The next morning, Jinsoul woke up with a start.

Where the hell am I? she thought. She began to panic, jumping out of bed and looking quickly around the room. Suddenly, Jinsoul remembered everything, and she breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back down on top of the messy covers.

"I'm in Reno. Mom's in the room next to me. I'm not at dad's anymore," she said slowly, out loud. She finally sighed, pulling her phone off of its charger on the bedside table. She had one new message, from her mom:

Hey Jinsoul, im probably still out or passed out in my room. Dont come in. If you show your room key to a cashier at a restaurant, you'll get free breakfast. I love you. Stay safe!

Jinsoul briefly debated going to check on her mom before realizing that would probably do more harm than good. She looked at the clock on the desk; it was only eight o'clock. Jinsoul groaned. 

" it's early," she cried out loud. "What am I going to do all day?" She paused. "I've been talking to myself a lot lately, haven't I?" Jinsoul laughed at herself, getting back into bed and turning on the TV.

~~~~~~~~~~

About an hour and a half later, and five episodes into 90 Day Fiance, Jinsoul started to get hungry. She finally managed to get herself out of bed, changed from her current pajamas into slightly more presentable pajamas, and left her room. 

She took the elevator down to the first floor, heading straight to the buffet without looking at anything or anyone else. She waited in the line, was seated, ordered a raspberry iced tea, and grabbed a plate to go get her food. Everyone else was with their families or friends, talking and laughing amongst themselves.

"Now aren't you a loner, Jinsoul?" she muttered to herself. Realizing she had spoken out loud in public, Jinsoul blushed and hurried back to her table. 

She ate her breakfast all alone, earbuds in and phone out in an attempt to look like less of a loser.

I hope to god it won't be like this for the rest of the trip, she thought, quickly scarfing down her food out of embarrassment. She stood up, left and looked around at the casino surrounding her. 

"I might as well explore today; what else do I have to do?" she quietly said out loud.

She began to wander aimlessly among the halls, nothing catching her eye at first except for a starbucks (where she bought a vanilla bean frappacino). At the very end was finally something interesting: a bowling alley.

"If I had someone to bowl with that could be pretty fun," Jinsoul mumbled before walking back into the lobby. She noticed an escalator, and with nothing better to do, decided to go down it.

The escalator led to the basement of the casino. As she walked down the basement halls, she saw lots of stores and restaurauts containing random clothes and fast food. She saw a cute little candy store, a toy shop, a Johnny Rockets, and an indoor mini golf area.

"What even is this place?" Jinsoul muttered quietly to herself. Towards the end of the hall was a small movie theater, which shows movies every hour for four dollars. "Maybe I'll go see a movie later," she mumbled. Finally, at the end of the hall was an arcade with a little restaurant in it. "I'll go there tomorrow," Jinsoul decided. She sighed, yet again, already a bit worn out, and realized it was time to go watch some more TV.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the late afternoon, Jinsoul got out of bed and shut off the TV. Her eyes had glazed over from staring at the TV for so long, and her brain felt like mush. She went to the bathroom, splashing water on his face and brushing her hair. She grabbed her phone, room key, and money before heading out the door and down to the movie theater. The only thing playing was some b-list kids movie, but did she have anything better to do?

Once she arrived and bought her ticket, she realized she was a bit early so she sat on the ground outside the theater. When she turned to her side, she saw a very young looking girl there, playing a game on a clearly very expensive phone (was it the new iphone?). She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and she was totally alone. Where were her parents? 

Jinsoul had been staring for a while when the little girl finally noticed her. 

"What are you staring at? You made me lose!" She whined. 

"Um- s-sorry," Jinsoul stuttered in confusion. 

The little girl suddenly gasped. "Abandoned child?" 

"What?" 

"Are you an abandoned child too?" 

"I'm-" 

"Awesome, come sit next to me." Jinsoul hesitantly scooted next to the girl.

"Are you seeing the movie?" the girl asked, not explaining any further. 

"Um- yeah," Jinsoul responded, running her fingers through her hair nervously.

"I'm Yeojin," the girl said. "Ultimate phone gamer and frog expert." 

"Well- I'm Jinsoul," she answered, trying to think of monikers for herself. "Student...council...secretary?"

"I'm sorry, but that's really boring," the child apparently named Yeojin answered.

"Fine. Um...I'm Jinsoul. Ultimate internet shopper and expert in angstily listening to Frank Ocean."

Yeojin nodded approvingly. "Much better."

"How old are you?" Jinsoul finally asked.

