Leaving California.

Simon knew that even if he had run far from the people chasing him, he wasn't still safe. His pictures were still on social media and someone else could recognize his face. Seems like he'll have to leave this city...no, he must have to leave this city. People in other cities of USA might not be aware of the post and pictures of him on social media. Staying here is risky.

So he'll have to leave the new friends he'd made here in California, the guys that had the same football passion as his. Practicing football with them and improving his skills wouldn't work out anymore, thinking about it made him sad. Surely, the guys would be expecting him the next time they'll visit the football field, but they wouldn't see him. And after waiting for days and weeks without seeing him...disappointment would follow.

They'll take him as the type of guy that doesn't keep to his words. The guy he had close connection with permitted him to constantly join them in the field for football stuff, he spoke in place of his other friends. But Simon just waved it off like that? Did it mean nothing to him? That would be the boy's thinking.

Simon just laid his back on the wall of a building as he thought about all these, the first step he was about to take to achieve his dream was gonna be canceled? He was panting and sweating a little 'cause of the long run, not to talk of the dribbling and all that? It wasn't easy stuff.

If possible, his plan right now was to take a public bus that would drive him out of this city straight to another, any city in the USA. All he wanted was to get out of this city, it would be a very big waste of time for him to escape from the Lewis' house smoothly then get caught and brought back to that same house? But most likely, it wouldn't be possible 'cause most public buses driving to other cities in the USA must have left in the morning.

So the best thing to do was to find a place to spend the night, then as early as possible tomorrow, he'll head straight to a bus station. He began sauntering in search of a hotel, but he bent his head a little so someone that has seen the post and pictures of him on social media wouldn't be able to recognize him. After strolling about for minutes, he found a two-storey building hotel, but he was afraid to enter it.

He feared that someone in the hotel would recognize him once he steps foot into it, maybe one, two, or more people had seen the post and pictures of him on social media. But he'll have to spend the night somewhere? He doesn't have a single plan of spending the night outside since he had money on him and hotels were still open. He was gonna run out of the hotel if anyone in it recognizes him, he was a fast runner.

'Whatever comes'. Simon thought to himself before strolling into the hotel, no guards of any sort stopped him.

Luckily, no one recognized him when he stepped into the main edifice of the hotel, none of them there had seen the pictures of him on social media. Since no one recognized him, Simon didn't waste time securing a room with the receptionist. The receptionist handed his room number and the key over to him, then Simon settled the bill for the room he was about to go occupy before evacuating from the receptionist's presence.

He located the room's number, unlocked it, and entered it. The room he entered was among the rooms downstairs, other ones were upstairs. Entering the room, he took off the backpack from his back and threw it on the bed, carrying this backpack wasn't easy. He then sat on the bed and said to himself,

"Carrying the backpack around isn't easy, but I still used it to escape from those morons trying to catch me. I dribbled every one of them with the backpack on me".

Then he thought of the plan once he successfully gets out of this city of California. He would have to commence everything he wanted to commence here in whatever city he goes to. He wants to start life anew while working to achieve his dream, so he'll have to find a job in whatever city he migrates to and find a mini apartment of his own. Money would do the speaking when it comes to negotiating with the landlord.

He was already taking the step to achieve his dream here in California, the young boys of his age he met who also shared the same passion as his. Being together, they could go places and fly to greater heights, but everything would end here, everything he shared with the boy he had close connection with was gonna end here...they weren't gonna see each other again.

Just like he had plans of starting afresh in this city of California, he'll have to start afresh in whatever city he migrates to. He sighed and laid on the bed, life was biting him hard on the ass. He felt like cooling off in the bathroom and changing his clothes, but he was too lazy to do so.

He was still awake though he was lying on the bed, after some minutes of lying there, he dozed off. He woke up the next day feeling a slight headache, was it the energy he used in running and escaping from those people that was causing this headache? He got up from the bed placing his right palm on his head.

'Maybe all I need is to take a shower, and this headache would stop. I need to pour water on my head'. Simon thought to himself as he undressed and dashed into the bathroom.

Truly, the water helped in reducing the headache, the water oozing out of the shower poured on his head while flowing around his body. He felt refreshed after coming out of the bathroom. Getting to the nearest bus station was the main agenda right now, he doesn't care what city the bus was gonna drive to...all he knew was that he needed to evacuate California. But before he implements his main agenda, he'll have to eat something.

He wasted no time as he departed from his hotel room strolling over to the receptionist's desk. He ordered his favorite food, that's potatoes and red stew. Luckily, it was available in the hotel, so he began strolling back to his room as the receptionist had already informed him that the food server would bring it to his room.

He waited for some minutes before he heard a knock on the door, it was the food server knocking. He opened the door, collected the tray of food from her, and strolled back into the room. Placing the tray on the bed, he sat next to it and began eating. The food was delicious, that's for sure, he licked his mouth a lot while eating. After minutes, he was done eating, now, it was time for him to dress up and evacuate this hotel.

He dressed up in the black hooded clothe he took from Robert's wardrobe, that was the only hooded outfit in the backpack. This hooded clothing would help a lot in covering his identity when he gets outside, this city wasn't still secured for him. He matched the hooded clothe with a pair of black chinos trousers and a black shoe. Now that he was done dressing, he wore the backpack and departed from the room.

He settled the bill for the food he ate before checking out of the hotel. Getting outside, he bent his head a little and began sauntering, the aim was to get to the nearest bus station. As he sauntered, it got to a point where he straightened his head, he felt like the hooded clothing was covering his identity well.

He became alarmed when a couple passed him and were staring at him intently. Walking some meters away from him, he heard the woman saying,

"Honey, isn't that the boy we saw on IG with the caption that he is being searched for?".

"Yeah, that's him, but it's none of our business, let's keep going".

Now, that made Simon bend his head and hasten his pace. He just decided to straighten his head for some minutes, and a couple had already noticed him? He sauntered and sauntered until he located the nearest bus station, he was afraid that someone might recognize him, but no one did. He didn't care what cities these buses were heading to before purchasing a ticket.

Not until he boarded one of the buses and asked the person sitting beside him,

"Please, where is this bus heading to?".

"Detroit City". The person responded.

Detroit city? Well, who cares.