Anya was suddenly awake, her eyes open as the July sunrise poured through her windows and bathed her in its glow. She listened, but heard only the silence of an empty house. She smiled. All alone.
It had been a stressful final semester, essays and exams wiping out her social life for six months straight. She hadn’t even been able to properly celebrate her 21st birthday. So when Anya had learned that her housemates were moving out the day after graduation, she was initially disappointed. The last chance of their adult lives with no responsibilities or consequences, and they were all disappearing into London, to placements and internships. Straight onto the corporate ladder.
Not Anya. She’d decided to spend the Summer doing everything she’d either missed out, or failed to get the opportunity to do, over the last three years – beginning with living alone. It had only been two weeks since the others had left the house but Anya was already worried that she might never be able to go back. No crowding in the kitchen; no waiting for the shower. She had even taken to walking around the house naked, as she was now. It felt liberating.