Motel 7 ➳ h.s.

T E N

I am so sorry about my lack of updating, I've been having a really hard time lately mentally and physically and senior year is impossibly hard! But enough excuses, I guess. Thank you to all Of you who have stayed by my side through all of this and have continued to support my stories, I love you!!!!

Ps. I've decided to take a little bit of a twist and write this chapter in third person. Let's see how it goes. I would love to know how you feel about it, because maybe I will use it more often then?

-

It had been exactly 28 hours after she had left her beloved home.

As promised, the landlord had come past at the time he had warned, and noticing that she was not yet gone, he threatened to phone to police, if she was not gone within the hour.

With a suitcase as heavy as a ton of lead, three coats on to protect her from the cold, and because she had run out of storage space and a box full of her most precious memories in her arms, she made her way out of the door.

She turned back to look at her house one last time, taking in a sharp breath, and with it, sucking in all of the memories that she had created with her mother and brother between those four walls, and with that, she turned back around, and began her journey.

~

It had been almost six full hours of searching.

But despite how full the hours had felt, Lola's stomach felt quite the opposite, Fleur's words about her being too fat resonating in her mind, keeping her from wanting to eat enough to make her fat. And along with her empty stomach, followed her hollow heart. Empty from every emotion other than pain.

It was only after those six long, full hours of searching, that Lola had come across a small, run down Motel 7 on the outskirts of her town. As she slowly made her way through the area, she was aware of the fact that it looked like a bad neighborhood, but nonetheless, she continued to walk, knowing that she did not have so many options that she could be fussy about where she were to live for the next few days, weeks or months, perhaps.

With those thoughts in mind, she made her way up the steps of the "Starlet 7 Motel's" front entrance, pushing the cracked- glass door open, to reveal a cozy looking lobby, filled with the scent of a couple of rotting rats. However, the coziness that encompassed the hall was not one of a warm home, like the one she had just left, but rather just gave off an impression of fake coziness, in an attempt to lure in customers.

"Good afternoon, Madamoiselle," a voice spoke.

Lola looked away from the lobby, and towards the desk that sat on the far end of the hall, with a lady sitting right behind it, her elbows leaning against the desk.
To Lola, the thought that crossed her mind just then was extremely rude, but she couldn't help but think about the fact that the lady behind the counter looked almost as rugged as the desk she sat behind itself. The desk looked as if it had been pulled out of a dumpster, with one leg missing, replaced with an old soda can, duck-taped to the table, keeping it stable, which it most definitely needed under the weight of the lady leaning against it. Another thought that crossed Lola's fragile mind, which she shuddered at thinking.

Lola understood what it felt like to have strangers judge her. She understood how it pained her when people gave her strange looks, or spoke their horrid thoughts about her out loud, and she tried her best to keep her negative thoughts to a minimum.

"H-hi, um, I-I need a room, I guess..." Lola mumbled out, still caught up in her thoughts about Asher, her mother and school.

"Of course, Madamoiselle, would you prefer our smaller rooms, or one of the double bed suits?" The lady asked, and this time, Lola began to slowly moved closer towards her, and away from the entrance to the Motel.

As she did so, the poignant smell worsened, and she prayed to the universe that whichever room she ended up in did not contain the same repulsive smell.

As Lola moved closer to the desk, she took a good look at the lady behind the desk. A middle aged woman, with curly, auburn hair, tied up in an extremely messed up bun upon her head. She had a face covered by caked make-up and a crooked tooth, smeared with the red lipstick that messily covered her chapped lips. The large lady smiled at Lola, and Lola's heart warmed inside, despite all the negative thoughts she had managed to conjure up about the woman owing to her anger.

The lady had a motherly look to her, and it warmed her heart because it had been an awfully long time since Lola had been smiled at, especially by another woman.

Lola zoned back into the conversation that she was currently taking part in, before answering the lady with a question of her own. "W-what is your cheapest room?" She asked. She had to be smart, here. She only had a small amount of money from her mother and even if she did manage get a job, she had no idea when she would get payed with cash.

"That would be 7 euros, Madamoiselle. Not the loveliest room, but if it's cheap you're looking for, then that's the one," the woman answered.

"Alright then, I'll take it," Lola responded, with absolutely zero enthusiasm found in her voice.

"Wonderful, here is your key," she said, pulling open a drawer, shuffling through a pile of keys before finding the correct one and handing it to me. "Anything else, Madam?"

"Uh, if I stay longer than a day, how does the payment work?" I asked, embarrassment clear in my voice.

"You can come down and pay each night, Madamoiselle," she answered me, a smile pressed on her lips, showing off the lipstick stain on her crooked tooth once again.

"T-thank you, Madamoiselle, I'll see you tomorrow morning then," Lola said, handing her the seven euros which she owed and bidding her a goodbye as She made my way over to her new "home" for who knows how long; her stomach growling like thunder as she walked, her knees almost giving in from a loss of energy.

But Lola believed that she was fat.
And that she was poor and homeless now too.
Therefore, food was not an option to her.

With a grumbling stomach, a headache, tear stained cheeks, and arms filled with heavy bags, Lola pushed the key into the keyhole, jiggling it around slightly, before hearing the click, and pushing the door open.

-

Sooooooo, it wasn't an awfully long chapter and I must apologize for that, but even though I do have a tiny bit of free time, I don't have hours of it, and I had to write what I could within the time I have been given.

Thank you all so much for reading, please don't forget to vote and comment, it helps me out so much to hear your feedback!

XXX