Chapter 4

First the sounds of birds chirping little melodies in my ear. Then the warm feeling of sunshine on my face. I inhaled deeply, the smell of exhaust fumes and hot tare snapping my eyes open.

“Good you’re back. Being you is exhausting!” Laila quickly pulled back forcing me to take control before we fell face first into the sidewalk.

“Unless you’re shoving my boobs in someone’s face then it’s fine.” I joked.

“Listen, you have a top tier body and gorgeous face. I was just using the blessings bestowed upon us to our advantage.” She said with a flirty tone.

“Seeing as we share the same body, I feel like you could be biased.” I rolled my eyes at her. “So, what happened?”

“You passed out and I made a run for it. I was halfway to Mexico before I realized I forgot all our crap and had to turn back.” Laila’s tone was flat serious.

“Really?”

“Busted! I could never run that far with your weird body.” She said.

“So is it top tier or is it weird. Make up your mind.” I laughed.

“You passed out, not even five minutes later the head mistress showed up to sign us out. She came in early. Guess most girls try to check out before Dr. Jurard comes in at 9. She handed me our cash and called a cab. I ran to grab our things and high tailed it out of there. Grabbed us a bus ticket and now we wait.”

“Was Marci there?” I asked.

“Nope, she phoned it in as usual. Well faxed it in this time. She sent over all our paperwork last night. Couldn’t get rid of us fast enough.”

“Where we headed?” Looking down at the ticket I could tell somewhere in Montana, but I couldn’t begin to pronounce the town.

“The lady inside said it’s a tiny tourist town. The whole main town is a gas station, restaurant and hotel and bonus because it’s between seasons the ticket was only $185.” She boasted proudly.

“Nice, good work! This place sounds perfect.” Most girls left the home and wanted to go to the big cities but not us. We wanted to go somewhere quiet where no one could possibly recognize us, and we could have a fresh start.

“She said being the off season the hotel rents super cheap this time of year.” We were nervous about money. We got our last check from the state so minus the ticket we had $963 to our name. That had to last until we could find someone willing to hire a nobody from nowhere who knows nothing. “We are going to be okay; I promise.” Laila tried to reassure me.

A year of planning and dreaming didn’t compare to how vast the world really is outside those walls. Going on field trips and taking classes at the local college felt tiny by comparison. I hated that place but at the end of the day I knew I would get to eat and have a place to sleep. Right now, I felt crushed by the uncertainty of it all.

After a few hours our bus pulled up, around twenty passengers got off. The driver, a thin man with a salt and pepper goatee followed the last passenger out. He announced loudly “Fifteen-minute break, don’t be late or I’ll leave without ya!” He looked down at me and my disheveled hair and trash bag luggage before holding his hand out for my ticket.

I felt ashamed, kicking the two trash bags under the bench.

He gave me a kind smile and said. “Let’s sit you up by me. We’ll put all your luggage in the overhead behind me. No one ever sits there. I reckon it’s cuz I’ll chat your ear off.” He gave me a wink and grabbed both bags leaving me to carry the suitcase and backpack.

After fifteen minutes only three passengers got back on. The driver gave me another smile before closing the door and releasing the break. It didn’t take long before I drifted off to sleep.

The doors slamming shut again jolted me from my sleep. A woman took the driver's seat. “I guess they don’t drive the whole way, makes sense it’s a 17-hour drive.” Laila yawns loudly.

Making a couple stops for breaks along the way there was one more driver switch before we reached our stop. I wrestled my 4 bags off the bus and was glad there was no one around to see me dragging my bags across the parking lot into the hotel.

Didn’t look much like a hotel to me but then again what did I know. The main office was a decent sized building with what looked like 20 or 25 small cabins reaching back into the trees behind it.

A pale thin man with shoulder length raven hair was at the front desk. He looked up from his computer, yellow hazel eyes looking me up and down before landing on the bags at my feet.

“ID and credit card?”

I fumbled through my backpack for what little identification I owned. After handing it to him he looked back up. “Credit card.”

“I don’t have one.” I told him.

He looked at me with distain. “You don’t have a proper ID, you’re only 18 and you don’t have a credit card I can’t rent you a room.”

My eyes started to swell, holding back tears my breathing jagged. Gathering my things again I went to leave.

Looking back up at me through his bangs he rolled his eye and in a dry tone said, “Go talk to Tommy.” Making a gesture out the window.

Going in the direction he pointed I saw the sign for Tommy’s Bar & Grill. “I’m guessing Tommy’s going to be in there.” Laila joked.

I know she’s trying to keep my spirits up, but it hasn’t been a day and I already feel beat down.

A bright-eyed bubbly waitress with huge 80s style blonde hair meet me at the door. “Have a seat anywhere sugar. It’s slow even for a Tuesday.”

“The guy at the hotel told me to talk to Tommy.” I told her.

“Tommy!” She yelled.

“What?” Came a gruff voice from the back.

“What do you mean what, get your old ass up here!” She yelled back at him.

“Dam woman. Can’t you just answer a simple question.” The man grumbled as he came out from behind a wall separating the dining room from somewhere else.

One look at me and with a sigh he said, “Well honey, let’s get you cleaned up.”