A Sight To Behold

Chapter 2: Introduction to a new life

Of Course, his family assisted him in paying the rent since he had decided to do a double degree, the amount of work and dedication would likely receive some kind of sympathy and praise.

As Charlie arrived at the steps of his new dorm, he almost felt a small, relieved smile threatening to creep up his face but he held it down as he slowly opened the white, french door of the entrance and made his way up to more wooden stairs. The sound of his footsteps echoed within the corridor as he turned the corner to meet face to face with a decorated wooden door that had the number plate “1290” nailed into the surface.

This was it, welcome to my new dorm, Charlie internally chanted to himself as he dangled his assortment of keys around and flipped to the correct one, slowly inserting it into the keyhole.

The satisfying sound of the door clicking open rang in his ears, slowly he pushed the door open, revealing the interior of the dorm. It was basic and simple, but it was more than he could ask for. As he towed his luggage and bags into the entrance he was met with a quiet “ahem”.

Charlie’s head immediately shot up to meet face to face with a light brown, rugged haired male standing a bit taller than him, who adorned a cheeky smile but had a firm aura.Compared to him, Charlie had softer, doll-like complexion that didn't exactly scream “feminine” either, his duality was strong, one second he could be a small, cute and clueless dork and the next second his eyes could drill you down with daggers while his whole change in aura would even threaten the most alpha of people.The boy wiped the small beads of sweat forming off his forehead, while simultaneously running a fast hand through his soft dyed blonde hair.“Yo,” the stranger waved at him as he made his way to the confused boy, “you must be the new roommate.”Charlie blinked a few times before he nodded slowly in response and attempted to plaster a fake friendly smile on his face.“I’m Jayce, one of the roommates living here. Everyone is currently out right now, they'll be back later though “ Jayce said as he gave Charlie a boxy smile, he turned to the side and gestured to him. “Here I’ll show you around the dorm.”Charlie awkwardly set aside his baggage and slid off his shoes as he stepped onto the carpet. He followed and listened to the other male, first it was the shoe shelf, then the kitchen, the bathroom, the laundry room and balcony, and finally the bedrooms.Jayce pointed to one of the rooms on the right, “So this is Ryan’s room, he’s a 2nd-year student in dentistry, he's pretty chill but he has a bad habit of blasting music too loudly sometimes.”“This is Jack and I’s room, its a bit smaller than other rooms but it's not bad. Jack's a 3rd-year student in environmental science. Pretty good. And I'm in my 2nd year of Medicine.”“And this is Sebastian's room. I'm pretty sure you've heard of him, a total popular kid in university. He’s the 2nd year in psychology.” Jayce says as Charlie peeks into the room to spot two beds, one leveled from the ground and the other one of the floor.“I'm pretty surprised someone actually wanted to move into this room since it's pretty known that Sebastian is too intimidating for people, Remembered the last roommate didn't even last a few months before being transferred out of here.”“I don't really know who this...Sebastian is. I'm sorry” Charlie said quietly, fiddling with the hem of his woolen shirt. Jayce raised an eyebrow at him, “Really? What year are you doing currently?”“I’m a second-year student majoring in psychology too. But I took a break last year so I was away from the university for quite a bit due to sickness.”“Ah, that explains a lot,” Jayce responds as he steps out of the room. “Anyways, I think you'll fit right in here. You'll just have to get used to it, especially Sebastian, he can really be handful sometimes, he is always messing around with girls and going out all night”Charlie didn't know how to respond so he just nodded back slowly again as he retrieved his luggage from the entrance of the dorm and set it down next to one of the unoccupied beds. Within a minute he had already collapsed on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, his unexpected tiredness gets the best of him, prompting him to doze off for the next few hours.

Charlies POV:

Come here little Charlie, Uncle has a present for you.

Where are you, Charlie?

Charlie come out baby, let's play animals again.

I woke up immediately, jolted right awake by some mental force. My eyes met the white ceiling of the bedroom, the feeling of comfort washed over me as I sat up and rubbed my eyes.The feeling of cold sweat matted my hairline and forehead, I hoped to myself that I wouldn’t relapse again. Last year's relapse was the worst, many things happened and I almost took my own life.I should be happy I didn't however, I always had a nudging doubt at the back of my mind about it. I sighed looked at the luggage I brought, still unpacked and lying dormant next to the bed. I took a look at my watch, it was about 7 pm or so. I had taken a so-called nap for about 2 hours, goodness gracious.Dusk was starting to set in the sky, I still had no idea what I was going to have for dinner. I was starving.As I peeked out the door of my room, the whole living room and kitchen area were all dark and deserted, not a person to be seen.My eyes scanned the environment and I found a piece of paper oddly lying on the table. I walked towards it, grabbed it and went to get the light, squinting at the sudden illumination when it was turned on.

“Hey Charlie, we wanted to give you a housewarming dinner outing but you were asleep, you must've been exhausted, we didn't want to wake you so we went out for dinner. We will probably be out for a while, you might catch Sebastian coming back home at 10-11pm or something, at least you'll get to see him for a bit. - Jayce”

I felt like I wasn't too keen to see this “Sebastian” he seemed like a typical playboy or messed around with all the girls while maintaining low grades and a severe case of arrogance.

