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    Runaway Hotel

    Short stories by
    John W Jarrett

    Part One: On hotels and chain smoking


    Tommy Walker had been homeless for two years, the first week of which he had lived on the streets until one night when a young girl of about fifteen had found him rolled up in a ball under a bridge, she too was a runaway, but unlike him, she seemed to be well fed, clean and well dressed. At first Tommy thought she had just run away, but through the conversation in which she offered him something to eat and drink he found out that she had run away from home two years ago. Tommy was curious about how she had kept so clean and why she had food for someone who had been homeless for two years.
    She explained that she too had been in the same situation, rolled up in a ball under the same exact bridge that they sat under that night, until she was approached by another runaway, exactly the same way as Tommy. After they had talked about the reason that Tommy had ran away from home the girl told him about a place out in the forest, the ‘Runaway Hotel’

    “The Runaway Hotel,” She started as she produced a pack of cigarettes and offered Tommy one to which he greatly accepted, “Was started almost thirty six years ago. A runaway by the name of Jonathan Thomas found the building all dilapidated and he decided to move in, the thing about Jonathan was that he had come from a very rich family that just didn’t care, that being the reason he ran away, before he did however, he withdrew over two years a lot of money from his bank account preparing for the day he grew enough courage to actually do it, to leave his emotionless family.” She stopped to put out her smoke and then continued, “Well, with the money he had stashed he was going to rent a room but couldn’t find a place that didn’t need ID so he went to go and live on the streets, but before his first night he took a walk through the forest and found the rundown house, he moved in and started to do the place up.” She stopped again to light another smoke and offer one again to Tommy to which he thanked her and took it, “Well after a few weeks Jonathan realized that it was a little hard to get everything done by him self so he went out and looked around at the hot spots for other runaways like him self that would want to work for food and shelter, He found a few guys and a couple of girls so the rest of the house didn’t take as long as he originally thought, it only took them all about two years to get the place into a great state on the inside, he decided to keep the outside looking rundown so people wouldn’t stumble upon it, he even went as far as making a secret entrance and making sure that the house was impossible to get into and also that it looked empty from the outside by boarding up the windows tightly so no candle light would escape.” She then stood up and stretched; she looked at him and asked if he would like to come back with her,
    “Sweet yeah” He replied with a smile, “Oh, yeah, I am Tommy by the way” He mentally slapped himself for not introducing himself or even asking her, her name,
    “Yeah, stupid me, I am Mia,” She smiled at him and then they started the long walk to the outskirts of town, “Where was I, oh yeah, well after the house was all done they decided that they couldn’t keep it to them selves as the house was huge and had about sixteen rooms as it was an old Victorian style mansion, so they all went back into town and searched the local hot spots for runaways, they did however decide that they only wanted runaways that deserved to be there, their only rule about picking people was that the person had to have a good reason to be a runaway, just a small fight and they would try to encourage the person to go home and that a small fight was nothing to ruin their lives over, that was the only rule, other than that anyone who was still a ‘Runaway’ and not just homeless was welcome, so basically teenagers only,” they stopped at a set of traffic lights and waited for them to go green, once again Mia lit up a smoke, Tommy was starting to think that she may be a chain smoker or had a really great reason for being homeless and that she must be a nervous wreck inside,
    She continued as they walked across the road, “After the night of searching they all met back at the hotel and introduced there finds to the group, it was still a small group having only added six girls and three guys, but one of the guys would prove to be the most valuable person of them all. Joseph, he was a genius hacked that had runaway from home to stop his jock dad beating him every night for not being sporty enough. Joseph had only been on the streets for a day and so hadn’t sold anything that he had run away with, including his laptop, after tapping a line into the power cables he had already given everyone new identities and also he had the house heritage listed so that it would never be subject to demolish for condo’s or anything like that. So in full he created the sanctuary’s safety and was also able to get power and water hooked up as well as a phone line, well the line was hooked up to a house he had ‘brought’ that technically didn’t actually exist it was way too technical when I was told what he actually did,” She looked a little embarrassed as she continued talking, “All I can tell you is that he set the house up so that it would never be bothered but it also had utilities so it was livable.” The walked up to a towering forest at the edge of town, they had been walking for a good half hour but Mia’s story was so interesting to Tommy that it had only felt like a few minutes.
    “Well fast forward a year and the money started to run low and the house was fuller, everyone had jobs, from house maintenance to cooking and cleaning, everyone was well fed and dressed and everything was clean it was a new start and everyone who came through gained new identities all so Jonathan could put in effect his little plan, he didn’t want to live like this forever, the house would get overcrowded as they would go on hunts once a fortnight for new runaways that needed a new start. Jonathans plan was that after everyone had gained a new life, that they had to get a job and have moved into a place of there own before they turned twenty one, and Jonathan was close, he was twenty and his birthday was only six months away. Well the plan worked and anyone who was over the age of eighteen had to go out and get jobs under their new identities so they could give back to the house, Joseph taught a new member how to do what he did and Jonathan was training his own replacement. Everyone in the house agreed to the terms and the house has lasted this long running under the rules, oh and the final rule of the house is that once you leave, you forget about the house forget it even existed and go on with your life.” Mia finished her story as the walked up to a run down house that looked like it should have fallen down years before, they walked to the side of the house and Mia opened a door that was hidden behind a bush that led to a cellar.

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