RUN

4.

The bright sunlight peeked through the curtain and invaded the darkest parts of the room. The light from it tinted the walls with an orange color. I yawned and rolled over on my other side, away from the sun for more sleep. The sheets were wrapped around me, trapping me in their warmth and comfort. Silence and stillness filed the room, not making a sound and yet it was begging for me to get up and search.

          I decide that I did need to get up and that I couldn’t sleep forever sadly though I wanted to. After all, it was the one place I could escape him. I sit up, stretching my arms out wide and letting out a loud and squeaky yawn. My eyes were thick with sleep my limbs felt like jelly.

          Jet lag.

          I ignored my aching tiredness and threw the warm sheets off of me. The slightly chilly air met my exposed skin making goose bumps form. My feet met the carpet and I walked into the bathroom and started the water. I picked up my toothbrush and toothpaste, rinsing my brush beneath the water before brushing my teeth. I rinsed the sink out before going back out into the bedroom and changing into the last pair of clean clothes. My main mission of the day would have to be going out to find a place to wash my clothes. The other things that I would have to get done would be to look for a job, get food, and possibly look for apartments or houses. I couldn’t stay in this motel forever sadly.

          My bag lay on the floor where I had put it the night before now stuffed with all of my belongings. I wasn’t going to risk leaving any evidence that I had been here. I unlocked the door with my bag on my back and walked outside where the warm sun hit me and the breeze with the drifting sent of sea salt lingered. It was a nice day out; not too hot and not too cold but after all, it is winter. The door locked behind me with the key to open it in my hand and I walked down the rusty metal steps and down to the office.

          The bell above it rung out as I pushed the door open into the air conditioned office room. In replacement of the woman from last night, there was an older man with tan wrinkly skin and an obvious wig on his head. The glasses that he wore sat on the bridge of his long nose and beneath it was a lame excuse for a mustache. He looked up at me as I stepped up to the wooden desk that was more or less a table.

          “How may I help you?” His voice was a strange mixture of nasally and throaty and was not a nice sound to my ears.

          I cringed before replying back to the man, “I spent the night here last night and the woman who was attending to me fell asleep after giving me a key and I just wanted to pay.” He continued to look at me for a few moments before finally looking down at the computer.

          “Ah, Betty. The woman can never say awake even if her life depended on it. Her kids drive her mad during the day and she works her at night but the poor thing can’t keep her eyes open. The only reason I even gave her a job was because she needed one. It irritates me that she still can’t stay awake. I gave her a whole box of 12-hour energy bottles for Christmas.” The man continued on rambling for another three minutes while I watched the clock that sat on the grey wall waiting until he’d tell me the amount. “- I’ll have to have a talk with her about that. Your payment is 15 dollars please.”