RUNAWAY

1

Anna slept like a baby on the city bus. Her head rests on the window as she snores softly. She suddenly jolted awake as the bus came to an abrupt stop, followed by a loud beep.

"Attention, passengers. We have arrived at our last stop; New Haven Valley. Please leave the bus carefully and in an orderly manner," The bus driver said through the intercom.

This was going to be a new start for Anna. She was 2 hours away from her old town and hoped that she'd never see it again. Here in New Haven Valley, Anna was a completely new person. Nobody knew the 'real' her. They only saw a new girl in town. Nothing else. At Least she hoped so.

Anna grabbed her bags and stumbled out of the bus. Feeling half-asleep, she made her way into the hotel's lobby. There were a lot of construction tools everywhere along with packaged furniture and a TV playing Inside Edition. Anna looked around the empty lobby trying to find the check-in desk.

"Hi, can I help you?" A soft voice said.

Anna turned her head and noticed the clerk was right behind her.

"Hey, uh, yeah, can I get a room for the night?" Anna asked as she walked towards the front desk. Her voice was raspy and tired. Anna rubbed her eyes. She looked up at the clerk and first noticed her name tag. 'Amanda', it spelled.

"Of course," Amanda said as she started typing on her keyboard after a moment, Amanda looked up from her computer. "One of our policies is that we require you to see ID before allowing guests to stay," Amanda pointed to a sign across the room that read: 'YOU MUST BE OVER 18 TO STAY AT THIS HOTEL WITHOUT A GUARDIAN', "we have a lot of teens that try to stay here by themselves or with their partner. I assume it's because an amusement park is 30 minutes down south."

Anna sighed. She wasn't of age to stay at the hotel alone, but it was already almost 11 PM and her eyelids became heavy every minute. On top of that, She had forgotten her ID.

"I didn't bring my ID...but I have my driver's license." Anna pulled out her driver's license and handed it to Amanda. Amanda scanned the ID. Her lips curled into a frown.

"Sorry sweetie. You're only 16, correct?"

Anna nodded.

"You don't have a parent or guardian with you right now?"

Anna shook her head, feeling the tears prick in her eyes.

Amanda sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid you can't stay here alone."

Anna tucked her hair behind her ears. "Look, I have nowhere to stay. I just spent 2 hours on a bus and I'm so tired. I've had such a rough week and all I ask is just to stay here for one night...please." Anna's voice cracked as she spoke.

Amanda looked down. There was a long moment of silence between the two. Anna rolled her eyes and grabbed her driver's license and her bags. She started to walk away.

"Wait!" Amanda called behind her. Anna stopped in her tracks and looked back at Amanda.

"You can stay for a night..." Amanda said softly.

Anna took a breath of relief. "Thank you so much."

Amanda nodded and handed Anna a card.

"Room 241. You can take the elevator right there." Amanda pointed to the elevator for Anna. "If you need anything a telephone should be on the nightstand. If you dial 6821, it will call me, okay?"

Anna grinned softly. "Yeah, thanks."

Anna made her way to the second floor and scanned the card to enter the room. The room had a fresh lavender scent and a neat, full-sized bed, along with a mini TV and a bunch of complementary snacks and water. She quickly went to use the restroom and brushed her teeth, then changed into some comfy shorts and a spaghetti strap top.