“I don’t know.” He shrugs as he walks into the room. “This is your bed, here.” He taps a bed on the bottom.
“You expect me to sleep underneath someone?”
“Yeah.”
“What if the bed breaks and they fall right through and kill me.”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs happily.
“You don’t know much, do you?”
“I just work here, man.” He walks back out of the room. “Here is your locker.” He taps the PIN pad. “You set your own code to get into it. Put your backpack down, and we will come back to put it in. Lock everything up at all times.”
I drop my backpack onto the floor, and I look at the lock. I hope he shows me, because fuck knows how I do that. I keep following him as I try to concentrate on what he is telling me.
“This is the laundry.” He opens the lid of a washing machine. “Tip, don’t leave anything here. It will be stolen.”
“Right.”
He leads me out to a large outdoor courtyard. “The kitchen is at that end. We supply three meals a day here, but you eat whatever is cooked. There are no choices.”
“Right.” I look around at my surroundings. Every wall is a different bright color. I feel like I’m in a kindergarten or something.
Kindergarten of hell.
“At the other end is a bar. It’s cheap and nasty, but it does the trick. It closes at twelve every night, so it’s not an all-night thing.”
I peer down at the bar end to see the frat party. Beer bong is in full swing as feral people drink like it’s their first time away from their parents.
“Got it.”
“Come and I’ll show you the bathroom,” he says as he’s already walking down the hall. He opens a door in the main corridor. “This is it.”
I inhale deeply at the horror before me. “Charming.”
Stall after stall, shower after shower.
“No sex,” he says casually. “Condoms in the bin if you do.”
I frown, disgusted. “Why would you need to tell me that?”
“You’d be surprised.”
Gross.
“So there you have it.” He puts his hands on his hips as if proud. “That’s it.”
“Thanks.”
“Call me if you need anything.” He saunters off.
I stare after him. You’re just going to leave me here all alone?
“Drink it down, down, down.” The voices echo from the bar area. Laughter and screams can be heard.
I look around, unsure what to do.
I walk back up the corridor and put my backpack away. I go into my room . . . only it isn’t my room, and I realize that I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in my entire life.
I go to sit down but then realize that I can’t even sit on the bed; I have to lie down.
Fuck this—I’ll go for a walk.
With a sense of dread, I set out into the streets of Barcelona . . . now . . . what the hell do you do in a city with no money?
Three hours later I walk back into the hostel. I couldn’t stomach the thought of dinner at the hostel. I had dinner in a restaurant.
I now have $1,800 left. I’m quite sure that $100 steak wasn’t on my budget.
Tomorrow I’ll budget better.