A Cottage For A Billionaire

Charlotte’s POV

My life is the worst. And it has been like that for some time now. Maybe a couple of years. Please let me tell you my sad story about how I got to be here.

I grew up being looked after by my grandmother in the Great Smoky mountains. All the way up to college.

Three years ago, I graduated and because our financial situation had become a bit dicey and I couldn’t find any work in our community, I had to look for a job in the city, which would mean that I would have to move and leave my grandmother on her own.

I then found a city job and had to tell my grandmother that I was moving there, which she didn’t take too well.

Only after I told her that I would visit her regularly so that we wouldn’t miss each other too much, did she accept my decision and also because she could also see that that was going to be the only way for our financial situation to improve.

A few days later, after going to the library to look for someone who was looking for a roommate on the internet and securing a place to stay, I walked a few miles to a local store and reserved a taxi ride, which would pick me up later to take me to the city.

After getting back home to my grandmother, I packed my stuff and then sat with my grandmother for a while, just talking, because I was worried about leaving her behind since this would be her first time alone in her cottage.

Before I came to her, she had been living with my grandfather who passed away twenty years ago.

The other problem I had with leaving her was that her cottage, which is next to a lake, is situated about a mile away from our nearest neighbour, since the house closest to us hasn’t been occupied for years, and as my grandmother was getting old I was worried that if something happened to her there will be no one close enough to help.

But I had to do what I had to do. A few hours later, the taxi arrived, and I hugged my grandmother and reluctantly left, to start a new life in the city.

In the beginning my job was good to me. I earned quite a bit of money and could afford my own lifestyle, but also to give my grandmother a good life where she was, since she refused to leave the cottage and come to the city.

And then suddenly my grandmother fell ill, and I took time off work to go and look after her, to no avail, because she soon passed away and that was about a year and three months ago.

After her funeral, I went back to work and I was told that I no longer had a job because my immediate boss, who is related to the financial manager, falsely accused me of siphoning money from the business when it was him and I could prove it, but no one wanted to listen to me. There was even a story about it in the news, but luckily, they didn’t put my name.

So now, I miss my grandmother, and I regret ever taking the city job and leaving her because that job meant that I wouldn’t be able to spend enough time with her.

I also regret taking that stupid job because it was as if getting it was designed just so I would be separated from my grandmother since I lost it just a few months after my grandmother passed away.

So much for wanting to improve our lives, because now, I don’t have a grandmother , I’ve lost the job, and my work reputation has been ruined, which means that I don’t have any references for my job searches , and also I can only make rent for the next two months or so, and this whilst living from hand to mouth.

I have tried a lot of things to try and make extra money. I created some content on the internet, but it is just slow which means that I’m not making any money out of it. I also tried looking for part time jobs, but I haven’t had any luck.

So today. I’m here at my grandmother’s little cottage, which sadly is now mine, since she left it to me, because I know that she was a bit of a hoarder, and some of the stuff that she hoarded was new at the time of storing.

So, I’m thinking that I could take whatever I find of value and sell it, so that I can stretch the money I have in my account, in order to cover more months of food and rent.

She also owned an old truck which is in the backyard and used to store some things inside it, as well as in the truck bed, so I’m also going to check there.

I start in the house and find a few things. A vacuum cleaner that’s hardly been used, a few electric mixers that are new, and also a few vinyls of country music that haven’t been opened and some that are already open.

Since there is an old radio which has a turntable in the house, I decide that whilst I’m searching through all the stuff, I would listen to some country music while singing along, because it’s too quiet, which I start doing.

After I’ve gone through all the stuff that is inside the house and put all the things that I intend to sell to one side, I decide to go outside to the truck.

When I get there, I open the door and find two boxes that are on the seat, and so I climb in and start searching. In one box I find some tools which include a drill, some spanners and a wheel jack. In the other there are some old clothes.

I take the drill and some of the other tools with me as I come down from the truck and put them on the ground and then go to the truck bed.

As I’m walking towards the truck bed the music stops as the record ends, and that’s when I hear the sound of a twig breaking as if it’s been stepped on under someone or something’s foot.

What is that?