Echos of Yesterday

Chapter 1

I sped down the highway on the bike, the wind flowing through the dark brown locks of my hair and rain drizzling cool drops on my tanned face. But I didn't care. I enjoyed the rain. It made me feel alive.

The red traffic light stopped me. As I waited for the light to turn green, I could feel my stomach rumbling and sighed. "Ugh... I need food so badly."

Finally, when the light turned green, I pushed on.

After a while, I could see a motel attached to a diner. I headed in, singing the heavy wooden doors open to see a woman, not younger than 30 years old with a black-haired bob covering her left side and her face etched with a scowl, sitting in the reception. I looked around cautiously, but there was no one inside except me. I stepped inside and walked up to her. The lady looked at her up and down, judging me. "Are ya stayin' for the night?", she questioned, looking down at her computer to type something. I nodded, feeling strangely nervous. She looked back up at me, her eyes meeting mine. " Is there a single available right now...?", I asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence and go to the diner. And then...she smiled at me. It was a soft one and I was pretty sure I was starting to hallucinate due to utter lack of sleep, but it meant a lot... especially now. She handed me the key and told me the number of my room. No. 45. I thanked her for her help and brought my stuff in. There wasn't much. Just a couple of changes of clothes, toiletries, and essentials. Just enough to survive.

 I headed into the diner and sat on one of the metal barstools with a red cushion. I stared out the window. After a few minutes, I noticed someone approaching me. "So, are you ordering something, or are you just staring into existential dread?" asked the waitress, a middle-aged woman with round thickrimmed glasses and burgundy-dyed hair. I'll have anything," I replied. "The name's Charlene. You're not from around here. Where are you headed?" she asked. I glanced out the window, my fingers tapping lightly on the table, hoping the question would drift away. She nodded once, wrote something down in her notepad, and walked away. I sighed and tried to pass the time by looking out the window, watching the rain clouds covering the moon in the night sky.

Charlene returned to my table carrying a plate of meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas, I don't like meatloaf, but I was starving, and it smelled incredible. I ate it quickly, paid for the meal, made small talk with her, and then headed back to my room.

 On entering the room, I was greeted by a musty smell. The carpets were stained, and the curtains were a dull color. Despite the unpleasantness of the room, I decided it was not worth getting wet in the midnight rain. I placed my bag on the TV table and went to take a shower. Under the warm stream of water, Charlene's question replayed in my mind. It was just a simple question, right? Yet, I was unable to answer it. Answering that question would've hurt me. I shook off my thoughts and turned off the shower. After getting into some clothes, I jumped into the bed and quietly wrapped the bedsheet around myself.

At that moment, as the world around me began to blur at the edges, the hum of distant noises fading into a soft murmur as my eyelids fluttered shut, my body sank deeper into the mattress. I was pulled slowly into the comforting darkness of sleep.