On My Own

Hours later, Matt pulled up to the hospital. His hand cupped one side of my face and he stared into my eyes. “Call me when you’re home so I can sleep peacefully,” he told me. “And I really hope your Mom feels better soon. Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to your house and stay with you?” I nodded and he gently pressed his lips against mine. I smiled and unbuckled my seatbelt. I hopped out of the truck and felt his eyes on me as I walked into the hospital.

I glanced back and saw him pulled away. Sighing, I counted to ten before leaving the hospital and headed towards Super 8. I walked in the lobby and waved at the night concierge. “Isn’t it passed your bedtime?” He chuckled.

“Psh, bedtime smed-time,” I replied, walking by and to my room. I opened the room with my key and tossed my bag to the side. I collapsed on my bed and didn’t bother going under the covers. I rested my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.

I heard something fall and sat up. I saw a dark figure and screamed bloody murder. The figure jumped and something flew out of the person’s hands. They ran out of my room and I flipped on the light. My room was trashed. Clothes were everywhere. Papers were thrown around the room. My purse was thrown across the room. I heard a knock and screamed.

“Are you okay?” It was the concierge. He turned on the lights. “I could hear you scream from all the way in the lobby and then the room next to you called.”

“Th-there was someone in here,” I explained. The concierge picked up the hotel phone on my nightstand and called the police. He handed me my glasses and I slid them on. He got me some water and I sipped it slowly, trying to calm myself down. The police arrived and I gave them the best description I could. I started cleaning up my room, packing everything in my bag as I packed.

I picked up my wallet. A single twenty was hanging out of it. “No,” I whispered. There had been a few hundred dollars in here! Hundreds. I stared at the single twenty and put my head in my hands. “I’m fucked.” The police and concierge looked at me. “He stole over three-hundred dollars from me.”

“We’ll try our best to find him, ma’am,” a police officer said. I sighed and nodded. The concierge told me that my room would be free for the night because of the robbery and I handed him my room key. I shoved my wallet in my bag and swung it over my shoulder. I left Super 8 with no plans on returning, even if I could find a way to afford staying there. I wasn’t going to risk being robbed again.
I walked up and down the boardwalk for a few hours as the rest of Huntington Beach woke up. I watched people walk around and jog by. I saw some families arrive at the beach, picking out the perfect spot to spend the day. Small stands began opening and the beach was alive.

I headed towards central downtown. All the stores were open, but I only glanced in their windows. Business people and shoppers all passed by me. Most of them were on their cell phones and a lot of them managed to bump into me somehow. I crossed streets and got honked at a couple of times, but just flipped them off.

I passed the bus station. I passed by it, again. And I walked by it four more times. I finally turned on a different street and walked through neighborhoods. I sighed at the large villas and bungalows. I glared at a mom and her teenage daughter walking by. And I scowled at a few siblings playing basketball in their driveway.

“I hate Grandma! She’s claiming I hate her again because I was just watching television and didn’t talk to her,” I groaned, sitting on the plastic chair.

“Shut. Up. Get. Out.” My sister glared at me as she lit up a cigarette. My jaw dropped and I stared at her in disbelief. “You heard me. Get. The. Fuck. Out. That is your grandmother and you don’t fucking bad mouth her in my house. Out.”

“Fine,” I said, getting up and slamming the door behind me. Tears filled my eyes as I started walking towards Jeremy’s house across the neighborhood. I wiped my eyes multiple times as I walked. When I arrived at Jeremy’s, his parents waved to me and I walked right into the house. Jeremy was on his bed, watching a movie. I crawled in his bed and explained had happened.

“Brittany, you need to get out of there,” he whispered, wrapping an arm around me. “You know my parents would let you stay here. Or Megan’s. Even Jessie, Anissa, and Katy could let you stay at their place. You’d be so much better off.”

My stomach began growling around late afternoon. I slowly walked across Huntington Beach, towards a street that was full of restaurants. I passed by the nice ones and went into a McDonald’s. I ordered myself a cheeseburger and a large soda. I handed my twenty over and sighed when the cashier gave me my seventeen dollars and sixty-seven cents change.

I walked around some more. After an hour, I realized I was heading towards the beach. I walked to the beach and sat down on the sand. I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on top of them. I watched the sun set and watched the moon rise.

I had nowhere to go. My good luck was finally gone and now I was screwed. I had only seventeen dollars and everything that was in my bag. I had no bed and no roof. I was officially living my worst nightmare. And I was scared of how it would end.