A Broken Soul (UNEDITED)

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

All three of us stood outside of the small, cheap hotel. It looked slightly threatening, besides the fresh grass and small trees. The exterior of the hotel was old and stunk of cigarettes while music blasted from the inside.  

            We had been in three taxis, the total time being a few hours. The night sky convinced us to stop traveling for the night, so we decided to stay at an apartment overnight until we would leave again in the morning. We had to get as far away as possible from the people chasing us, who we decided to call the TE. It stood for Transformer Exterminators, which they pretty much seemed to do, so it worked. We had to call them something.

            “Let’s do this, guys,” Braedon muttered, glancing at me and Bae out of the corner of his eyes. We were holding hands, which probably made Braedon question our friendship. We weren’t anything more than friends, though. Just close friends.

            Before beginning our run from the TE, we had scoured the SST. Inside, we had found a few hundred dollars, which would help us out for a while. I had stuffed the money, some food, and the healing box into a small handbag. We had to carry light and look unsuspicious.

            All three of us walked into the lobby of the hotel together. Braedon pushed the door open and an annoying bell rang as a sudden burst of warmth surrounded us. We would have eagerly welcomed the heat, if it hadn’t have been filled with the thick stench of cigarette smoke.

            A woman glanced up at the sound of the bell ringing and gaped at us as we neared her. It was obvious that visitors were unexpected. She continued to stare us down until we arrived at the counter.

            “Can I help you?” she asked, never breaking eye contact with only me as she chomped on a stick of gum. Her southern accent rang loudly as she put a hand on her hip, ultimately revealing her sassy attitude.

            “We’d like an overnight stay for three, please,” Braedon spoke up as me and Bae stood behind him. She seemed to be mesmerized by him or something, because something snapped in her. She looked him up and down and gave him an over friendly smile.

            “Sure thing, honey. That’d be $150,” she smiled again sweetly, leaning forwards against the counter. Braedon leaned back in disgust, looking back at me. It took me a moment to realize that he needed the money from my purse. I blinked quickly and pulled open my purse, fumbling around before pulling out two hundreds. I quickly snapped my purse shut and handed the money to Braedon.

            “Here,” he spoke bitterly, handing her the money. Her once over friendly smile diminished into pursed lips as she took the money from Braedon. After a moment, she handed us a room key.

            “Second floor, room 214,” she said quietly, glaring at the three of us behind her expressionless mask. We all turned and walked over to the elevator awkwardly. It wasn’t safe to say anything unless we were completely alone, just to be safe. It wasn’t even safe then.

            Once we were in the elevator, Braedon spoke up.

            “We’ll leave early in the morning and travel all day,” he said under his breath. Bae and I both nodded in agreement and the rest of the short ride was quiet.

            Once we got off the elevator, we silently headed towards our hotel room. Braedon fumbled with the room keys before shoving the door open, revealing our room. It had two king sized beds next to each other on the left and a pull out couch shoved up against the back wall. A small television hung on the wall with a huge crack through the middle of it.