Page 10 of Ash

The reality was something entirely different.

The seat was bumpy. At least that's what she would call it. Something decidedly hard and pokey was pressed into her hip and the footrest attached to the seat in front of her wouldn't lower enough for her to use it.

Still, she was moving forward.

That's what she was telling herself.

Towns came and went.

Stops were smattered along the way, but she managed to sit there and focus on what was waiting for her down the road.

The bus lurched to the side and as the wheels on the right side of the bus rumbled and stumbled over something that felt like gravel, Suzannah had to grip the one armrest she had access to and thank goodness for the person sitting in the aisle seat beside her with his elbow in her ribs, she didn't fly forward into the seat ahead.

The whine of the hydraulic brakes and the earsplitting HISS that finished it let her pull in a breath.

"Stopping for an hour!"

Suzannah felt another breath fill her lungs, this one with much more freedom as the man beside her pushed up and out of his seat and into the aisle. "Fuck, yeah! I need to piss!"

Suzannah winced at the man's words.

The driver spoke, too. "Well, this is the place to do it. There's a diner and a bathroom, forcustomers only." He placed specific emphasis on those last two words and some of the people who had stood up in her line of sight, sat back down with a groan.

"They have good food here."

A few more people got up.

"But it ain't cheap."

Suzannah felt her stomach twist and before she could second guess the impulse, it started to gnaw on itself.

She was hungry.

Putting her hand on the seat back of the seat beside her, she stood up. "How many more hours to Mystic Mountain?"

The driver turned around and stretched his arms up and over his head. "If you have to ask, missy. You better get off and get some food. It's going to be a stretch."

Nodding, she got up and walked down the aisle behind the other riders who had already gotten up and out of their seats.

When she reached the front and stepped down to the ground, her legs wiggled a little, wavering from the hours and hours she'd been sitting on the bus.

The driver gave her a knowing look. "First time on a long drive like this?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir. My first time."

He nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin line. "You should get up and out at one of the next stops coming up before you reach that town. Or your legs ain't gonna work when you get out." He nodded toward the diner. "Get something filling. Usethe restroom. I noticed you didn't go in the bus from the time you got on."

She winced at his words, and he waved off the excuse she was struggling to find.

"I wouldn't use it either. Damn thing smells like death no matter how much cleaner they dump in it. At least here, it's clean. The women's restroom at least."

He gave her a smile.

And she returned it.

"You strike me as a nice lady. Don't know why you're on this bus, but I'd bet good money, you're leaving something behind that... that wasn't ideal."

She nodded, unsure of what she'd done to earn that assessment.

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