Tap Tap Tap / Peterick

Chapter 2

Traveling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

My trip to California left me absolutely speechless, and it also helped me clear my mind. I had never realized how messy my head really was until I spent over 32 hours alone in a car with myself. They say that silence is violent, and whenever I wasn't playing music, that saying had never been more true.

Around 3 hours into the trip, I shut off my phone. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I intentionally meant to ignore anyone, it's just that my phone blowing up every 30 minutes asking where I was, or how the trip had been going so far got quite annoying shockingly fast. I loved my friends and family, sure, but I needed a little me time. Everybody needs some me time at some point in their life.

In other news, driving didn't bother me as much as I expected it to. I expected to be caught up in traffic most of the time, feeling claustrophobic and car sick while cursing at the wind. However, that wasn't the case. There was some traffic of course, but it didn't bother me. As far as the claustrophobia and car sickness went, I felt very comfy and rather normal in my car, thank god.

Once I hit my 15 hour mark, I felt sleep trying to take over my body. My eyelids felt heavy, and I found my mind blanking out at most things, just staring tiredly at the road. I decided to pull off and stay a hotel for the night because honestly, the last thing that I wanted was to ruin everything by getting a car wreck.

My eyes scanned each sign as I drove down the interstate, also somehow managing to keep an eye on the road ahead of me. I eyed a sign in particular that read EXIT 54 - LODGING. My eyes drifted down until I read the name of two hotels, and decided to make a left, driving on the now empty road. I wasn't exactly sure what town this was, but it didn't matter all that much to me, if I was being perfectly honest. My GPS didn't really tell me, it just gave me directions.

I drove for a little while, my eyes scanning the streets. I came across a large sign that was lit up with bright blue lights. THE RED LIGHT HOTEL. I laughed to myself at how ironic it was to call a hotel the red light hotel, and then light it up with blue lights. People these days.

I pulled into the parking lot, where there were around 7 other cars. I guess this place couldn't be that popular, due to the amount of people. When I parked, I didn't get out immediately. I just sat there for a few seconds, trying to collect my thoughts. After a few seconds of trying to sort out my mind I gave up, because really, there was no sorting out this mess.

When I stepped out, I only brought my wallet and phone with me. I would only be staying for that one night, so I figured that I wouldn't need any of my belongings. There would be no sense in taking in all my things only to pack them right back up after I woke.

It was 12am when I walked towards the clear doors that led to the front lobby. I walked in slowly, not seeing anyone. It was rather dark, and that made my heart race because in the movies, that's when people died. I didn't realize how long I had been standing there until a man coughing startled me, making me jump and turn towards the stranger.

"Can I help you?" His voice was thick with sleep, as if he had been previously asleep.

"I uh, yeah, I just need some place to crash tonight." I mumbled, fishing my wallet out my pocket. He walked to the front desk and began typing something down on his computer, and I followed him. He asked my for my drivers license and then for the money. It wasn't that expensive, but I wasn't all that rich. After he showed me to my room, I collapsed onto the bed almost instantly, letting sleep overcome me.

-

A loud rapid knock made me stir in my sleep until I woke up completely. I was still in the same thing I was wearing as last night, and I wanted nothing more than to just close my eyes and fall back asleep, but I know I couldn't do that.