• The day was mild, a warm sun hung in the sky, no clouds were visible and a cool breeze gently blew across the bus station platform. The line wasn’t as long as I feared and seemed to be moving rather quickly as people found their seats and settled in, throwing their luggage under their chairs and chatting pleasantly with one another.

    Taking the last step onto the large blue and grey streaked vehicle, I quickly walked to the end of the aisle and shrank into a window seat. I didn’t like being alone, I always felt like someone was watching me, following me closely but always managing to conceal themselves when I whirled around and looked, but I’d have to get over it this time.

    “It’s okay, nothing’s going to happen. There are a lot of people here, nothing could possibly happen,” I assured myself and relaxed a little into the steel
    plated interior of the bus.

    A few people threw me searching glances as they checked me over to make sure I wasn’t a threat but my dark clothes and ebony-streaked ginger hair probably made me just a little more suspicious. I wasn’t as tall as most people my age, I was rather petite and still wore children’s clothes from the department store. My skin made me look like a walking statue, it was a very pale olive and kind of looked like marble; sometimes if I stay really still, I can fool people into thinking that I really am a statue.

    My eyes are a unique item all on their own. They are a bright hazel consisting of three colors, blue, green and grey. I don’t know why they were that way, my mom had dull green eyes and my dad had lively blue ones that he shared with my brother, it just didn’t make sense that they were the way they were.

    “Ticket, sir,” The drivers voice said tiredly, she must have had to deal with free-loaders all day, and this man appeared to be no different at first glance. He looked like he had just woken up from being robbed or jumped, but there wasn’t a scratch on him.

    He held out a small blue paper ticket to her after a couple minutes of anxiously searching his pockets and quickly walked to the seat next to me and sat down as he fiddled with the edge of his auburn trench coat. His shaggy blonde hair was slick with sweat as was his peachy skin, but he didn’t reek of body odor, nor was he gasping for breath; he was just wet.

    He looked over at me and flashed a wide smile. “Hey, how are you?”

    An uneasy feeling washed over me and refused to leave as I looked and forced a smile in return. “I’m fine, thank you.”

    “You seem a little nervous.”

    “Just a little,” I sighed and tried to calm my nerves and anxiety ridden stomach.

    “Where you off to? The city?”

    “I’m not sure I should tell you.”

    “That’s fine. You shouldn’t even be talking to me actually seeing as I’m a stranger and all.”

    “Oh.” I looked away from him and out the window at the sea of faces that bobbed up and down as they walked to and from different buses or to their cars in the parking lot. My foot began an uneasy tapping that always betrayed me when I was nervous, creating a rhythmic thumping pattern on the rubberized floor. I could see him looking at me in the window reflection, but he turned away when he seemed satisfied and reclined his seat, resting his feet on the top of the seat in front of us.

    “But just because I’m a stranger doesn’t mean you have to shun me.” He smirked and flicked his wet hair so the droplets of moisture flew through the air and landed on my back and cheek. I could feel my body flinch at the unexpectedness of the drops hitting my skin, but I tried to cover it up by saying it was a little cold.

    “Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Vincent.” He smiled and held out his hand in a peace offering.

    “Lizabeth,” I said quietly as I turned around and shook his hand. He had a firm grip that loosened after the bus lurched forward, sending us back into the rough grey velvet of the seats.

    We let go of each other and corrected ourselves so we were facing forward. His hair flicked again, in the opposite direction this time, and settled over his grey-green eyes. My insides had calmed down enough so I wasn’t feeling queasy and unnerved anymore, but I was still wary of him.

    I caught him eyeing me again as we whizzed past the last of the parked buses and pulled out onto the highway. Thin woods lined the road on both sides, their leaves raining down to the ground as a loud gust of wind rushed parallel to the bus. The sudden hiss of the wind slipping past the window made me jump; I hated snakes or anything that sounded like them, even if it’s only the wind.

    “Man, you’re pretty…”

    I turned and stared at him. I could feel my cheeks start to heat up in embarrassment when his eyes caught mine and shied away, flinging their gaze up to the ceiling to avoid mine.

    “Jumpy, pretty jumpy, that’s what I meant.”

    “Nice save.” I laughed, feeling myself relax even more into the seat. His face was tinted pink as were his ears when he returned the smile and shrugged.