I grabbed my coat and keys, shoving my feet into my runners sitting at the entrance of the door, untouched. I felt guilty for not unpacking immediately but right now I was famished and needed some nourishment, my footsteps echoed in the corridor as usual as I headed out of the dorm with dinner options swimming around in my mind.---“I am so stuffed…” I groaned to myself as I stepped out into the cool air of the evening, looking at the lights twinkling at me from in front and from a distance. It was slightly dark now, subtle illuminations from stars dotted the skies, stretching across endlessly like sugar on a black canvas.Looking at the shops and commercialized areas in the city was relaxing to me, people, strangers bustled around minding their own business, for some reason it gave me solace from my own lonely world. The best thing was the river that divided the city in two, you could see the reflections of light bouncing off the water that spanned a few hundred meters out to the other side.I could spend hours leaning against the railing of the pavement lining the river, looking out the bright city lights, silence while soft winds blew at my face.Funnily enough, I spent quite some time there, enjoying myself personally. By the time i decided to leave it was already 10 pm or so.I walked myself back to the dorm hurriedly in preparation for the first day of the university which was tomorrow. I unpacked all of my belongings quicker than I had expected and plopped down on the couch, taking out my phone in the process and began to surf the web for funny cat videos.About half an hour later I was already bored, I got up and stretched. I really shouldn't stay up too late or I'll be waking up like an ogre. I decided to take a shower and wash my hair, the sweat from before was really grotty and it kind of disgusted me too.

The shampoo I bought had a nice aroma, like vanilla and honey. I might have a bit of a horrible fashion sense but I had the best nose for scents (get the pun).I was careful not to wash too rigorously or my hair dye might come off a bit.I don't know how I even managed to allow myself to dye my hair, but I wanted to try something new. Even my past therapist agreed that it wouldn't be too bad of an idea.Once I semi-dried my hair lousily with a hair blower I heard the front door click open. I immediately set down the hair dryer and peeked past the door to see a dark haired, athletic looking male adorning a black jacket stagger into the living room.

He lazily kicked off his shoes and seemed like he couldn't walk in a straight line. I slowly walked out of the bathroom and raised an eyebrow, who was he? Was he a resident of this dorm?The male immediately spotted me, staggering forwards in a drunken state, his hair nearly covered the top of his eyes but it was still considered short even though it covered his eyebrows too. It was volumed well to, like he was taking care of it well.He had a piercing gaze that was intimidating, and he wasn't too bad looking either.That was the least of my problems.

The stranger swayed towards me and literally collapsed onto me full on, his head on my shoulder. I could hear him groan in from his drunkenness, being the i***t I was, I was frozen and didn't know what action to do. He was taller than me by a head and I felt like I was a hare being trapped by a fox.

Suddenly I heard slight sniffles and realized he was smelling me, his head buried in the crook of my neck as he inhaled the scents. My heart hammered in my rib-cage as I stood there, letting this man do whatever he needed to me.Past memories zoomed past my head and I nearly felt like fainting.

He lifted his head close to my ear and breathed, sending tingles down my spine.“You smell good.” I could smell the liquor on his breath, his voice rang in my ears and I could feel his hands slowly snaking up my waist, my hands were extremely clammy but I was still frozen and trembling. After an intense moment of silence, he suddenly pushed me to the side and stumbled past me to the bathroom, falling towards the toilet bowl and began to hurl whatever stomach contents he had.

Yet I was still standing there, motionless as I could still hear the blood rushing in my head. A few seconds later I heard the toilet being flushed. The guy's footsteps sounded behind me, however, he walked passed me without taking notice, as if nothing ever happened and drunkenly staggered straight to our room while slamming the door shut behind him.It took me another few seconds to register what I was doing, I snapped out of my daze and rubbed my arms.I stared at the bedroom door before walking slowly back to the couch and sat on it. I don't know if I’d want to go back to the room again.I hesitantly decided sleeping out on the couch for tonight seemed like a more suitable option for me than going back into the bedroom as I was super aware.

Unluckily for me I was struggling to sleep, I was still shaken couldn't stop thinking back to what had happened, an hour or so later, when I was still wide awake, I heard several people enter the front door and chatter quietly.

The sound of feet shuffling past me was heard.

“Is that the new roomie?” an unrecognizable voice whispered.

“ Yeah, it is,” another replied, I distinctly remembered that it was Jayce’s voice.

“What is he doing sleeping out on the couch?”

“I don't know man, he's probably super tired and just crashed here unintentionally, just leave him alone I'll take care of it. You can all hit the sack.” Jayce responded quietly, footsteps shuffled away slowly, following what he said.

I heard someone open a cupboard, the shifting of fabric was heard and I felt a blanket being put over me. I was almost tempted to open my eyes but I glued them shut as much as possible.I was surprised.

“Good night Charlie,” Jayce whispered to me before I heard him walking away, quietly closing his bedroom door behind him, leaving me in mixed feelings about the events that occurred tonight.