Orlando

Val’s POV

The next morning, I found myself in a strange room. I freaked out momentarily, jerking awake in the bed. I gazed around the fancy, yet plain room, noticing the small desk that wasn’t mine first. I let his mind and eyes wander, spotting the dresser with the TV on it. That wasn’t mine either.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks as I remembered where I was. I had checked into my hotel yesterday afternoon, after meeting the Jeremy guy in the parking garage. I had then gone straight to my room and stayed there for the remainder of the day.

I had talked to a bunch of people on the phone. First, I called my parents to reassure them that I had gotten there safely. Then I had received a call from Sergei Gonchar, then one from Jamie Benn, which was followed immediately by Tyler Seguin, who had just arrived in Boston and - from the sound of it - had been tackled or attacked by some kind of wild animal named Brad Marchand. After I finished talking to the young man, I hung up and sprawled across my bed, where I had fallen asleep.

I was rather tired from the plane ride and had something called “plane tiredness” or “jet lag.” In Russia, they referred to it as “биоритма.” It was generally caused by a long flight. I had gotten it when I was in the Olympics. I had to fly from Dallas to Russia and back to Dallas again.

Luckily, on vacation, I could actually take a load of and recover like normal. So, I pushed away my uneasiness, remembering where I was and what was going on. I glanced over at the time on the alarm clock, on the bedside table and saw a time of 9:30 am.

“ебать! (Shit!)” I cursed, jumping out of the bed and to my feet.

I had to get ready. I was planning on spending the whole day at Disney World and I didn’t want to miss a minute. I had heard stories - from Jamie and Tyler mostly of course - about the theme parks and the rides and all of the fun. And I was told, that if I was going to Epcot, than I would want to leave early, in order to visit each and every country there. And I wanted to do that.

I snatched my clothes for the day, which were ready for me on the counter and I hopped into the shower. I quickly cleaned myself and dressed myself and then dashed out the door. I had thrown on the same nice grayish blue shirt, like I had worn a few days ago. It was one of my favorite shirts to wear and I had at least three. And plus, I thought it might be nice to wear today, given the temperature outside. Like before, I rolled the sleeves up my arm one-by-one to the elbow and buttoned the material in place. I then made sure that three of the buttons that ran down the center of my shirt were once again left unbuttoned. Under the shirt, I had my shiny gold chain that I always wore around his neck. I had also slipped on a pair of loose, dark colored jean pants.

And luckily, for me, I had made sure to plan ahead and had left all of the things I would need for the day in the car.

A little while later, I was on the road. I had plugged in the address, as best as I could into the GPS and set off, with confidence. I zig-zagged my way through streets in Downtown Orlando, eventually finding that I was going around in a circle. I frowned and tried to follow signs, but my sudden panic was making my brain uncomputable.

Instead I turned the GPS off and tried to figure out where I was. I turned onto another street, gradually emerging onto East Colonial Drive, which ran under the interstate. Now normally, seeing the interstate would be a key to me to get on and take it to figure out where I was, because chances are it would take me out of Downtown. However I didn’t realize that this WAS the highway, instead I thought it was just another road that went over my road. I continued on, along Colonial, thinking that it was the road that would take me to the highway. But after venturing on it for a while, passing Goldenrod, Chickasaw, Dean, and Rouse Roads, I began to have doubts once more.

“Черт, я потерял! (Damn, I’m lost!)” I growled, hitting the steering wheel.

I realized that I was indeed lost and perhaps way off track. I had to stop somewhere and ask for directions. But I wasn’t sure where. I found himself turning left onto a road called Alafaya Trail. I ventured down the road, looking out for a place to stop.

“Что за черт? Где я? (What the hell? Where am I?)”

I continued to drive down the new road, spotting all kinds of college dorms. I deduced from familiar school settings that maybe I was near a school of some kind. A college or university maybe? I saw a sign that read: “University of Central Florida” And I knew what those English words meant.

At a stoplight, I came to a halt and looked to the left of me, out of my driver side window. I saw a cute brunette girl, with her hair looped into a braid and set to her right side of her face. In her hair, appearing to hold it together was a pretty white and teal flower hair thing. She turned to the side and smiled sweetly at me, winking.

I flashed my classic smile back at her, which seemed to make her giggle and blush. I lifted my hand up to wave to her, but she turned back to face forward and launched away. I took the hint and realized that the light was green. I rapidly stepped on the gas, noticing the girl merge into my lane, ahead of me and then make an immediate right at the next light.

I read the sign that said, “University Road”, so I turned right as well. I figured that maybe someone at the college, like the girl, might be able to help me out and give me directions. I tried not to be so obvious or creepy, as I followed her car into a garage.

I glanced at the clock, noticing that the time was almost one o’clock now. I glanced back up and saw the girl pull into a parking spot, confidently. She wasn’t new to the campus like I was that was for sure and it was also a good sign. “Хороший городок. Я должен сделать это быстро. (Nice campus. I got to make this quick.)”

I pulled into a spot a little ways down and got out. I was trembling from my anxiety of getting lost and not knowing where I was, but it felt good to be able to stretch my legs. I saw the girl get out, gathering her things together.

I walked up to her, grinning largely from ear to ear, innocently. She spun around and they almost collided with one another. She gasped, jerking to a halt at once.

“К сожалению. Sorry.”

She shook her head, “It’s alright. You’re the guy I saw at the stoplight, who was looking at me?”

“Yeah.”

“Look buddy, I’m happy that I caught your eye and everything, but I have a boyfriend and I really have to get to class. So, I’m sorry.”

She started to walk off, awkwardly. I bit my lip. I turned and searched my brain for something English, but all I was able to come up with was: “Я заблудился! (I got lost)”

She spun around. “Oh, you’re German...I’m sorry, I don’t speak that. I only speak English.”

I shook my head. “Not German. Russian.”

She shrugged again and walked off, with another apology. The girl kept glancing over her shoulder, giving me an interesting, puzzled look, like she thought I was an alien or a madman. Soon she was gone from sight. I cocked my head, curiously. How was I going to communicate to someone here in order to find out how to get to Disney?

I walked back to the car and got out my visual Disney map from the car. Maybe if I showed someone this, it might help? I also withdrew one of my hockey sticks. I was in foreign territory and if someone attacked me, I would need to defend myself, and I wasn’t exactly one to use my fists. I made sure to lock the car and I walked out of the garage and into the explosion of bright sunlight.