Unwillingness to help.

"You guys have a request? Spill it out then, am all ears". The receptionist permitted.

James hesitated for a bit before voicing out, "Umm...right now, we are totally broke, there's not even a single penny on us. So we just wanna ask if it's possible to allow us spend the night in one of the rooms for free".

The man bent his head a little, James and Simon noticed that he bent his head to smile. He raised his head and inquired of them, "Can I ask you guys a question?".

Simon and James glanced at themselves before retorting in unison, "Sure".

"What do you guys think? Am I the owner of this hotel?".

"From what we are seeing, you ain't the owner of this hotel, you are just an employee here". James responded.

"So you guys know that, and you want me to give out a room for you guys to occupy for free. Don't you know that I record every single booking that is being done in this hotel? And the owner of this hotel checks them out consistently. So now, what you guys are saying is for me to permit you two to spend the night in one of the hotel rooms, then in the record, I'll put it that you guys paid for the room when you didn't. So adding everything up together, you guys are telling me to be dishonest".

Now, this dude was good at making them look bad, his detailed explanation was one of a kind. James and Simon were short of words, they didn't know what to say. What the guy was saying was true anyway, but wasn't he considering what they told him and the fact that he was acquainted with them a little? Simon knew that something must have to be said, so he spoke up though he was short of words some seconds ago.

"Don't take it like you are being dishonest, just take it like you are trying to help us. As of now, we don't know a single safe place where we can spend the night, and we've been swindled of the last money we had on us. You know that if we have money, we'll pay for the room we wanna occupy. Please help us out, take it like you are rendering help to helpless people. As early as possible tomorrow, we'll leave".

After making that plea, Simon had confidence that his statement would reach the receptionist's heart, but it didn't. Instead, he threw questions at them,

"Come to think of it, where are your parents? Don't you guys have parents? You both have just been roaming about, where do you reside in particular?".

James and Simon glanced at themselves, why does everyone keep asking this question? He was a bit dumb. Hadn't he discerned by now that something was not right about the both of them? They had been carrying backpacks from one place to another. Hadn't he discerned that they were homeless? What they told him just now about them getting swindled was enough to make him know that they were homeless. Dumb.

Simon bent his head a little, he thought his plea would get to the man's heart, but it didn't, instead, he was asking them questions. James scratched his head once again and retorted,

"Umm...about our parents and all that, men, it's a really long story. Please, help us out, let's spend the night in one of the rooms. Please".

"No, I can't".

"Please". James pleaded once again, they really needed this.

The man's face became serious, "No, I won't be dishonest. You guys can leave now".

From the man's facial expression, James and Simon had already discerned that he had no plans of allowing them make use of one of the rooms for free, so they began sauntering out of the hotel. Frustration was evident on their faces, what were they gonna do now? Why was no one willing to help them? Maybe, this was the result of stealing money and running from the places they found themselves in.

"What are we gonna do now?". Simon inquired of James.

"You've spent the night in an uncompleted building before, right?". James asked Simon.

"Yeah, we've talked about that before". Simon responded.

"And you've also spent the night in a bus, right?".

"Yes, what's your point?".

James broke the news, "Seems like that's what we'll have to do, we have to spend the night in either an uncompleted building or in a vacant bus".

"That's the only way". Simon agreed.

"There's nothing more we can do apart from that. No one wants to offer us a job, and that f**king receptionist doesn't want to help us out, he keeps on talking about being dishonest". James let out, frustration evident in his face and tone of voice.

The both of them began sauntering about in the street in search of either an uncompleted building or a vacant bus where they could spend the night. At this moment, they didn't care if anyone sees them entering an uncompleted building or a bus when they find one. People were walking about on this particular street, but if they find a bus or uncompleted building in this street, they would enter it even if eyes were watching.

They had been sauntering for minutes now, but they hadn't found either a vacant bus or uncompleted building, and they were really tired. They were tired for two main reasons, the first one was that they were hungry, especially James. And they knew that they would keep feeling hungry for the whole of today, they've got no food on them and they've got no money to buy food.

Secondly, they were frustrated, they didn't get a job today, and they weren't sure if they'll get one tomorrow, a daily paying job at that. And without a job, they'll keep on being cashless, they'll keep on being stranded, thinking about that was adding to their tiredness. But they need to find one of those, so they kept on strolling and searching.

Then they arrived at a certain junction, since they had been walking straight for some minutes now without finding what they were looking for, they cornered following the other street that made part of the junction. At first, they were seeing buildings while strolling along that street, and everywhere was brightened 'cause of the street lights. But after some minutes of sauntering, they arrived at a certain area that was dark and seemed deserted.

There were buildings around that area, but no one was living in them. Not only that, weeds seem to be sprouting around that area. James and Simon couldn't help but glance around, then James uttered,

"Wow! this area is really deserted".

"Yeah, I wonder why. First time seeing a deserted area in Detroit city". Simon added.

They could easily spend the night in one of the buildings 'cause all were deserted, but they sighted two vacant abandoned buses. They strolled over to one of the buses and scanned it, it was suitable to spend the night in. All the chairs in it were intact, but it was clear that it had been abandoned. The other bus wasn't that suitable to spend the night in 'cause it was empty of chairs, and they didn't want to sleep on the floor of the bus.

So they kept the deserted buildings aside and decided to spend the night on the bus. One of the doors of the bus had been damaged, so they easily gained access to it. Entering the bus, they immediately took off their backpacks and sat on chairs very close to each other, carrying these backpacks around wasn't that easy. James placed his palms on his stomach and said,

"I am really hungry". It was evident from his facial expression that he was hungry.

"I am too, but no hope of eating anything". Simon added.

"No one agreed to offer us a job, no one was willing to render help to us. Why?". James queried, he was asking this though he knew the answer to it, he was just frustrated.

"That's 'cause the world is wicked, people lack empathy, and we were being underestimated a lot". Simon answered, frustration evident in his facial expression also.

James just nodded his head, he had nothing to say, what Simon just said was the absolute truth. Then Simon inquired of James,

"Do you regret running from the orphanage home?".

That question made James glance at Simon, he wasn't really glancing at him before though they were conversing. James sighed, shook his head, and responded,

"No, I don't. You know why? 'cause am ain't willing to continue the life of the boy I transmigrated into. I need to strive to achieve my dream of becoming an artiste, I need to avenge the deaths of my parents. I won't be able to achieve all these staying at the orphanage. Though things are going really bad for us now, I don't regret it".

After making that statement, he then threw his question at Simon,

"Do you regret running from the Lewis family?".