Zack was almost to his room when he heard a voice, "Dude can I get a light?". He looked up and saw a man in front of him, looked around his age, maybe a little older. It was pretty dark, so he couldn't tell what he looked like much, but could tell by the way he talked that he was probably a stoner, or just real tired. "Nah man, I don't smoke," said Zack. "Sorry." His dad smoked sometimes, usually at night in the garage because his mom didn't like it at all. He had a smoke with his father once in the garage on one of the very few occasions his dad wasn't being a complete @#!*% . Zack hated the cigarette, and decided to never touch them again.

He turned to the right and put the card in the door's lock. He tried it three times and it didn't work. He tried it another few times the other way, but it wouldn't work in any way he tried it. He finally dropped the card and kicked the door in frustration. He was so tired and had gone through a whole day switching smelly bus by smelly bus, and just wanted to lie down. After he calmed down, he picked the key back up and walked past the man and back to the lobby, slammed the key down on the counter and said with an annoyed voice, "The key won't work man, can I get another?"
The man was sleeping on the desk, and lifted his head up quickly. "Uh, no man we only have one key per room."
"Uh, well this one won't work, so what am I supposed to do?" yelled Zack.
"I can give you your money back," siad the man, coughing.
"That's it? Can I atleast get a new room?!"
"That was the last one buddy, sorry." He handed Zack his money back and went back to sleep.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Zack stormed out of the lobby, slamming the door. "This motel is @#!*% !" He walked back down the sidewalk, and realized he had nowhere to go. He looked around and saw a corner between a room and the back where there was some grass. He sat down and pulled his hair is anger. "This has to be the worst day of my life," he said to himself.

Johnny light the smoke after the kid kicked the door and walked away. "Dude needs to chill out." Johnny said taking a drag on his smoke. It was about 3 minutes of before Johnny saw the Guy again now he slammed the door and swore. "Man growing up in New York teaches you not to help out a stranger." Johnny took one last drag on his smoke before heading over to the sitting teen.

"Looks like you need somewhere to sleep." Johnny said standing next to angry teen. He knew that everyone else was going to be pissed at him for helping out a stranger. Though he didn't care it was in his nature to help others out. Thats why he didn't buy smokes yet. "Names Johnny, by the way." He said sitting down next to him. He really wanted to light another smoke. But the other guy didn't so he didn't light up.

Zack looked over at Johnny who had sat down next to him. When he offered to give him a place to stay, he didn't know what to say at first. Zack wasn't stupid. He knew about all of the freaks out there, but he needed a place to stay, and anything was better than where he was now. "Uh, ya I do," he said. "That dummy in there didn't even have an extra key for the room. This motel sucks. Unless the rooms are nice?" he said sarcastically. "Oh, and I'm Zack." He stood up, and said, "Oh and could you not turn out to be a serial killer, I've had a pretty sucky day."

"Dude if i'm a serial killer than i need a new out fit cause the entire stoner look does not fit the Serial killer look." Johnny said. After about 2 seconds of it running through his brain he started laughing. His body was crying for some THC but he had to wait. "Man the rooms they ain't the greatest but they sure as hell beat the cold cement. Come stay with us we're like 2 rooms down from where your room was. Though me and my friends are from New York so don't expect them to welcome you with open arms." Johnny stated. He knew it was true. Derek, Emily and Mercy wouldn't but he wasn't sure about Holly.

"Oh it's ok man, I've dealt with New Yorkers before," said Zack. "My sister goes to college there, and I have a lot of family there. I also live outside of Boston, if you hadn't noticed my accent." He began to wonder how old they were, and why anyone his age would be out here, other than of course running away if they are just with friends. "Uhm, do mind me asking why you're out here in Indiana by yourselves. I mean you're, like, in high school right?" Zack knew all these questions could be asked back to him, so he just said it right then. "I ran away," he said, plain and simple. "I'm in high school and I ran away from home back in Boston."

"Man another New Englander. Geez I used to live in Plainfield Connecitcut. Yeah i was in Highschool. I was about to gradutate but me and my friends had a lot of family problems. Me, I was beaten everytime i got into trouble, Don't get me started on everyone else lets just say one of my friends had it worse than me by a long shot." Johnny said he naturally grabbed a smoke and light it. He often did that when he talked about his home life. "Sorry i forgot." Johnny said putting out his smoke against his hand. He didn't feel any pain anymore from burns. "Boston, Eh? Never really went there. Though it home to my favorite Baseball team. Alright i was planning to look for some work but i'm getting tired. Come on let me take you to our little room." Johnny said. He saw a little bit of light, the Sun was about to come up.

