The Beauty of the Broken Shells

Chapter 3

I awoke early the next morning and got dressed. I opened my door but couldn't open it all the way. Cody was asleep. I nudged Cody's shoulder with my foot. I heard him groan.

"What was that for?" Cody whispered exaspertly.

"You were in the way of the door, Cody." Mel said.

"I was protecting you from the doctors." Cody exclaimed.

He got up and brushed off his feet. Then he looked at me and shook his head. If only I could figure out what was going on in that brain of his. He took me by the hand, and led me away from my room. He took me down a hallway that I had never been through before. It looked nice and inviting. There were rainbow colors on the walls, and colored pictures everywhere.

"Why haven't I seen this before?" Asked Mel in wonder.

"This is the part of the hospital that the really sick, are." Said Cody sadly.

We walked on and I didn't notice any staff. I was worried we would get caught. But we walked on and Cody took me aside. He looked at me with a strange look. I gave him a puzzled look.

"When did you enter the hospital Mel?" Cody asked.

"Um...I think Tuesday." Mel said questionably.

"Ok, that means that you can get out soon. I'll take you out, when the staff aren't around." Cody said.
               
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We waited til the night, and went through the main entrance and got out easy. I thought too easy. But Cody said we were fine. We just needed a ride to somewhere. We walked from the hospital to the gas station and asked directions to the nearest bus station.

The gas station clerk looked at us and said, "Oh about two miles west of here."

"Thank you very much, sir." Said Cody.

We walked the two miles in no time and found the bus station.Do we have any money, I thought. We couldn't go far and the hospital would be looking for us. We walked up to the ticket station. The clerk asked for a destination.
I looked at Cody.

"We'd like two tickets to Richmond, VA." Said Cody.

"That will be $92.50 please." Said the clerk.

Cody got out his money and to my surprise, he had exactly, $92.50.

"Thank you very much." said the Clerk.

We walked towards the bus, and gave the driver our tickets. He punched a hole in the tickets and gave them back to us.

"How did you have the money to get bus tickets, Cody." Mel asked.

"I hid all the money in my wallet in my pocket before they took my belongings." Cody whispered.

"Ok." Mel replied.

It was a long ride from Athens, OH to Richmond, VA which took about 7h 40m . When we got to Virgina, we caught a cab to the nearest hotel. We got to the hotel and asked for two rooms, very close to each other. The clerk checked her computer and gave us rooms 208 and 209. Then she gave us each our key. We walked to the elevator. Cody pressed 2 for floor two. Then we each went to our separate rooms. I settled in and got ready for bed. I went to the phone and dialed the phone number for room 209. Cody picked up and answered.

"Yes, Mel what's up?" Cody asked.

"I can't sleep." Mel responded.

"Well, try to think about where you want to go, while we're here in Virgina." Cody replied.

"Well I want to go to the beach." Mel said excitedly.

"That's fine, Mel, we can do that tomorrow." Cody said.