After a few more minutes of walking, houses became sparser until they've reached the very edge of the town.
There stood a lone house with vast fields spreading behind it. Nalsy was in awe of it. It wasn't large, but it had a few detailed sculpted trims of the roof and around windows and doors. Yet somehow, it seemed effortless.
The garden was full of weeds, with a path leading through it right up to the wooden door.
Nalsy carefully followed Edmund inside, only to be welcomed by a stale smell. The house had a mostly empty interior with a layer of dust on very few articles of furniture.
"I'd like you to consider this place your home. I'm not around too much, so feel free to do whatever you'd like in here. For your safety, I'd prefer you not to leave the premises without my knowledge. If you want to leave the house, I can accompany you or I can make sure someone else does if I deem it safe." Edmund continued in a monotonous voice while taking his boots off and roughly throwing them by the door.
Nalsy took her single shoe off and gently placed it beside his boots; she took a second shoe out of her bag, which remained mostly intact through everything that occurred, and put it with its pair.
"So it's like a prison." Nalsy couldn't resist pointing it out.
"It's for your safety", Edmund replied coldly.
"Yeah..." Nalsy carefully studied every corner of the house. On the right of the hallway was the empty living room. On the left was the kitchen, equipped with a plastic table and chairs and a few essential appliances. The hallway had hooks across the wall with only one black jacket hanging on it. Nalsy tried hard not to judge Edmund, but she couldn't believe someone could live in a place like that.
"Are you hungry?" Edmund asked while walking into the kitchen.
"Yes," Nalsy answered shyly. She didn't like depending on others, and this situation made her feel awkward. "I can cook something..." she offered, walking towards the fridge.
"Never mind that. The fridge is empty," Edmund said honestly. "I don't spend much time at home", he explained himself. "I can get us some food", he offered, pointing at the newspaper opened on the restaurant section. Nalsy nodded, sitting down at the opposite side of the plastic table. "Is there anything that you fancy?"
"Any food would be nice", she replied with a gentle smile. Edmund's face was also less tense.
"We do have a few restaurants with Earthian cuisine" Nalsy couldn't stop herself from smirking at that. She wanted to laugh again, but she wouldn't risk angering Edmund.
"Anything will be fine," Nalsy answered unbothered. Edmund nodded and quickly disappeared, leaving Nalsy in the house. Nalsy mostly just looked around the space. As empty as the living room was, it was still spacious, with a fireplace on the wall opposite the entrance and a massive window on the left showing a beautiful scenery unravelling itself behind the house. The light from the moon reflected itself off the tall strands of grass that spread down the hill into the meadows. There were no more houses in the view, but instead, the field spread far until it was cut off by the darkness of the forest on the horizon. Nalsy slowly limped into the kitchen, where there was a window on her left, on the front of the house. Through there, she could see a few houses down the hill with a little glimmer of the lights shining through their windows.
Without much thought, Nalsy picked up a cloth from the side of the kitchen, and she started to wipe the surfaces down.
Once Edmund returned, they've sat down to dinner by the plastic table, eating their meal in the cumbersome silence.
After the meal, Nalsy followed Edmund upstairs, where he pointed her towards her new bedroom.
To her surprise, the bedroom didn't look too bad. It had more furniture than the rest of the house. It had a large double bed, mirror, desk with a chair, armchair with a reading lamp over it, bookcase, and nightstands on each side of the bed. It had two other doors, one leading into a sizeable closet and one leading into the bathroom with a bathtub. The bathtub, in particular, made Nalsy excited.
Nalsy was quick to open the window to air the room which was facing the meadows. A cold autumn breeze made the air flow through the room, giving it a much fresher smell.
Nalsy sat down heavily on the bed and opened her bag with prescribed medication which had several syringes and tablets. She squirmed at the sight of the needles as she never was keen on the injections, and the idea of injecting herself was beyond unpleasant.
She was quick to swallow a few tablets, and then with closed eyes, she stabbed herself in the stomach. She was trying to be as fast as possible, but this method was beyond uncomfortable. She decided that the next day she would be braver and put more care into injecting herself.
Even though she was excited to see the bathtub, she couldn't get herself up and walk over to the bathroom.
She laid down on a bed for 'just a moment', and soon she was asleep.