Chapter 3

Even after a half hour, John couldn't help but look around the room in amazement. Never had he been in a hotel room by himself before. He had gone on trips with his natural family a few times, but he had to share the room with his sister. But it was nothing like this room.

For starters, there was this massive TV screen, sitting next to the hotel's TV, with a brand new XBOX 360 game system hooked up, which he heard quite a bit about from classmates at school. Incidentally, it was something one of the foster-brats wanted his parents to buy. They were planning on using John's Christmas money for that and, as well as games for the kids. 'Sucks for them.' John thought bitterly, before putting the thought aside, and concentrating on the family that wanted to adopt him.

John knew that the Johnsons were the one's that paid for the hotel room, and the ones who furnished it with the TV, game system, and the brand new laptop sitting on the desk. He had no idea how much they spent on all of these things, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. 'How could they spend all this money on a person they never even met?' John wondered. He even noticed all the new clothes in the drawers and in the closet. They were much nicer than anything he ever had.

And the food! He was astounded when he was told that food was complimentary, and immediately ordered a rare NY strip steak, with mashed potatoes and apple pie. He had a mini bar in the room, and was drinking soda from there. The food was amazing, and he was thoroughly full after the meal.

John played some games after dinner, but after a while, he shut everything off, and just laid back in bed, thinking. He was thinking about his foster family, and whether or not he wanted to retrieve the rest of his stuff from their home. There really wasn't much, just some clothing he probably won't wear anymore, now that the Johnsons' provided a new wardrobe for him. Other than that, everything he owned was secondhand from his foster siblings.

John sighed. He really wanted to thank the Johnsons, to show his appreciation for all they've done so far, but at the same time, he still wasn't sure if he wanted to join another family. But, the fact of the matter is that John owed them a debt of gratitude, which he had to repay. It was driven into him by his parents at a young age the value of chivalry, and all its codes of conduct. Not opening the door for his sister or mom earned him a stare, while they stood there waiting for him to realize his mistake and open the door for them. And table manners as well as social manners were impressed upon him. Gentleman's rules of conduct were especially important, and his father stressed this to him many times. It's these rules of conduct that made him realize that he needed to thank the Johnsons in person, and repay them, if at all possible.

Tossing and turning in bed, John realized that, although he was tired, he wasn't sleepy in the slightest. He decided to turn on the TV, to see if there was anything worth watching. After flipping through different talk shows and movies, he stopped briefly at the porn channel, before quickly flipping past it and looking around himself guiltily. John realized that there would be nobody invading his privacy here, nor anybody to chide him for watching such programming. However, the same rules of conduct expressed that a gentleman needed to treat a lady with honor and respect, and he applied that to the women in the videos as well. To him, it would be like walking into a girls room while she's naked, then just standing there watching them instead of beating a hasty retreat while apologizing profusely. It's something that John would never do.

He finally decided to watch Southpark for a while, never really being able to watch it before, because of the late hour it plays. After the show was over, he left the TV on, and turned over to sleep.

As John slept, he dreamt about his family, and reliving the accident that left him alone on this earth.

It was about 8:30 in the evening, the family on their way home after finishing dinner with some of his fathers' clients. John was sitting in the back seat of the family Volvo, behind his father. His two sisters were in the car as well. Julie was sitting in her mothers lap, in the passenger seat, while Jessie was sitting behind them next to John. As John sat in the car in the dream, he was moaning out loud in the hotel room, anticipating what would happen next.

The police and EMT's that arrived at the scene were horrified at the carnage that they found. From what they could see, and what little John remembered, they reconstructed the accident.

As John was sitting in the car, he noticed that his dad was looking frequently in the rear-view mirror. Looking behind him, John noticed the headlights of a car not too far behind them. The car seemed like it was having trouble staying in his lane. As he watched, he felt the Volvo accelerate a little, right before he saw the other car swing out to the right lane, accelerating rapidly. Then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the car was coming up beside the car, right before swerving directly into the panel right above the right rear tire. John hear his dad curse loudly, as the rear end of the Volvo started to swing out to the left. As John turned around to look out the front windshield, he saw the trailer portion of a 18-wheeler truck, before he felt the roof come down and smash him on the head, turning everything black... at least, that's what happened in real life.

