After All This Time

Chapter 10

Maddie woke up with a jolt as her alarm went off, ripping her from her wonderful sleep. She sat up turning the alarm off. "God, I hate getting up this early" She groaned as she got up to stretch and rub the sleep from her eyes. She made her way to the shower and turned it on, she then contemplated on a hot or cold shower. 'a cold shower would definitely wake me up, but a warm shower isn't going to make me regret life...' she thought hard for a few minutes. "Fuck it hot shower" she turned the handle to the left. She slipped out of her sleep wear then got in the shower. Her body tensed and her breath hitched. She let out the breath she was holding and tried to relax her body, the water left her skin red. Not wanting to waste too much time she began washing the roots of her hair with her favorite coconut strawberry shampoo. Then she remembered, 'Mikan...where have I heard that before?' she thought hard as she continued her shower.

Thirty minutes later she was finished packing the stuff she took out for the night. Once she was done, she grabbed the room keys and headed to the door. She made her way to the front desk to check out. "Hello, miss." an older man greeted her. "Hello, I'm here to check out" "okay, room number?" "Room 102." she handed the man the room keys. "Madison?" "Yes sir" "alright, you're all set, a bellboy will bring your luggage to your car." the older man said with a kind smile. She thanked the man and headed out to her car.

After a few minutes of waiting a young man brought a cart full of her luggage out to her car. "Madison?" he asked "yes" she grabbed her keys and unlocked her car; the bellboy then helped her load her bags. They finished loading the car and he brought the cart back inside. She got in her car after making sure she had everything. "Five...six, ok I have everything." The car started with a loud roar. She pulled out of the parking lot and checked her phone map, she seen there was a Star Bucks near her. "Am I really about to waste time there?"

"Hi what can I get you?" Yes. The answer is yes, she was. "Hello, may I get a venti iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso with light ice and vanilla sweet cream cold foam?" "of course, anything else?" "Yes, may I also get a croissant?" "of course, that will be 10.40 at the window." She thanked the lady and drove to the window. "Hello, the oat milk espresso with a croissant?" "Yes sir" she handed the man the money and waited. 'I'm honestly surprised they are open at this time' "sorry for the wait, here is your order." "Oh no problem at all, thank you have a great morning." "You as well miss." She took her things and drove out of the drive through. She un-paused her playlist and took a bite of her pastry, she moaned in satisfaction. "God, I fucking LOVE their croissants"

Maddie had been on the road since five AM. She was tired and stiff. She had made a few stops for lunch, gas, and even the bathroom. She just wanted to be in New York already. She checked her waypoint. "God why isn't there hotels around!" she then seen there was a motel an hour away, 'god dammit.' she sighed and made her way to the motel.

Finally, she made it. She checked into the run down motel. Usually, she would go for a nicer place, but it was the only one around and she was going to drop dead if she went on the road any longer. The place was sketchy and almost looked abandoned. She paid, then parked her car in front of room 42, she took all her things to her room just in case.

"Here we go again...."