☁️Little Charlie☁️

Ch 24// Mia

"Charlie, wake up" Mark whispered. He shook the boy's shoulder lightly until Charlies eyes fluttered open. "Hey bud, grab your stuff and we'll meet Mrs. harper." Charlie sat up in his seat and looked out the open car door, past Mark. It was dark out now, but Charlie could make out a two story house squeezed in between trees. He bit his bottom lip and unbuckled his seat belt. Grabbing his bag, he slowly stepped out of the car and followed Mark up the dirt path. As they grew closer to the house, Charlie could feel his heart pounding in his chest.
His hands were shaking by the time they got to the door. Mark rung the doorbell, causing Charlie to jump a little.

"It's alright Charles" Mark said in a calm voice. "I'm sure you'll love Mia".
'Easy for you to say' Charlie thought to himself. 'You're not the one being handed off to a complete stranger'.
The door opened to a women with light brown skin and Curley black hair. A bright smile was revealed when she saw Mark and Charlie.

"Oh, Hi Mark" She greeted. She then turned to Charlie, her eyes were soft hazel orbs. "Hello, Charlie" She said sweetly. "I'm so happy to have you here. Are you ready to move in?" Charlie shrugged and raised his eyebrows as if to say, 'I guess'. Mia smiled and allowed him to step inside. The first thing Charlie noticed was the sweet smell of pine and cinnamon. To his left was what looked to be a living room with soft tan colored couches and pinecone painted pillows. A small fire crackled in the stone fireplace, keeping the place toasty. To his right was the dinning room with a table set for up to six people. Charlie got scared that there were more people living here and it must have showed because Mia chuckled. "Don't worry, we're the only ones here if thats what your worried about" Mia said. Charlie nodded and adjusted the strap on his backpack. "Here, I'll show you to your room Charlie. Let me just say goodbye to my friend Mark first". Mia turned back around to Mark "Thank you Mark, have a safe drive home".

"Thank you, Mia" Mark said smiling. "Bye Charlie, I'll be in touch". And with that, Mark walked away, leaving Charlie in an unfamiliar place.
Mia closed the door and looked over to Charlie again. "You can go ahead and take your shoes off, just leave them by the door". Charlie nodded and took his sneakers off. He placed them neatly next to the rest of the shoes. It felt weird acting like this was his home already.

"Right this way" Mia said showing him to the stairs. Charlie cautiously walked up the steps, glancing at the paintings of deer and moose as they passed by. "I hope you like your room" Mia said as they walked down a hall. "But if you want to change anything, we can do that. I, thankfully, had just enough time to get it all set up for you". They reached the very end of the hall to a white door. Mia opened the door and let Charlie go in and see for himself. The boy stepped in and was at awe. Was this really his room? The bed had a light blue and very soft looking blanket, big pillows lay up against the bed board which doubled as a book shelf. To the right of the bed was a night stand that had a lava lamp on top. Up against the wall facing the side of the bed was a tall white dressor. On top of the dressor was a few neatly folded pile of clothes. Charlie tilted his head confused, causing Mia to chuckle. "If anything doesn't fit just let me know" Was all she said about them. As Charlie started to walk around the room Mia said she would let him settle in for the night. Charlie nodded in agreement, he was pretty tired. "If your hungry, help yourself to some snacks in the kitchen. I always leave a bowl of fruit and granilla bars on the counter". Mia added before wishing him a good night and closing the door.

Charlie looked around the room once more before taking his bag off. He placed it next to the bed and had a closer look at the clothes. He found a pair of pajamas on the top of the pile. As much as he didn't really want to put on the clothes as it felt wrong that somebody bought all this for him, he didn't think he could sleep too well in his current clothes. Rachel had leanded him some clothes from her ex-boyfriend. The jeans he was in now were scratchy and the T-shirt was of some scary looking Metal band that reaked of cigarates. He removed his shirt and slipped the black pajama top on, then removed his jeans and changed into a pair of soft flanel pajama bottoms. He picked up the clothes off the floor and looked around for a laundrey basket. He walked to the other side of the bed to the closet and peeked inside, bingo! He tossed the clothes in the hamper before closing the closet door. His hand didn't leave the door knob though as he was suddenly pulled into a memory of Alex. Alex also kept a laundry basket in his closet as well. He rememberd the look on his face when he came back home to see that the house was clean...He had such a nice smile.