd used to put her glasses on. It was framed by baby blue wallpaper that reminded her of the color of her truck.
Her truck!
She hadn't even moved it inside of the gates, she must have been too tired to remember to. Surely somebody drove it inside, although she didn't know if that would be more or less disturbing than it being around the mourners. She would have hurried out and checked, but she tried to calm herself down. The people here weren't dumb, a little free with who they trusted, but not dumb.
She looked to the closed door of the a-joined bathroom, wondering idley if this town had running water still. She knew most of them did, but she wouldn't be surprised if the government had cut theirs off to. Shower sure would be nice.
Thankfully, the bathroom had enough toilet paper to sufficiently unstuff her nose, and enough water to tame her tangled jet-black hair.
She looked at the crusty mirror as she dried her hair off using an old stained washcloth she kept in her backpack. Her eyes would almost match her hair if it wasn't for the glimmer of brown edging the bottom of her irises. At least her hair stuck out a bit less now, even if it was slightly damp.
She leaned on the sink with her elbows and pointed at her reflection.
"You, my dear, are a mess."
Her voice was deep and scratchy from sleep. She propped her head on her hand.
"But you're still gorgeous in the apocalypse."
She smiled and felt herself giggle at how easy the words flew from her mouth to no-one, and how the statement contradicted her tired and worn face. As she reached for her backpack she added.
"Besides the pimples. We could work on the pimples."
She grabbed a granola bar from the bag and decided to snoop around her new house whilst she ate it. Her bare feet padded against the hardwood as she scanned the place thoughtfully. It looked like the house was made in the 60's from the looks of it. Crown molding was strung across most of the walls, tasteful wallpaper covering the walls in a flat wash of colors. The hard wood was dark and sturdy, probably from some tree that had lived longer than she had.
She counted the rooms, trying to remember them. One master bedroom with a bathroom, a chunky staircase leading to a closed in living room and kitchen. Everything was extremely walled in, which added to how cozy and warm it made her feel. The heat actually did work better than her truck's, so maybe it was just the temperature.
One room upstairs stood out in her search. As she entered the door way, chomping on her oat bar, she saw a crib. And as she closed the distance even more, a puzzled look bloomed as she chewed and scanned. There were stickers of barn animals strewn about, a diaper changing table and a small empty bookcase. As she neared the empty crib, she looked down at it and sighed.
Who had lived here before? Was the baby alive? She choose to believe it had escaped with it's parents when everyone was freaking out. Surely. She took another bite as she decided she'd ask Roden if he knew the family who lived here.
Since she was already in here, she looked out at the large window that looked out over the town center. She saw some blonde kid riding a bike, a few pedestrians almost jumping out of the way. That made her smile a bit, least someone was having fun.
Looking out over the people, she remembered she should probably go ask Roden about her job and her ideas about it. Well, she would if she knew where he lived. Or worked, for that matter.
She squinted her eyes as she saw who she think she remembered showed her around last night. Wasn't his name Theo? He'd be the one to ask where Roden was, probably.
She hurried back to her room and changed into her usual outfit, A guns and roses t shirt stuffed into baggy high waisted jeans, and tumbled down the stairs with her backpack.
She elbowed the door opened and locked it back quickly, hoping to catch Theo before he escaped her sight.
"Hey! Theo, wait up!" She called out, still ajusting her backpack onto her shoulders.
She jogged closer and put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself at his side. She gulped in some air, man she was not built for speed.
"Good mornin'! How's it going?" She said, catching her breath and looking from the ground back to him. She seemed much more energized but emotionally sound than last night. Exhaustion does things to you, man.
