✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

6. The First New Problem

Tess slept well. She didn't even stir when the door rustled over the thick pile of the carpet and her cousin glanced into the room to make sure she was comfortable. It was probably the deepest she'd slept in a few months, and she had a faint smile on her face through the night.

When her eyes first opened she wasn't sure if she might have dreamed. For just a couple of seconds she tried to remember what she dreamed of, but there was nothing coming to mind. She wondered what had woken her, as well. The alarm on her phone wasn't sounding yet, and the light outside was still grey. But as her eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, and she woke up properly, she remembered where she was. Seeing pink in all directions made it impossible to believe she was dreaming; she was in Cousin Gabby's spare room now, while her parents were making last minute preparations to leave the country.

She wasn't particularly comfortable now, but it took a second to realise why. The covers were a little heavier than she was used to, and the mattress firmer. It was probably something she could get used to, but for a moment it built on the feeling of being a guest in someone else's home; the unfamiliarity of her surroundings. Oddly enough, the extra weight of the lace-edged duvet didn't translate to an uncomfortable warmth. In fact, it might have been the feeling of cold that had woken her so early. Almost, but not quite, a chill enough to make her shiver; a slight clammy feeling that she couldn't quite put a name to.

Tess lay there, deep in thought, for a couple of seconds. She wasn't sure if she'd dreamed, but she knew she had slept well. She just wasn't quite comfortable now, and she didn't know if getting up early would disturb her cousin. After a few seconds she folded back the duvet and swung her legs over the side of the bed, and finally felt awake enough to realise what was different today.

Perhaps she would have noticed right away, any other day. But she was surrounded by pinkness, there was a faint draught coming through from a door she apparently hadn't closed, the bed felt different, and even the subtle background noises of the house were different. Everything was different this morning, even the sunlight at a time she would never normally be awake. But the big difference was a large damp circle in the middle of the bed, centred right where she was sitting, and the T-shirt she'd been wearing since yesterday slapped damply against her skin as she moved. She told herself that it was impossible, that there was no way it could be true. But from what she could see, what she could hear, and even a faint scent that she had initially missed, there was no denying the truth. For the first time in eight years, Tess had wet her bed.

"What's happening?" she whimpered, starting to panic as she looked around. She didn't know what to do now, and this wasn't the kind of problem she wanted to face on her first morning in a new home. Her first instinct was to drop her T-shirt and underwear into the laundry hamper, and hope that nobody else noticed. But there were the sheets as well; if she left them until later, there was bound to be a noticeable smell of pee in the room.

She needed to do the laundry, quickly before Gabby woke up. The only problem with that was that it was bound to be suspicious. There was no reason for her to be washing anything on her first day, when she'd arrived with cases full of freshly-pressed clothes. Could she put a quick wash on and have it finished before Gabby even woke up? It was possible, maybe. She didn't know how long a quick wash, or even just a rinse cycle, would take. But as she thought about it she realised that she didn't even know where the laundry room was, how to operate the machine, or where Gabby kept detergents. She was completely in the dark. But if she wanted to convince her cousin that she was a responsible adult, she had to figure it all out very, very quickly. She took a deep breath, threw her soaked clothes onto the bed, and then started untucking the pink sheets around the edge.

"Tess?" The call came barely seconds later, from right outside the bedroom door. "Are you awake?"

Tess gulped, desperately trying to catch her breath again as her heart started racing. Her first instinct was to push the door closed, to make sure she wouldn't be seen, and she took a step towards the door before she even realised how suspicious that would be. Still, she didn't know what else to do, so she pushed the door and it closed with a ping.

"Yeah," she called back, once she knew that Gabby wasn't about to step in. "I'm just... yeah, I'm getting dressed. I'm sorry, I just..."

"Okay. I wouldn't come into your room uninvited, you don't need to worry about that. I just wanted to be sure you're up. I haven't asked how long it takes you to get ready in the mornings, but if you're anything like me you'd need to be awake about now. You want me to fix breakfast? I'll do sausages, beans, and fried bread for me, but we got cereal, croissants, bagels, and stuff if you prefer. If you want a hot breakfast I'll get cooking while you get changed, so you don't miss the bus. Or would you rather have me drive you while I'm off work today?"

"Uhh..." Tess stammered, trying to redirect her train of thought onto a different line. She already had one problem to deal with, one so urgent that she'd almost forgotten that she would need to change her daily routine in order to get to school on time. She had put off looking up the bus timetables so long that she didn't even know what time she would need to be there. "I'll try to get the bus, I think there's time. Yeah, breakfast would be good. Bacon sounds good, whatever's easy. You don't need to do anything different for me."

"Okay. It'll be about five minutes. Oh, and Tess?"

"Yeah?" Tess panicked for a second as she waited to hear the answer. Everything in her mind was dreading her cousin finding out what had happened, even if there was no way she could possibly know.

"Is everything okay? You sound... upset or something."

"I'm fine. I'll tell you if I need help."

"Okay, see you at breakfast."

Tess gave a sigh of relief, and quickly rushed to finish tidying up the room. She bundled up the sheets, and pulled the duvet out of its cover. She rolled everything into a ball, and put it in the middle of the bed. Thankfully there was a thick plastic sheet on the bed, so the little puddle in the middle didn't seem to be soaking into the mattress. She had no idea how she would have dealt with that.

There was a robe hanging on the back of the bedroom door. Somehow Tess hadn't even noticed it before. It looked like the bizarre hybrid offspring of a regular bathrobe and a Disney Fairies halloween costume, but it was about her size. She pulled it on, ran across the hall to the bathroom, and did her best to get herself clean with a damp washcloth. Back in her room she pulled on clean clothes as quickly as possible; her uniform was already out so she didn't need to worry about what to wear. She could already smell the bacon cooking downstairs, it was unmistakable. The only problem now was getting her bedsheets clean.

And like people throughout history, when faced with a problem to which they didn't even have the first hint at a solution, she decided that she could deal with it later. Right now there was bacon calling her name, and she was sure that by the time she had eaten, she would be able to think a lot more clearly.

Author's note: What do you think so far? Hopefully the hints so far aren't too vague, or too heavy-handed. Do you think it's clear what the problem is here –  and how would you deal with the situation if you were in Tess's shoes?