Immediately, James took one of the backpacks in the room and packed in some clothes in it. Then he put in the toothbrush and toothpaste the housemother gave to him and some other things he'll need into the backpack. After that, he changed his clothes.
The teens in the room were sound asleep, they had no single idea that James was making preparations to run out of the orphanage home. And James tried his very best not to make too many sounds so as not to wake them. Now, he had packed the stuff he'll need into the backpack and he had changed his clothes. But there was still something important he needed....that's money.
Yeah, he needed money, he can't just run out of the orphanage barehanded....that would be really bad. He knew that at this moment, he would have to steal, he would have to take money that wasn't his. But he had no choice, running away into the streets without a single penny on him would be a really bad idea. But where was he gonna get money?
The only thing he'll have to start doing right now was to enter from room to room in search of money. The orphan's rooms were excluded, he'll only search the rooms of the housemothers and workers. Slowly and gently, he walked out of the room without making a single sound carrying the backpack along with him. He strolled along the passage and decided to enter one of the rooms on the left side of the passage.
He rested his right ear on the door of the room to know if he would hear talking or any sound to indicate if someone was awake or not...but he heard nothing. Very carefully, he twisted the knob of the door and opened it without making much sound. Two male workers of the orphanage were sleeping on different beds in the room. After glancing around the room for some seconds, James noticed a cupboard at the side of the room.
'Money could be in there'. He thought to himself.
Then he began tiptoeing towards the cupboard. Arriving at the cupboard, he began opening the drawers one by one in search of money, but he found none. Instead, what he found in the drawers were heavy books and pens. He glanced around the room once again to see if he would find maybe little change on the floor, bed, and so on...but he found nothing. Looks like there was no money in this room.
He didn't have time to start searching their bags, so he began tiptoeing out of the room. After stepping out of the room, he closed the door gently and turned his attention to another room in the passage. Gently, he strolled to the door of the room and rested his ear on it to know if anyone was awake, most likely, no one was, he heard no sound. So he opened the door gently and stepped into the room.
Three housemothers were sleeping soundly on separate beds, and the room was more vast than the one he entered previously. Just like the previous one, he noticed a white cupboard at the side of the room. He'll have to check if money was inside the cupboard or not, so he tiptoed until he arrived at the cupboard.
Then he opened the drawer at the top of the cupboard, but there was no money in it, all he saw were blank papers. He opened the second drawer, not even a single change was in it. He opened the third and final drawer with the mindset that money wouldn't be in it also, but to his greatest surprise, he found money in it. And it wasn't a little amount, calculating all the money in the drawer, it amounted to Two Thousand dollars.
Surely, the money was for the upkeep of the orphanage. Money they were gonna use in purchasing foodstuff for the kids, and also for doing other essential stuff. James' conscience beat him knowing that he was gonna take out of the money. He knew that what he was about to do now was wrong, but he'll have to do it.
After contemplating how much he was gonna take from the money, he took an amount of 400 dollars and put it in his pocket. Then he arranged the money and closed the drawer gently, then he tiptoed out of the room and closed the door behind him without making any sound. Now, it was about time to move out of the edifice. But he felt like it would be really unfair to leave without leaving a note. So he decided to leave a note before evacuating the edifice.
He strolled back to the door of his room, opened it, and entered it. The teens were still sleeping soundly, none of them were even showing signs of waking up. He took a piece of paper, searched for a pen and found one, then he wrote on the paper,
'Sorry for leaving just like that and taking money that wasn't mine. After all you guys did for me while I was in coma, this was how I chose to repay you guys. But there is a lot you guys don't know about me. Once again, sorry for leaving just like that'.
After he was done writing, he placed the paper on his bed and walked out of the room. Yeah, there was a lot they didn't know about him, Michael wasn't Michael anymore. The entrance to coming out of the edifice was locked, but thank goodness, the key was hanged on the door so anyone that wakes up first could easily access the key and open the door.
James took the key and unlocked the door, then he hanged it carefully from where he took it before stepping out of the edifice. He closed the door gently after stepping out of the building. Now, everywhere was dark, he couldn't even sight a single soul outside, but that didn't stop him as he strolled out from the front of the edifice and onto the street.
The street was completely silent also as there wasn't even a single soul walking about on it. Well, why should anyone be sauntering about on the street by this time? it was really late in the night. As James sauntered carrying the backpack on his back, he kept on thinking about how he was gonna revenge against Uncle Fred. He planned to head straight to Atlanta, that's where he and his parents were living happily before Uncle Fred murdered them.
And also, that's where Uncle Fred was residing with his family. Then he thought of something that he didn't think about all this while. Their dead bodies, what happened to them? Yeah, his dead body and his parent's own, what happened to them? Did his parent's relatives even care about burying them? Were the cops even investigating who killed them? Did anyone even noticed that all three of them were lying dead in their apartment?.
Those were the questions running through James' mind, but there were no answers to them. He'll have to get to Atlanta to find out? He'll have to board a public bus that would drive him straight to Atlanta tomorrow, at least, he's got cash with him. He knew that walking on the street like this won't do him any good, he'll have to rest his head somewhere then head over to the nearest bus station tomorrow.
He kept on walking until he saw an uncompleted building, he'll have to spend the night there. It might even be dangerous for him to keep on walking about by this time of the night, there could be dangerous people lurking about. He sauntered over to the uncompleted building and checked around to see if he could find a nice spot to sleep on. He found one, the spot wasn't that great to sleep on, but it was manageable. It was better than the rest, the other areas were rough.
He first checked his pocket to see if the 400 dollars were intact, and they were. Then he placed the backpack on the ground, laid on the ground, and placed his head on the backpack....it was gonna serve as a pillow. Within few minutes of lying on the ground, he dozed off.
*********
Waking up the next morning, the first thing he did was to check the money in his pocket to make sure they were intact, and they were. Who knows, someone could have crept into the uncompleted building while he was asleep and take the money from his pocket. Glancing outside, he sighted a few people walking about.
"Surely, they'll be looking for me in the orphanage". James thought to himself.
His plan right now was to head over to the nearest bus station to board a bus that would drive him straight to Atlanta. But first of all, he has to eat something, he was hungry. Finding a restaurant was his agenda right now, he's got to eat something, he's got money. Immediately, he took the backpack from the ground and wore it on his back. Then he combed his hair and did some other stuff before walking out of the uncompleted building.