"Wow, a Sox fan, and you live in New York," said Zack. "I'd watch your back when you say that in New York." Zack laughed quietly to himself. "So are you guys planning on staying here a while?" he asked. He looked around at the small room. It was a seriously bad room, but like Johnny said, it was way better than where he was planning on sleeping. He noticed that it was already dawn, and he hadn't gotten one ounce of sleep yet since the night before the last. Hopefully he could get a couple hours at least. "Thanks again for letting me crash here, you're a lifesaver."

He set his bag on the chair over by the bathroom door, and looked at the two beds. "I'll sleep on the floor, being in a heated room is a luxury enough for me." He grabbed one of the pillows on the empty bed and layed on the stained floor. He was probably sleeping in urin and who knows what, which he'd usually be disgusted by, but right now, he could be sleeping in a dumpster and he'd be happy, just to be able to close his eyes.

Mercy awoke to the sound of voices to see a random guy laying on the floor, appearing to be asleep. She flinched back in surprise and sat up. It was dawn and everyone was asleep. Except for Johnny. Who was just leaning up against the wall in a totally Johnny way.

"Johnny. . ." Mercy asked cautiously, "Who is that guy?"

"Well he's Zack. Another runaway. And me being such a helping person that i appear to be have let him crash here." Johnny said. Now that Zack was passed out he light up another smoke. He saw that was his last one. "Mother fucker i need smokes. Gotta think of you guys before me." Johnny sighed. He hated not being able to buy smokes. He knew the guy at the convinice store down the road from his house, thats why and he could by smokes anytime and it was his pot connection when he couldn't steal from his stepdad. "Well I gotta explain this to Holly, Derek and Emily." Johnny said.

"Gotta explain what to me?" Emily said sleeply. She started to rub her eyes. She didn't see Zack sleeping on the floor. When she could finally see Zack she skrieched. Not loud enough to wake anyone but she was still fairly loud. "Who is that?" Emily asked she lived in a bad part of New York most of her life. She knew that enough not to trust random people off the street.

"His name is Zack. He like us he ran away. Zacks' from Boston." Johnny said sucking on his smoke. Trying to make that one last for a while. He needs to buy some more tomarrow.

"You let a stranger into our room?" Mercy demanded, angrily getting up, "Is all that nicotine gone straight to your brain!? He could be a serial killer! Or an axe murderer! Or a rapist! Okay so that's not really likely but it could still happen!"

She huffed unhappily and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't feel very intimidating, staring down Johnny from across the room. He was easily a foot taller then her, not to mention several years older. God she hated being short. It made it hard to make a point sometimes.

"Zack seems like a really nice guy. Alright I will admit i've made some stupid decisions in my life, but i think Him crashing here for the night was on of my long list of stupidity," Johnny paused to take a drag of his smoke. He didn't want to fight with Mercy. He didn't need to give her another reason to cut her wrists. "Besides if push comes to shove and you are right i'll take care of it. Its not like i haven't been living in New York for the past 2 years. You know me I've gotten in my fair share of fights. I can take pain." Johnny took one last drag off his smoke and smashed it against his hand. He hated fighting with his friends. They were the only thing keeping him going. If it weren't for them he would be trying to kill either himself or his stepfather. "Good try making you look intimadating but it really doesn't suit you. It makes you less pretty." Johnny said tossing the butt of his cigarette in the ash trey next to the TV.

Mercy seethed. "Don't patronize me Jonathan," she hissed.

It wasn't that she wanted to fight with Johnny. She doubted that the Zach guy would end up being dangerous but that wasn't the point. She thought that Johnny should've consulted the rest of them before making such an important decision. She didn't like when people didn't take her oppionon seriously.

Zack had been trying to fall asleep for the couple of hours he had left before daylight, but finally had to get up. He stood up from the floor and looked over at Mercy. "Hi, I'm Zack. Sorry I'm making you fell uncomfortable, but I promise I'm not a rapist, or axe, uh, murderer. I'm just here overnight, and then I'm going to leave to Chicago, and I'll be out of your lives." He his side off, from the dirty floors, and then thought for a second. "You know it's already morning. Thanks for giving me a place to stay, but I think I'll just leave now," he said to Johnny, putting the pillow back on the bed, and grabbing his bag.

Mercy sighed heavily. "And now, I feel guilty," she muttered.
"Look," she said louder, "Don't leave because of me. I can deal, kay?"

"Alright, thanks," said Zack. He put his bag back down and sat down. He still felt a little weird being in the room, not knowing anyone. "But, I was serious about leaving later today. I'm trying to get to Chicago as soon as I can." He layed back down and tried to get some sleep. After about twenty minutes of trying, he gave up. It was no use. It was one of those nights where he was super tired, yet he couldn't sleep, because it was too late at night, like his body knew he'd only be asleep for four hours or so.

