I shut the door of my old Toyota pickup truck that has seen its last day a long time ago and head into the tiny cute little bed and breakfast. I have been on the road now for about two days and this town is the first one that I have deiced to stay in. I walk up the gravel path to the door and open it. I look in to see no one at the front desk.
Slowly I walk up to it and ring the bell on the counter. In a few seconds a young girl no older than 15 with long dark brown hair and skin to match it comes rushing out from somewhere and greats me with a smile. "Hi I am Tammy and welcome to the Westbrook bed and breakfast. How may I help you?" She asks me with a bright welcoming smile on her young face.
"I would like a room here for a week." I tell her. The smile on her face grows as the words leave my mouth. "A whole week? Wow no one has ever stayed here that long." She tells me as she types things into the old mac desktop computer that's in front of her. "Okay it will be two hundred dollars for the whole week and I have set you up in our best room." She tells me as she hands me a key with the room number 1 on it.
I hand her the two hundred dollars and she puts it away without even counting it. Either she is too trusting or knows she can just come and find me later if I skimped out on some of the money. Once she has the money and everything is done I walk out to the door to go grab my two bags of things I have in the car.
"Do you need any help with your things?" Tammy asks me with a very eager voice. I guess they don't get many new people here. I mean I shouldn't be surprised the welcome sign did say that the population was only 3,451 people. "No I can manage but if you could direct me towards my room once I am back in that would be very helpful." I say turning to face her once I have reach the door.
"Of course. Il be right here." She says while she stands behind the desk waiting for me to grab my things. I quickly turn and head out into the cold air of late November. I have always lived on California and usually would still be in shorts this time of year. But hear in Washington I guess it's different. I tug my very thin cardigan closer to my body while I make my way to my truck. When I open my truck door I grab my beanie I had left in the car and pull it over my head successfully tucking my ears and most of my blonde almost white hair in it.
I grab my two duffle bags and shut the door not caring to lock it. If someone is desperate enough to try and steal my piece of shit car they must need it more than I do. When I get back inside Tammy quickly moves from behind the counter and leads me down a short hallway to a door with the number one barely visible on it.
"Well this is your room. If you need anything don't be afraid to ask. My mom and I are here to help." I nod my head at her before heading into the room and she walks off back to the desk or wherever she was before then. Once I shut the door I toss my bags on the ground and head over to the bed. It looks old and like it could have bed bugs on it but I lay down on it anyway and for the first time in 8 years I fall asleep not afraid of what I will walk up to.
The next morning I wake up at nine in the morning to a soft knock on my door. I get up and stretch my arms out before walking over to the door to see Tammy dressed like she is heading out somewhere. "Um hi. I was wondering if you could help me with something." She says sounding nerves as she goes back and forth from balancing on the heels of her feet.
"Um what is it?" I asked standing there in the same clothes from yesterday all crinkled up and probably extreme bed head. "Okay well you see, my school project this year is to do an interview on someone in town. Probably everyone has been interviewed already through the years so I was hoping I could interview you since you are a new face in town. Please say yes, I would defiantly get an A if I did it on you and I really need a good grade." She asks me with a pout on her face.