The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER SIX

Vernon figured it was where they often ate as he could see plates, cutleries, and napkins on a table. "Madame Jessica!" A voice called.

"Florence!" She called back.

Vernon looked up to see who the voice belonged to and wondered why the woman wasn't called Madame. Florence was behind the counter and she wasn't dressed in the black and white attire, rather she had on an apron and her hair was uncovered but it was tightly tied up, not even one strand escaped.

However, that wasn't the most shocking thing for Vernon about her. Florence was large as life, Vernon wasn't sure he had ever seen anyone as big as her. It was hard to hide his expression, the look of surprise as he looked at Florence. He glanced around the room as he tried not to stare, his mother did tell him staring was rude.

"Is that the new one?" Florence asked, pointing a large spoon in his direction.

"Yes, his name is Vernon. Is there something he can eat? He hasn't eaten all day."

"What?" Her eyes widened and Vernon felt scared, he didn't think that was humanly possible for eyes to go so wide.

"Yes, Florence." Madame Jessica said with mock sympathy on her face. Vernon glanced at both of them individually, wondering what was going on.

"Quick Vernon, have a seat." Lunch just finished about an hour ago but I'm sure I can find something for you to eat."

He nodded, he was sure how close or how far he should sit so he just picked the nearest seat. He sat still waiting and Madame Jessica sat with him. She was still holding his blanket and he didn't have the mind to ask her for it.

So, he just sat with his arms crossed as he waited to eat. As if his stomach could anticipate what was coming because it chose that moment to growl loudly. Madame Jessica chuckled but Florence was too far away to hear.

"Don't worry, you'll get to eat soon, okay?" She smiled softly at him but even though Vernon thought she had a nice smile, it felt off maybe it was because it didn't reach her eyes.

"One plate of food, coming right up!" Florence announced, holding a tray high, above her shoulders as she made her way out of the counter. If Vernon thought she looked big then, she looked even bigger now. She carefully placed the tray in front of him. "Ta-da!"

It was some bacon, fried eggs, and some fruits. Vernon thought it looked delicious and it smelt so too. He glanced around, not sure if he could dig in. "Yes, go on, you can eat." It was Madame Jessica who spoke.

Vernon nodded happily and clapped his hands together, he muttered a short prayer and dug into the food. He took the first bite and he wanted to cry out in joy. It felt like the best thing he had eaten in a very long time.

It was funny how he did not feel hungry all this while but now he felt like he could die if he didn't eat enough. Suddenly, he coughed. A tiny piece of food had gotten into the wrong hole. Beating his chest, he tried to cough it out.

"Careful," they both cried and Florence fled to the counter.

He was able to stabilize his coughing but at this point, his throat was hurting and there were tears at the sides of his eyes. Florence soon returned with a glass of water which he accepted happily.

A gulp was all he needed to soothe his throat but he took more just for the sake of drinking water. He was pretty thirsty. "Don't gulp it so hard, you don't want to start choking again, do you?" Florence scolded and he dropped the cup on the table. It was still half full.

He was able to eat the rest of the meal without any incident and when he was done he just wanted to get some sleep. His body felt instantly tired and he was more than ready to go into shut down mode.

"Thank you very much, it was a lovely meal. I enjoyed it." He said with a huge smile to Florence.

He watched her glow up at his words and the next thing he knew she was crushing him with a hug. For a couple of seconds, he couldn't breathe. "Florence!" Madame Jessica yelled, pulling Vernon away from her grasp.

"Sorry," she blushed. "He is just such a nice boy."

"Thank you Florence, Vernon let's go." She said but didn't wait for him to get off the bench even though he had just finished eating and the meal had not completely settled in his body.

"Bye Vernon! See you later." Florence called out waving at him.

"Bye Florence," he replied, waving vigorously.

He managed to catch up to Madame Jessica just as she got to the entrance of the cafeteria even though the sudden movement made him feel like he wanted to throw up.

She held his hand once again as they got out of the cafeteria. She literally pulled him along cause his little feet could barely keep up with her movements. She didn't stop until they came to another door.

She pushed it open and Vernon was greeted with a room full of beds, they were all to the wall leaving a large space in between. Each of the beds looked like it had just been laid but a few had wrinkles on them.

Nobody else was in the room except them and them and he couldn't help but wonder where the occupants of the room were. He wondered if they were the children in the hall but he doubted this room was big enough to fit all the children he had seen outside here.

Madame Jessica walked with purpose to one of the beds at the corner of the room. It was the only bed without any item on the table beside it. All had at least a toy or a book but most of them had lamps.

"This is your spot from now henceforth." She placed his blanket on the little bed as if to mark the spot for him. "Come let's get rid of your clothes."

Vernon looked down and saw that he was still dressed in his pajamas but he had not been worried about that even a little, bigger things had been on his mind. He walked behind her, still glancing back at the room.

She got to a closed door and opened it. It had different stalls and it took Vernon a while to recognize what it was. "Can you shower by yourself?" Madame Jessica's voice broke through his thoughts.

He couldn't, he has never bathed or dressed himself before. His mother always took care of everything and if she couldn't, his father always took over. "Yes!" He said matter of factly without any hesitation whatsoever.

"Really? " Madame Jessica asked, staring at him and raising an eyebrow.

He nodded and rushed into one of the stalls. "Make sure to take off your clothes,'' she called after him."

"Yes!" He could hear her chuckle even after he closed the door. He looked around feeling a little lost as he began to take off his old clothes.

He heard a loud knock that jolted him from the trance of trying to wash himself. "Are you okay, Vernon? You've been in there for an awfully long time."

"Yes, I will be out now." He called and tried to wipe himself as there were a lot of places his hands couldn't reach and didn't know they were supposed to attend to those places.

He rushed out afraid Madame Jessica would have caught onto the fact that he couldn't bathe himself and no sooner was he out of the bathroom that Madame Jessica burst into laughter. She held her tummy and rested on the wall to avoid falling as she laughed to her heart content.

Vernon looked down at his feet and began to draw imaginary lines as he felt truly and utterly embarrassed. He didn't need anyone to tell him he had done a terrible job, he had known from the moment he picked the soap.

Some had gotten into his eyes and he was sure they were still red from him trying his best to wash it off and failing. Maybe he should have given up at that point but he had already started, he had no option but to see it through.

The rest had just been one disaster to another, he had tried to wash his hair but his hands couldn't cover the space very well, he had had to give up halfway. He didn't even try to wash his back because he didn't know he was supposed to do that. Not even a drop of water had touched it except the ones that had rolled down his head.

He had foam everywhere and even on the towel, he had tried to wipe them off but there was so much the towel could do, and in a fit of panic he had rushed out hoping that somehow Madame Jessica wouldn't see the disaster, how greatly he was disappointed.

"Vernon, what d-did you do?" She managed to say amidst the laughter that was bubbling in her throat. "You could have told me you couldn't do it by yourself, there would have been no problem. I could have shown you how if you didn't want me to bathe you."

Vernon didn't say anything, just kept his head down as he spoke, the tips of his ears were red with embarrassment and his eyes glowed a little. "Alright, come let's go wash you off."