A Whole New World

Fresh Start

Monty stood at the entrance to his new life, his chance to make something of himself. He let out a sigh and pulled up a map of the university on his phone, trying to find the way to the dormitory. On his way to the dormitory, Monty passed the courtyard and in the middle of it was a fountain with benches up against the stone railing. There was groups of people sitting on the benches, talking and smiling with each other. Monty made a mental note of a tree in the corner of the courtyard, it seemed like a nice place to relax, alone. He swiftly moved on from the courtyard and continued on to the dormitory.

Reaching the dormitory, Monty swiped away the map and checked for his dorm number. The number he had seen was 40. 'Of course, Of fucking course' Monty thought as he approached the very end of the hallway and in the process reaching his dorm. He despised the fact that his dorm was at the end of the hallway and the furthest away from the exit. Putting this aside, he opened the door to reveal his living space for the next couple of years.

The immediate thing that stood out to him was the two single beds at the very back of the room, only seperated by a couple of dark oak bedside tables. 'Two beds!?' Monty thought as he frantically pulled out his phone. Surely, this had to be a mistake. He could have sworn the dorms were only supposed to be accommodating one person. Finding the email about the dorms, it did in fact say that these dorms were to accommodate two people. Guess he skipped over that part.

Monty snarled at no one in particular and clenched his fist. He didn't want to interact with anyone other than his professors, let alone LIVE with someone. All he wanted was to focus on his studies and avoid everyone until the end of university. Feeling the anger rising in him, he pulled out his wired earphones and plugged them into his phone letting whatever song was last playing continue. This completely soured his good mood. Placing his belongings on top of a dark oak desk located at the foot of a bed. He laid down on one of the beds and claiming it as his.

He stared up at the blank, white ceiling and let the music flow through him. The anger slowly subsided and as it did and he managed to get a good look at the rest of the room. Each bed had a dark oak desk at the end it with a blue padded chair. The walls were the same as the ceiling, blank and there was a door which could only lead to a bathroom on the right which he now had to share. He saw that on the left, instead of there being a door there was a wardrobe. The problem being that there was only one.

Sighting to himself, Monty got up and decided to start unpacking. He didn't bring much just some clothes, bathroom essentials, his laptop and his bass. He started organising his stuff, putting everything where it belonged. Clothes went into the wardrobe, laptop on desk, bathroom filled with his toothbrush and other bits. Monty looked at his bass and strummed it, listening to the sound it made. Smiling, he put it down next to his bed and laid back down.

Classes didn't start until tomorrow so he had the whole day to explore the rest of the campus. Instead, Monty stared at the ceiling whilst his music continued to play in his ear. 'I fuckin' hope this roommate of mine stays out of my way' Monty hoped as he closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

TW - Child Abuse, Mention of Alcoholism

Monty looked around and saw that he was back in his childhood home again. His bedroom walls painted neon green, ceiling filled with glow in the dark star stickers and an alligator stuffed toy in his arms. Moving out of bed and to the door, he could hear somebody shouting coming from downstairs.