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The trip to the state of Wisconsin was exhausting and took around a day and a half. It could extend to a few more days, if the bus happened to break down halfway due to the precarious conditions of the old roads that were harmed by environmental detritions.
The bus made constant stops to fuel up and also so the passenger could come down and relax a little. Some people stayed the night in a motel nearby.
Elena had kept a few savings, and was tired to be sitting on the bus’ chair for so long. Her daughters also needed to have a hot bath and relax. She decided to use that money to check in a motal in front of the gas station, where the bus was standing by. The bus would only leave on the next day, at 8:00 in the morning; with no delays.
Elena climbed the motel’s steps with her daughters, opened the entrance door and proceeded until arriving on the reception desk. The motel wasn’t five stars, but on the reception everything looked neat and organized. The clerk, a young looking lady with dark curly hairs, was wearing a big bair of glasses and chewing a gum. She was watching a TV show. On the desk Elena asked the young receptionist for a room. The lady asked for her and the girls’ names, wrote it all down in a notebook with yellow sheets due to time. Soon after, Elena grabbed the key to the room and the lady, held Elena’s daughters’ hand and went up the stairs towards room 16; which was at the end of the hallway. The room was closed for a long time and the workers didn’t open the window to let some air in. On the moment that Elena stepped into the room she smelled an unpleasant scent of mold. The room had two single beds, an empty and inactive mini-fridge for it didn’t work anymore, a wooden wardrobe, a ceiling fan and a bathroom. Elena asked her daughters to take a bath so they could sleep. The sheets were clean and it was possible to sleep soundly for the night.
Maggie woke up in the middle of the night with a strong urge to go to the bathroom and pee, however she tried to contain it. Without obtaining any success she had to get up, and went to the bathroom. When she was done, she flushed it and then washed her hands in the sink. Elena was so tired that she didn’t even noticed her daughter had woken up. When Maggie was returning to bed, she heard a noise as if glass had shattered. Maggie was curious to know what had happened. She took her ragdoll. She put on one of her mother’s wool coats that was hanging on a hook behind the room door, opened it slowly and left. She didn’t seem to be afraid of what she could find downstairs. Upon leaving the room the hallway lights were dim, and all the other hotel guests were sleeping. A turmoil of dark thoughts went through her mind about what she could find in the lower floor and on that moment she felt a little afraid. But her curiosity wouldn’t allow her to go back to the room, and she was indeed decided to find out what happened.
Elena and Amanda slept soundly on their beds, the physical fatigue from the trip had left both of them completely exhausted. Amanda was dreaming that she had traveled on an airplane and it had crashlanded on a paradise island near the Bermuda Triangle, all the passengers had survived the crash having to learn how to survive on the island for months until being found by a cargo ship. Elena was also dreaming. A very confusing dream there were many people climbing over a footbridge in the shape of a caracole. A big crowd. Elena had shaved her head and was wearing white clothes identical to those of the other people. And she walked amongst them who apparently didn’t get anywhere.
Maggie had finished climbing down the stairs and ended up stepping on a shard of glass. She ducked to remove the piece of glass that had clinged to her sandal. When she got up, she saw that there was a girl standing by the window looking outside the motel. Maggie couldn’t see her face, only a few light beams passed through the gap of the door and the window, but not enough to identify the girl’s face. Approaching Maggie tried to talk to her.
_ Who are you?
_ What are you doing here all alone?
_ It’s very cold, why don’t you come upstairs with me and show me the room where you’re staying.
_ Come with me, if my mother wakes up and doesn’t see me in the room she’ll scold me.
The girl didn’t emit any response before Maggie. Maggie took her by the hand to help her up, however she quickly let her go upon feeling that she was completely cold; as a rock of ice. At first Maggie got spooked, then she thought it might’d been because of the cold.
Winter season had come, the cold was intense and the night before a thin layer of snow had even fallen over the city. The light rifts that jumped from the motel window and door gaps allowed Maggie to see that the little girl was only dressing a bright dress. She was wearing a boot and her hairs were all messy over her face. Maggie decided to return to her room to ask her mother for help, but when she told the girl what she intended to do she left the door’s side and walked towards the kitchen. Maggie whispered for her not to go there, however she didn’t listen and suddenly vanished from her eyes. Maggie was afraid to go to the kitchen looking for her and decided to go back to her room and try to sleep.
Depois having been through an unreal experience Maggie wanted to stay quiet near her mother in the room.
When the day shone Maggie woke up and all that had happened over the night seemed to have been a dream.
Elena packed the bags and left the room with her daughters. She went down the stairs, proceeded to the reception and checked out of the motel. Then she took the time to buy a few phone books with the recepcionist. Elena grabbed the baggage and went to a public telephone. She called Arthur to let him know that she was arriving. And she needed him to pick her up at the station.
There still around thirty minutes left before the bus’ departure, so Elena took her daughters to eat breakfast in the diner.
As soon as she returned to the bus and was already set next to the window, Maggie looked over the motel and saw on the window of what looked to be the attic, the reflection of a little girl; very identical to the one she had seen during the night. When turning to call her mother and show her what she saw the image of the little girl had already disappeared. Maggie was puzzled and leaned her head on the glass expecting to see the girl again.
The bus driver entered the vehicle and greeted all the passengers. Then he took his seat. He started the engines and ignited rapidly hitting the road taking off smoothly with the bus. Meanwhile, Maggie kept looking fixatedly to the motel and after a few seconds she saw it disappear in the horizon. 
Elena didn’t have any interest in going back to that city that had only brought her bad memories anymore. Even if John had been left behind, all that she wanted was to forget all the bad she went through and start over by her family’s side. Throughout those long years that she lived with John, Elena felt that she had lost part of her personality and that she seemed to have become someone else, a woman who happened to lose the real plain satisfaction of living.