A Beautiful Nightmare

You know those faces you make when you consume something that makes every nerve in your body cringe. It looks similar to the inside of your hand if you cup it slightly. and the first word that comes to your brain is; yuck. 

So bitter

Dawn walked away from that coffee shop with every intention of going back. Even though the small café had horrible tasting coffee and the cupcakes resembled soggy toilet rolls. Dawn just had a habit of not letting things go when they served no purpose, including nutritionally. 

For example, her bottle cap glasses that were supposed to be disposed of three years prior. Her job, even though it's a hole in the wall hotel, she refused to quit and look for anywhere else.  Even her current sweater that had a stain on the front near the bottom she refused to throw out, knowing also that she couldn't afford to replace it. Dawn prayed at night for a change but if a change tripped over in front of her, she would help it first then run away. 

Taking another sip of the coffee, she made the face again. Obviously Jack was on shift today. 

He was the worst barista of them all, never acknowledging his sweat fall into the coffee. The poor worker had a perspiring problem, which caused him to sweat like an polar bear in a summer solstice. Dawn felt sympathetic for him, but a small part of her wanted to tell the young adult to get a rag and wipe that filth off. Lets be honest though, she would never she say things like that. She couldn't even look at him long enough, too afraid of hurting his feelings.

Swallowing with incredible will power and the gift of a light gag reflex, Dawn shook her head and continued her way to a lighter side of town. The town of Weed. 

As if to attest to the name, the residents of Weed were undesirable. A person in the wrong place. People didn't generally leave this town because resources was scarce and saving anything was a nightmare. You could get lower than Weed but you had to survive on dreams. And even though Dawn's glasses were thick, they weren't rose coloured. She had dreams, they were just big enough so they were unobtainable, which kept her safe and unhurt.

Dawn gazed to the hotel as she rounded the corner and assessed it as she walked to the entrance. It was small, the outside of the hotel was painted grey, some patches painted black from spraying over the graffiti and the few windows left were covered from the inside by black tarp and electric tape, but it was familiar.

Walking into the hotel wasn't the thing that made Dawn catch her breath, even though the smell has frequently caught her off guard. It was the being that inhabited the hallway.

What on Weed?

A man. A man who was not high, or gross looking. He was tall and donned dark blue jeans that had grease marks on the butt. And a leather jacket whose collar was flicked up to cover his neck, which Dawn assumed was from the cold weather outside.  Then at the top of this fine, but out of place specimen, his messy hair. 

'Maybe a bikie' she thought. 

Dawn walked around the man towards the desk briskly, leaving enough space in case he lashed out or was in a rush. Enough bikie's frequented the hotel for her to know to keep her wariness about her. She couldn't taken her eyes off him though, to entranced by the foreignness to stop. So in hindsight she deserved what came next. 

All at once her hip bone hit something hard and shot a pain up her side and down her leg, but the momentum of her body kept going. The other side of her body fell to the floor, her other hip bone colliding with the tile floor before the rest of her. Her head hit the wheely chair that is usually placed behind the desk and bounced off the cushion and hit the floor. Then the coffee she's be nursing close to her chest fell back against her and lathered the liquid all over her chest and dripped down. And for the third time today, she made that face again.

In the corner of her vision she saw the man lean over the counter and look down at the spectacle of a woman.

A warm sensational, similar to the on her chest from the coffee, spread from her cheeks to all over the face.

"Good Morning and welcome to Weed hotel. How can i help you?"