O Death ⇉ Paul Lahote

two

Instead of walking to Washington State, Heidi walked to the nearest town and caught a bus from city to city until she hit a bump in the road in Wallace, Idaho. Her usual buses would arrive in one city and Heidi would have a few minutes before her next bus arrives to take her to her next destination but for a change, she would have to wait until the next afternoon for her bus to arrive and take her to Seattle and then she'd take another bus to Olympia and take yet another bus to Forks then eventually find her way to La Push from there, she hadn't fully planned out how she would get from Forks to La Push but she was sure that she'd think of something when she arrived.

Heidi had checked herself into a cheap motel and finally changed out of the same clothes she'd worn for almost a week straight and have a well needed shower and a good night's sleep. She turned on the TV to a random channel to end the silence as she removed her clothes and walked into the bathroom.

After her shower, Heidi lay on the mat covering her bed and stared up at the white ceiling above her, allowing herself to finally relax and think about what her parents would be doing at that moment – would they be looking for her? Or had they forgotten her already? Heidi didn't like to think of those things, they would just end up making herself upset and nobody would be there to console her.

Sitting up on her bed, Heidi's eyes glanced towards her shoes; knowing she'd need another pair due to wearing them for so long, standing in puddles and walking in them for an extended number of time but she knew that she didn't have enough money to spend. Out of the $300 she had at the beginning of her journey, she only had around $50 left and that needed to last her until she arrived in La Push so she was stuck with her broken shoes until further notice.

After eating a small packet of cookies she had bought at a bus station in Montana, Heidi finally turned off her TV and closed her blinds to sleep peacefully for the first time in a week. She dreamed of the calm blue sea and the warm blue skies, she dreamed of the summertime and how beautiful it always was in Wisconsin. There was no pain, no sadness in her dream world; just the earth beneath her feet and the endless skies above her, and everything was peaceful for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Heidi's alarm woke her up almost an hour before her bus was scheduled to arrive, just to make sure that she was ready for when it did come. After her shower; Heidi got dressed into a simple t-shirt with a plaid shirt over the top, a pair of denim shorts with tights underneath before slipping her feet into her boots. She looked around the room one last time before gathering her belongings and walked down to reception to hand back her key and give them thanks for letting her stay at such short notice.

Stepping into the sunlight, Heidi instantly regretted not bringing sunglasses with her as she used her hand to shield the sun from her face while she walked through the busy town towards the bus station.

Admittedly, Heidi rather liked the busy streets of the towns and cities she went through on her journey. They made her feel invisible instead of being stared at while she was in her hometown; she knew that she would miss the big cities once she returned home – if she did return home, that is. She could completely lose herself in the chaos of the busy streets, and she loved the feeling of nobody staring at her – she was just a girl in a town, walking down the street and that was all she was.

After catching her bus, it took almost six hours to get to Seattle and after changing buses, it took another hour to get to Olympia where she changed buses once again and that took another two hours just to get to Forks. But as much as Heidi wanted to book a hotel, she knew she couldn't afford to spend the night in one – even the cheapest of places was over budget. Instead, she decided to roam the quiet streets and take everything in.

Admittedly, Heidi had bought a disposable camera in Wisconsin and took pictures of almost everything. Most of her photos would've been of sign posts of where she had been on her journey, just to remind her of how far she had come. Once everything would be over, Heidi decided to find the nearest photography store and develop the photos.