He was really familiar with places here in Atlanta 'cause this was where he was born and brought up. But he wasn't that familiar with the street he was in right now, to locate the closest hotel, he'll have to ask people. Luckily, they were still people walking about even at this time of the night...it wasn't too late in the night though.
The first person he asked wasn't rude to him, the person was a female and she gave him the direction he needed. Following the direction closely, he located the nearest hotel, and as he was about to stroll into the compound, a security guard stopped him and inquired,
"Young boy, what are you doing here? Where are your parents? Don't you have one?".
All these questions at the same time? What does he even care? Well, he'll have to lie,
"My parents aren't with me right now, they are in Detroit city. I came here to visit my uncle from Detroit city. The bus recently dropped us at a bus station, and as you can see, it's already late in the night. I wanna rest my head somewhere, then tomorrow, I'll find my way to my uncle's dwelling. That's why I'm here, or am I not old enough to sleep in a hotel?".
The only lie in James' statement was about his parents being in Detroit city, they were dead. But the part of him coming to Atlanta to visit his uncle was true, but it wouldn't be a friendly visit though. The guard rubbed his jaw with his fingers and uttered,
"Hmm, you can go in".
James wasted no time as he walked into the compound of the hotel and entered the main building. Stepping feet into the hotel, he walked straight to the receptionist's desk to book a room. He knew that about a hotel, he had been told severally that customers are to book their rooms with the receptionist. The hotel wasn't crowded, and it wasn't empty either.
The female receptionist was attending to a customer when James reached her desk, so he waited. After some minutes, the receptionist was done attending to the customer as the man walked out of the hotel, seems like he checked out. Now, it was James' turn, the receptionist weirdly glanced at him and inquired,
"Young boy, what do you want?".
"I wanna book a room, I just want to spend the night here before leaving tomorrow morning". James responded.
"Where are your parents?". The receptionist asked, James had the feeling that she would ask this question just as the security guard asked him.
Well, since she asked, he was gonna answer her the same way he answered the guard, there's no way she wouldn't believe it. He told her everything the same way he told the guard as she kept on nodding her head. After he was done talking, she asked,
"Do you have enough money with you to secure a room for yourself?".
The same underestimation, she thought he wasn't with enough money.
"Yeah, most likely". James retorted, "How much does it cost?".
She told him the price, and it was something he could handle, it wasn't even half of the money he had on him. He brought out the amount of money and handed it over to her and asked,
"So where is my room?".
"Go to room 32 upstairs, it's vacant. Here is the key". The receptionist said handing the key over to James.
James collected the key from her, strolled to the hotel's staircase, and began mounting it. After mounting it, he began searching for room 32, and not even up to a minute of searching, he found it. Then he unlocked the door and entered it. He walked straight to the bed and landed flat on it, it was so soft and comfortable. He wasn't feeling hungry, so he felt he didn't need to order anything.
The food he ate at the restaurant and the fast-food he ate on the bus were still present in his stomach. He began thinking about how everyone in the orphanage home would be feeling by now 'cause of what he did. They would have seen the note he left, and that would only make them confused. They wouldn't understand what he meant by, 'There was a lot they didn't know about him'.
By now, the housemother would have noticed that the money in the drawer was incomplete, yeah, the 400 dollars he took from it. They'll all be confused, that's for sure, why did he do all these?
'There's a lot I've got to handle, I can't stay with you guys'. James thought to himself.
James kept on lying on the bed, and after some minutes, he dozed off. Due to the stress of traveling from Detroit city down to Atlanta, he was a bit stressed out, so he woke up a little late the next day...the journey was a long one. Waking up, he dashed into the bathroom to brush his teeth and take his bath.
Feeling refreshed, he came out of the bathroom, dried himself, and dressed up. He was hungry, he needed to eat something before checking out of this hotel, so he departed from his room, strolled to the staircase, and dismounted it. He sauntered to the receptionist's desk and voiced out,
"I'm hungry, are there foods available in this hotel?".
"Yeah, sure, what do you want to eat?".
He ordered for one of his favorite foods, but this was the receptionist' reply,
"We don't have that here, it isn't available at the moment. Here is the food menu, the foods we have available in this hotel".
Then she handed the food menu over to him.
'Why are my favorite foods scarce? The restaurant doesn't have them, and so as this hotel also?". James thought to himself.
He scanned through the food menu and chose one of the foods on it. The receptionist smiled and said,
"The food server would bring it to your room".
Hearing that, James sauntered over to the staircase and began mounting it, then he strolled to the door of his room and entered it. Sitting on the bed, he began thinking of what next to do once he gets out of this hotel. Should he head straight to Uncle Fred's house or head over to the apartment they were living in before their deaths?
After contemplating it for some minutes, he decided that he was gonna head straight to their apartment once he gets out of this hotel. He needed to know what happened after their deaths, have Uncle Fred being caught and apprehended? Were the cops even investigating the case at all? A knock was heard on the door, seems like the food server had come to give him his food. He strolled to the door and opened it, and it was just as he speculated...the female food server was standing in front of the door holding his food on a tray.
He collected the tray from her and thanked her with a smile on his face. Taking the tray of food inside, he balanced on the bed, placed the food in front of him, and began eating. After eating, he drank the bottled water the server brought along with the food. His stomach was filled up, it's about time for movement.
He dropped the tray on the floor, counted the money he had left on him, placed the backpack on his back, and departed from the room. Getting downstairs, he settled the bill for the food he ate and departed from the hotel and its compound. Now, his destination was their apartment, he contemplated if he was gonna trek there or take a taxi.
Then it dawns on him that he wouldn't be able to trek there 'cause he wasn't familiar with this boulevard, he'll have to take a taxi. He couldn't find any taxi moving about on the street, so he trekked until he arrived at the nearest highway before stopping a taxi. He told the cabman where he was heading to and the cabman told him to hop in, he did so before the cabman sped off.
It was a long drive before they arrived at the boulevard, a 45 minutes drive, trekking it would have been a bad option. James came out of the taxi and paid the cabman 'causing the cabman to drive off. He glanced around, yeah, this was his boulevard, the boulevard he and his parents had been residing in for the past 7 years before tragedy struck. No one would recognize him 'cause he was in another body.
He strolled until he arrived at the building of their apartment, it was a three-storey building and their apartment was on the second floor. He began mounting the staircase until he arrived at the balcony of the second floor. Then he sauntered to the door of their apartment, and according to what he was seeing, seems like the apartment wasn't vacant...people were in it.
He knocked on the door, there was no response at first. Knocking for the second time, the door opened. He couldn't believe who his eyes were seeing...Aunt Jane?