11 Sophie's house

Alexander stirred to life with a mind-splitting headache, terrible bruises on his face and limbs, and an unexplainable blackish swelling jaw.

As he tried to yawn, he felt his jaw locked and an unimaginable pain radiated from it going down to the back of his head.

He cupped his face, put his jaw back to its place gently and took a deep unhurried breath.

What the hell happened to him?

He rose up and surveyed the place where he was. It was an oddly unfamiliar room. It was tidy and small. The room was almost bare, with only three pieces of furniture filling the right places: an old rustic bed in the center, an old wooden dresser standing next to the small window, and a little bedside table. The wallpapers were all faded and the glass window had an enormous crack on the left side.

The bright sunshine was peeking from the window's crack as he heard the sound of chirping birds outside.

As he climbed down the bed, he noticed his change of clothes. It was a pair of oversized white shirt and black sweatpants. The shirt was loose enough for his body size but the pants were too short for his height it nearly reached until his knees.

He smirked.

They were definitely a woman's clothing. It was clean, though. He brought the soft collar of his shirt close to his nose and smelled the faint lemon scent of the laundry soap she used.

He looked around and walked towards the closed door. There he saw an old rustic wall clock. It was already eleven in the morning.

He turned the knob and was greeted by a strangely familiar scent. He closed his eyes trying to remember where he particularly smelled it when he hears his stomach grumbled.

"I haven't eaten for a day." He realized as he touched his stomach. When it made another noise, he decided to walk towards the kitchen and hoped he can find something there to eat.

There he saw a note over the kitchen table.

"Eat this before you take the medicine."

He flipped the note away and then grabbed the little paper bag beside it.

As he took off the mesh food cover, he instantly salivated at the sight of the breakfast meal set on the table. His stomach grumbled even louder.

There was a good serving of a warm oat porridge in a soup pan. Beside it were two fried eggs, two Scottish shortbreads, a slice of black pudding and a cup of baked beans placed on a medium size ceramic plate.

A cream thistle teapot with some warm black coffee sat on the other corner of the table.

Alexander looked around. No one was there aside from him and the food was meant for him anyway.

He didn't wait any longer and started gobbling up.

He was extremely starving.

As far as he can remember, the last meal he had was the breakfast he had before he left the hospital yesterday. He didn't eat too much since he learned he was quite a picky eater and the hospital food was completely tasteless. They all tasted like paper pulp.

Thinking about it know, if he knew it would take him another day to have a decent meal again, he would have eaten up all the food trays the nurses served for him as his farewell meal before he left.

He sipped his coffee and was impressed with its taste.

An impressive black coffee it was!

Just like how he wanted it taste like. He had two cups since he liked it very much.

When he was all finished and full, he headed to the living room and studied the entire house.

It was a small two-bedroom flat. The house was clean and the furniture were old. He was sure the person living there was alone since the other room was full of boxes, and old useless stuff.

He sat on the two-seater sofa and wandered his gaze around the almost empty house. There was no television nor radio in the living room. All he got there was the sofa, the center table, and a synthetic flower vase. The cemented kitchen sink was attached to the wall on the left just next to the back door. There was the two-seater dining table in the center, a two-door fridge and a wooden storage cabinet just across the other side of the kitchen. The bathroom was on the other side, in the middle of the two bedrooms.

Overall, the place was neat, small, and very simple.

Judging by its appearance, the house is owned by a woman.

Then a vivid image from last night's heavy rainstorm suddenly flashed on his mind.

"Where have you been? I've been waiting for you for a century."

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

The woman's pitchy voice rung in his ears as he instantly held his chin and remembered finally where he got his swollen jaw.

"That woman!"

A quick flashback suddenly played before him as he checked his injuries all over his body. His arms, his hand, his legs and knees.

What the?!

He recalled that he passed out after she punched him on the jaw but he woke up again when he felt a searing pain on his forearms and legs. He thought he hit something hard and rough. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw his body being dragged by someone like he was an enormous sack of wheat. He couldn't see clearly as he felt terribly bad and even remembered seeing some red lines on his vision.

He felt his temple and winced as he touched his fresh wound under the large bandage across his forehead.

He remembered it all clearly!

"That witch!!!" He gritted his teeth and headed to the door. "I'll make her pay for this."

He will make her regret everything she did to him.

"Oh! Hi there! You're finally awake!"

His brows furrowed in the center of his forehead as he opened the main door.

A young woman, probably in her teens, was smiling at him from ear to ear. She was holding a ceramic container across her chest.

"Who are you?"

The young woman clutched the container in between her arm and chest before she offered him her hand.

Then she looked at him with dazzling eyes, bat her lashes, wet her lips and introduced herself.

"I'm Grainn. Nice to finally meet you, Alexander."