From this point, John knew nothing personally about the accident. He did overhear the police officer talking about it to the EMT while John was in the ambulance waiting to go to the hospital. However, in his dream he was conscious throughout the whole thing

John didn't realize the car was flipping, only noticing that the view out the front windshield didn't look right. Then he realized what was going on when he felt his head hit the ceiling of the car. Without thinking, he reached up with his arms to support himself, watching with horror as his whole world changed before his eyes.

As the car came down on it's roof, John saw his mom fall on the body of his sister, Julie, right before he heard a loud snap, sounding for all the world like a strong piece of wood being broken in two, coming from under his mom's body. Then he saw wheels approaching the front windshield rapidly, right before he heard the sound of metal crushing. The windshield exploded, the force of which threw John back into the wagon portion of the car. He saw and heard the wheels of the 18-wheeler crush the engine bay of the car, before flatting the driver seat into the roof, running through part of the passenger seat before crushing the rear seat behind the passenger seat.

In John dreams, this all progressed in slow motion, with the screams of his family apparent as they were crushed to death by the passing of the 18-wheeler over their overturned station wagon. He saw their blood as their lives were slowly snuffed out in front of him. And as the car continued to be crushed, the wheels of the truck coming closer and closer to John, he screamed...

... before waking up in the hotel room, the sheets puddled around his waist, saturated with his sweat.

"Shit," John muttered, running his hand over his face to try to clear his head. He looked over at the nightstand; the clock proclaiming that it was almost 6 am. He got up and went to the bathroom, where he started the shower.

As John was standing in the shower, letting the hot water run over his body, he remembered the conversation the EMT had with the police officer, both of them thinking that John was still unconscious. The EMT remarked that Julie was the luckier one, probably already dead from the broken neck before being partially crushed. John's parents, along with Jessie, weren't so lucky, dying from massive internal injuries and blood loss. And John was the luckiest of all, having been thrown into the cargo area of the wagon, which remained relatively intact. Besides the concussion, John only had minor scratches and bruises. They stopped the conversation when they realized that John was awake, and the EMT came over to take John's vitals, before his partner came back from checking the truck driver for injuries. John remembered the EMT's last words to the cop as they were en route to the hospital, bitterly wishing he wasn't lucky at all, wishing that fate had taken him with his family, instead of leaving him all alone.

John had a hearty breakfast of Belgium waffles, bacon, sausage, and OJ, before dressing and leaving the hotel. He walked around for a little bit, looking at the stores and cafes, trying to get out of his funk before walking over to the Social Services. He walked in, looking for Joanne, when Mary spotted him. She walked over to John, giving him a hug and saying hello. She led him to Joanne's office, asking him how his night was.

"It was pretty nice. The hotel has a lot of good food, and the Johnsons were nice enough to set me up with a laptop and an XBOX 360 to keep me occupied. They even brought one of those flat-panel TV's!" John exclaimed, burying the dream that he had earlier into the dark recesses of his mind.

"Wow, sounds like your hotel room is better equipped than my apartment!" Mary said, laughing. "So, any plans yet for today?"

"Well, I wanted to meet the Johnsons, to at least thank them for all they've done for me."

"I'm sure that can be arranged. Let's talk to Joanne." Mary knocked on Joanne's door, before hearing a muffled, "come in!"

Mary opened the door, walking in with John behind him. "Look who's up bright and early this morning." Mary said, indicating John.

"Good morning John. How did you sleep last night?" Joanne smiled at him.

"Good morning, Ms. Summers. I slept ok, I guess." John replied.

"Well, first thing, call me Joanne, please. I'm way too young to be called Ms. Summers." She laughed. "Well, I have some good news for you. The firm handling your trust, Bryans & Walsh, heard from me all about your situation with the Westwoods, and agreed to set you up with a charge account. They should be sending over a courier soon, with a charge card and some paperwork for you. You should also know that they will also be pursuing legal action against the Westwoods to recover the money that they embezzled from you, along with damages measure by interest and lost opportunities. The Johnsons also have employed a lawyer friend on your behalf, and he will be working with the people from Bryans & Walsh." Joanne told John.