The room was cheap, and exactly what she needed. Clarotta had never been one for sharing personal space: the first year of university had been enough. Now she wanted a place to breathe, and though that meant taking a damp attic room in an old house at the edge of town, she was happy. As soon as she got the deposit back from her old flat she'd buy a bicycle, until then she'd just have to calculate extra time to get to uni.
It was big enough to keep the essentials. A desk beneath the window with a small wooden chair in front. A single bed pressed between the wall and the desk, and a wardrobe by the door. She had to duck her head just as she entered to avoid the slanting of the wall, but it wasn't a bother. It was somewhere she could retreat to be by herself if needed, and that was good enough.
The house itself had its fair share of problems, most of which the owner had promised to be rid of before the year was over. Until then he had lowered the price of the rooms considerably, and promised to focus primarily on the bathrooms. He hadn't given her the exact details about what was wrong with the water over the phone, although one of her new housemates had advised her not to ask.
"Just get a gym membership," he had said. "It's not worth the trouble."
And so, on the day of her orientation classes she stopped by the gym to get a small workout in and take a shower before arriving at campus. Luckily most of her classes were towards the afternoon, which she guessed meant that the professors were about as fond of mornings as Clarotta was. She arrived at campus, throwing a glance at a younger crowd gathered in front of the entrance, smoking cigarettes. She felt old, all of a sudden, as though she didn't have a right to be there. The feeling lingered until she was safely inside, trying to get an overview of the place over the heads of students going to and fro. In the end she was able to slip down a corridor where things weren't quite as overwhelming, and took a deep breath.
It was going to be okay. This time.
It was big enough to keep the essentials. A desk beneath the window with a small wooden chair in front. A single bed pressed between the wall and the desk, and a wardrobe by the door. She had to duck her head just as she entered to avoid the slanting of the wall, but it wasn't a bother. It was somewhere she could retreat to be by herself if needed, and that was good enough.
The house itself had its fair share of problems, most of which the owner had promised to be rid of before the year was over. Until then he had lowered the price of the rooms considerably, and promised to focus primarily on the bathrooms. He hadn't given her the exact details about what was wrong with the water over the phone, although one of her new housemates had advised her not to ask.
"Just get a gym membership," he had said. "It's not worth the trouble."
And so, on the day of her orientation classes she stopped by the gym to get a small workout in and take a shower before arriving at campus. Luckily most of her classes were towards the afternoon, which she guessed meant that the professors were about as fond of mornings as Clarotta was. She arrived at campus, throwing a glance at a younger crowd gathered in front of the entrance, smoking cigarettes. She felt old, all of a sudden, as though she didn't have a right to be there. The feeling lingered until she was safely inside, trying to get an overview of the place over the heads of students going to and fro. In the end she was able to slip down a corridor where things weren't quite as overwhelming, and took a deep breath.
It was going to be okay. This time.