"Alright if we're going to talk can we do outside so we don't wake anyone up. Emily just fell back asleep." Johnny said noticing Emilys slow breathing pattern. He was surprised that they didn't wake Holly and Derek. He started towards the door. If Mercy didn't come out in 5 minutes he was going to go back inside and go to sleep. He could run on no sleep, all Johnny needed was a quick pick me up. He groaned he needed more weed. As he leaned up agaisnt the wall he took his special cap, his pocket knife, and his bowl and started to scrape it. He needed some form of THC and fast if he was gonna go on like no sleep.

Mercy waited a minute before following Johnny. She adjusted her sweatshirt and crept over to the door and opened it quietly. Johnny was standing out there, doing something with a carving knife. She closed the door behind her as silently as she could and leaned against it, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Look i know that letting Zack spend the night wasn't my brightest idea. Frankly i really don't think that i had any real bright ideas when since i started smoking pot. I know that living in New York makes people jumpy. Especially you. Hell even me i should be jumpy like no tomarrow but i'm not." Johnny said finishing up scraping the bowl he had about a couple of hits of the resin but thats it. Johnny put the resin in the bowl and put it in his pocket. When he looked up and saw Mercy. Her hair was in the perfect angle so that it started to glow. He started to have old feelings resurface. Johnny thought he had gotten over his crush of Mercy ever since he started dating a girl in New York. They broke up a couple of weeks before Johnny and the crew ran away.

Mercy sighed heavily. "Fine, fine," she said, "I'll keep my mouth shut about the whole Zach thing. But I'm still not happy about it. And if he kills me in my sleep, I swear to God I will haunt your stoner ass."

And with that, she turned swiftly on her heel and went back inside. She climbed back into bed and promptly went to bed. She was still exshausted.

Zack saw mercy come back in to the room, and saw her go to sleep, envying her ability to fall asleep so easily. He was getting bored sitting around and thinking about what he had done yesterday. Everytime he thought about it, the more he missed home, but he knew it was for the best to leave. Zack decided to do something with his time, and got out a small blank canvas out of his bag, and his oil paints. He walked outside the room, and went out by the road. The downtown area actually looked pretty nice when he wasn't scared of getting mugged at two in the morning. He began to paint, forgetting his troubles with the family back in Boston.

Johnny saw Zack leave the room. Though he noticed that Zack didn't have his stuff. So Johnny assumed that he wasn't leaving. When Johnny looked over and saw Zack painting he was a bit surpised. He didn't give Johnny a painter vibe. Johnny walked over to the painter. "Sorry about that. I warned you that when you grow up in New York you kinda get jumpy." Johnny said. He pulled out his bowl and light it up. The smoke felt good going down his throat. He started feeling really good.

Mercy awoke that morning, feeling groggy and hungry. That had been the longest night of her life. The long bus ride, finding a hotel room, meeting up with that Zach kid, fighting with Johnny.

The two aformentioned were sitting on the floor talking. Mercy waved at them halfheartidly and got up quietly trying to avoid waking up Emily, Derek, or Holly. She went through her bag and located her clothes and went into the bathroom to change.

She put on a clean black button up shirt that had been her older's brother's so it was much to big for her. She put on a pair of plain grey jeans and brushed her teeth. She adjusted the sleeves to cover her bandaged wrists and tried to fix her blonde hair but it didn't work so well. She gave up on that quickly and just went back into the room.

Johnny was sitting on the rug floor of the motel room. By the clock on the nightstand it said 9:45 am. He didn't get any sleep. Johnny knew that he wasn't going to get much with watching over his friends. "Two more days. Geez, I can't believe that i've almost been on this earth for almost 18 years. Seems a long time but it really it isn't. I just hope that i'm a better parent than that man i called a stepfather for almost 5 years." Johnny said halfway buzzed. He smoked the last of his THC this morning. Johnny need more to keeping him going that or caffine. Good thing for him caffine is more legal than Mary J. "You look... Well I don't know. Good i guess is the operative word that sentence. Please ingnore my rambling i'm just stoned and tired not a good combo. Though being stoned should negate being tired." Johnny started laughing. "Oh my god. I didn't realise how stoned i am."

Derek woke up not knowing what was going on, "Wow did I over sleep?" he asked looking around the room at the scene. "Sorry guess I was more tired then I thought." he laughed and sat up on the couch. "what's going on?" he asked.

((Sorry I've been lost so yeah sorry if it don't fit))

"Dude i can't believe that you didn't wake up from the arguement that me and Mercy had about my new friend here Zack Mitchell. Also if your truly my friend you will believe me that i'm am stoned off my rocker right now." Johnny said laughing. He couldn't believe how high he was just from that little bit of resin he scraped out of the bowl. "I feel like a million bucks... Too bad i don't have a million bucks, hell 1000 bucks would be just fine." Johnny said laughing and laying down. "I've got the muchies, Wake every one up we are going to get some food." Johnny said standing up.