Hunting for a reasonable house was like trying to find Waldo when you were tripping on acid. Michael sure as hell didn't know how to go about it, he would have been pleased to just rent an apartment and get this over with, unfortunately it seemed that absolutely every apartment required you to have no pets, and maybe Michael wanted cats. Or they were in a nice complex that would undoubtably reject his offer upon seeing his appearance, each apartment complex seemed more and more likely to be smoke free too, which Michael wouldn't be able to kick his addiction in time to move in.

So he was stuck looking for a house, he hoped to find a small one for the time being because he didn't need much. Plus, he didn't think he could afford much bigger with the salary he got.

The fact of the matter was, Michael had no idea what he was looking for either than something with heating and a kitchen. Maybe a bathroom too. Michael could probably handle living out of a mobile home as long as it meant getting away from high class living and his mother.

He was nearing the bottom of Google's first search page without much luck, and he wasn't about to click on the next 'o' because anything passed page one was shady in his eyes.

He clicked the next link, letting out a yawn as he did so. He'd woken up earlier than he had in a year, with afternoon classes and weekends at Pizza Paradise, he wasn't required to get up before ten. The fact that he'd woken up four hours before his alarm to check out houses wasn't helping his excitement toward education.

Most of the websites featured a few of the same house, a lot of the time the house down the street was featured toward the top of the real estate's page. This website however, showed several houses that Michael hadn't seen on other websites, as he looked at the initial picture of each house he realized he hadn't seen any of them before. He realized vaguely that these were listings for houses in the next town over, all of them looked like they were leaning towards disrepair but hadn't yet plunged into squatter territory. One in particular caught his eye, the price surprisingly low in his opinion but he barely questioned it as he clicked the link.

A series of pictures popped up, the interior looked better kept than the exterior which he was thankful for because he doubted he'd be outside much. He thought it over and decided to send a quick email to the listed contact before readying himself for class. It wouldn't hurt to check it out.

× × × ×

Dear Mr. Clifford,

Subject: House Listing

I have received your email and I'm enthused that you've decided to contact me. Unfortunately, I'm not available to show you the house this week but I will be free next Tuesday where we can discuss questions and concerns.

I understand from your choice of questions you aren't very experienced with rent, I have not been a landlady for very long so I guess this is trial and error for both of us.

Thanks for your email,

Elizabeth Froyd.

Michael read it once over, pausing a moment to read it again in shock. Even though he'd checked his email consistently, he hadn't actually expected to get a response so soon. Or meet the landlady so soon. Tuesday in theory was more than enough time, eight days to be exact but he felt unprepared already. It was the first house he showed interest in after all, the thought that maybe he wasn't ready for this crossed his mind.

His phone buzzed, as if to be the voice of reason. It was a picture from one of his buddies that settled in near Sydney and came back every once in a while. The picture made him smile and also had him sure of his decision to move out.

His phone buzzed once more and his smile only grew as he read the message that followed.

Meet Benjamin, he's fresh out of the hospital and Sam told me its not appropriate to call him Jackass but I can't help myself. She should just be happy that I've stopped calling him fresh meat, Jackass seems like a step up to me.

With his bottom lip between his teeth, Michael nodded at his decision. He would wait to tell his mother, mostly to be sure that the landlady was still enthused when they went on the house tour.

With that thought in his mind, he turned to the homework he'd managed to stack up during the day.