"I'm nine, and you?" Yeojin casually answered.

"I'm sixteen," Jinsoul replied.

Yeojin thought for a moment. "Well, you're a bit old, but I guess we can be friends. I haven't found any other abandoned children here yet anyways." 

Jinsoul looked up at the clock, not quite knowing what to say to that, and Yeojin followed her eyes.

"It's time for the movie, I guess," Jinsoul said. Yeojin shrugged at Jinsoul, and the two walked into the theater.

During the movie, Yeojin whispered to Jinsoul.

"This movie is sooooo boring..." Jinsoul nodded in agreement; if a nine year old thought this movie was boring, then it was really boring. Without hesitation, Yeojin rested her head on Jinsoul's shoulder, and the two quickly fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

After the movie was over, they were shaken awake by an employee. They sat up, yawning and standing up sleepily.

"Are you hungry?" Jinsoul asked, suddenly worried if this poor child was getting properly taken care of.

"Yeah, a bit," Yeojin replied.

"I get free food for myself and whoever I bring, so do you want to eat dinner with me?"

Yeojin pumped her fist. "Yeah!" she said excitedly. "Now I can spend my money at the arcade!"

"Let's go to the buffet," Jinsoul said. 

"A solid choice," Yeojin answered, and they walked up the ramp. "Have you been to any of the other restaurants?"

"Nope." 

"Good, they all ," Yeojin said, and Jinsoul giggled. Soon enough, they were seated, and the same waitress from last night approached them.

"What would you girls like to drink?" the lady asked.

"I'll have a raspberry iced tea," Jinsoul said.

"Yummy! I'll have that too," Yeojin added.. The lady smiled, writing down both of their orders and walking away.

"Let's go," Jinsoul said, and the two girls went to get food. They returned a few minutes later with fully stacked plates, and now Jinsoul was really worried Yeojin wasn't getting enough to eat.

"How long have you been here?"

"Three days now, I think. I'm here for a month. You?" Yeojin asked as she stuffed her face. 

"I got here yesterday, and I'm staying here for three weeks," Jinsoul answered.

"Wow, that's a long time. Do your parents play poker?" Yeojin asked, and Jinsoul explained her situation.

"Damn, your dad sounds like an ," Yeojin said. 

Jinsoul gasped. "Language!" 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." 

"You know what though..." Jinsoul sighed. "It's true. Anyways... what brings you here?" 

"My parents are slot machine repair people so we just move around from one casino to another. They give us a free room when my parents repair stuff so we don't really settle down anywhere." Yeojin thought for a moment. "Technically I'm not an abandoned child. But when there's no school and they're working they just let me wander around whatever casino we're at. There's always something to do." 

"Wait, what?" 

"Yeah. It's not a big deal. I can usually find other kids to play with, whose parents do the same job as mine or are poker players. It's been harder here though. You're the first abandoned child I've found." 

"I mean...you get fed and stuff, right?" 

"Oh yeah. They give me money," Yeojin said. Jinsoul still eyed the nine year old a bit suspiciously, finally putting down her fork after her fifth plate of food. "Anyways, the buffet ice cream . You want to go get froyo? There's a place in the basement, and it's on me," Yeojin offered.

"Actually, that sounds great," Jinsoul said, giving Yeojin a friendly smile. She smiled back and confidently led Jinsoul back down to the basement, quickly arriving at the froyo place.

The frozen yogurt store was brightly colored, with beach themed wallpaper and turquoise counters and tables. The chairs and ceilings were a blinding yellow, and Jinsoul had to blink a few times to see properly. In contrast, the employees of the store looked absolutely exhausted and bored. The two workers were the only people in the store other than Jinsoul and Yeojin, and they sighed deeply when they walked around to look at the flavors. Jinsoul got a simple medium sized vanilla with oreos, and Yeojin got chocolate vanilla swirl with so many different kinds of toppings that Jinsoul was sure she wouldn't be able to taste the ice cream. That's what you get when you let a literal child do whatever they want, Jinsoul thought as they sat down at one of the too bright tables, quickly digging into their ice cream.

"This is so weird," Yeojin whispered to Jinsoul, the two of them peering over at the two employees. The employees were glaring at them, picking at their nails and snacking at the gummy bears.

"Yeah," Jinsoul answered. 

"Ugh!" Yeojin suddenly cried as she looked down at her phone, the employees giving her an extra mean stare. "My parents want me to come back up to the room. Anyways, give me your number so we can hang out." 

"Um, okay," Jinsoul said, letting the nine year old punch her number into Jinsoul's phone. "Do you want me to walk you back to your room?" 

"No way!" Yeojin cried, standing up to dash out of the froyo place. "Bye, see you tomorrow." 

Jinsoul stared down at her half finished ice cream. "Well. I guess I have a child now," she mumbled out loud.