Run (d.l)

0.5

Rose - On the road 

Michael had too pulled out his headphones soon after departure, allowing one of his headphones to dangle and rest on his thigh. I already knew that Michael would be just like one of those smart ass guys that I had unfortunately aquainted myself with prior to entering treatment. His music blasted through the headphones, leaving everyone three or four rows around us questioning how he wasn't deaf. But he had good taste in music, I had to give that to him.  

"So, Marie. What is a young, pretty little thing like you doing on a bus headed to the big bad New York?" Michael cooed, not even bothering to turn down his music.

"I'd highly appreciate if you didn't patronize me. I am not a four year old, I know what I'm doing." I huffed, offended.

"I.. I'm sorry." he apologised, sounding taken aback by my frank tone."I was just wondering why you're going to New York by yourself." 

"Well thats none of your buisness, is it?" I groaned and picked up my bag and took a seat on the seat across from our designated duo seats. The bus wasn't extreamly packed which allowed me to do this, but there was a decent amount of people who didnt seem too packed or dressed for New York which gave me the impression that they wouldn't be on the bus for too much longer. I prayed that this would be the case so that perhaps the echoing haunting of someone finding me out would cease, and my low profile would stay. I readjusted my hoodie and pulled out a book, a random one I had come across at the mall. I had done just the opposite to what my mother and Robbie had taught me, I judged a book by its cover and bought it. 

~

By the time I had read almost 130 pages, the bus had stopped numourous times. I began to feel sick from the immense concerntration and decided that it would be a good idea for me to get off the bus and stretch. It wasn't long until we reached the next stop where we had 15 minutes to do what we want. Almost the entire twenty or so passengers on the bus got off the bus, hanging around doing nothing. I headed into the small store that was situated next to the bus stop, buying water and starbursts. I took my bag from the seedy old man that presumably owned the store, and headed out to a forest that sat behind the store and took a seat on the grass. 

"How do you like Frankfort?" a somewhat familiar voice questioned. I could almost hear the grin on Michael's face. 

"Lovely." I sighed, sarcasm evident. I pulled the packet of Starburst's out from the plastic bag the man had given me and opened it. I took a red candy out and threw it at Michael, half because I wanted to be nice and give him a candy, despite the alarms echoing in my head telling me to tell him to fuck off beacause of the danger this put me in, and half because I hate the red candies. 

"Cheers." he grinned, lifting the candy up into the air before eating it. I rolled my his sheer cheesyness. "Come on, I'm pretty darn cute." he chuckled placing his hands under his chin like a pagent girl. 

"So cute." Sarcasm laced my words, sounding nasty which caused him to frown, which hit a nerve. "I'm kidding." I covered up. I don't know what it was that caused this new sense of guilt that would smother me like a duvet in the summertime. Maybe it was Steph's death that triggured it, I had been an awful bitch to her during her time at treatment, despite the shit she had put me through. Or maybe it was the guilt from disapointing and lying to Demi like I am now that was eating me alive. 

~

Michael and I had almost finished half the packet of Starbursts in silence when we heard the bus driver honk the horn, signalling for everyone that was continuing to return to the bus. Almost half the passengers that had begun their journey in Chicago had already gotten off the bus, which emptied the bus a lot. Four or so newer passengers had taken their places, but as I returned to my newly claimed seat, an older man, maybe late thirties was sitting in the seat beside my bag. He looked up and met my stare at my bag, which he then looked at me with an almost wicked smirk. I could only imagine the dirty shit that would be playing in his head as he smirked at me, glancing over my body. I tensed which Michael seemed to notice. We had a silent agreement that we would watch out for each other, I wasn't sure when this agreement was made but we both seemed to have taken on board for it. 

Michael smiled fakely at the man as he reached over him, grabbing my book and bag. The man's eyes never left me. He made me highly uncomfortable, but there was nothing I could do. Michael returned to his (my) seat and looked up to me as if questioning whether I wanted to sit there. Fuck yes I wanted to sit there. I didn't care that he would eat all my candy, but that man made me sick to my stomach. 

"He's staring." Michael whispered in my ear. I shuddered at the thought. 

"Can he fuck off?" I murmured back. 

"I'm sure he would like to fuck you." He chuckled, which I cringed at. 

~ 

There was only 30 minutes or so left before we reached Indianapolis, where the bus would be changed and fueled and drivers would swap which left the departure time to be 9:30pm. The time on my iPod read 5:45pm which meant that there would be a long change over time. I groaned at this thought and turned to Michael, to ask what his plans were when I realised that he had fallen asleep while I read my book. I sighed and went back to reading, only to be disterbed by a croaky, slurred voice next to me. 

"Hey there babe, now your little boyfriend is asleep, you wanna have some fun?" I cringed at his words.

"No, I'm alright thanks." 

"Come on baby doll, we can go down the back where no one is, and I'll bend you over the seat, slapping your ass, while you try not to scream. Then I'll slam-" 

"Stop." I cut him off. "What makes you think that I'll do that?" I scowled at him.

"I didn't." and with that, he grabbed my arm, plastering his hand over my mouth and pulled me up from my seat. I tried to remove his grasp but was failing, I hadn't eaten properly since treatment. I managed to kick Michael in the shin, which he stirred at, but it wasnt enough to wake him. I felt tears rim my eyes as I began shaking. With my last ounce of strength, I grabbed my seat I was sitting on, which shook the duo seats, waking Michael up a little more. I prayed that it was enough as the man began pulling me down the aisle. 

➳

omg i am so sorry

this has taken me like a month to update i owe you all the biggest apology pls forgive me (and blame school bc its killing me)

ok so i wanted to thank the lovely girl who tweeted me the other day about this bc you are my fav wowie ok 

so idk when ill update bc school and all my exams and assignments are due in the next 2 weeks then im going to japan for 2 weeks and then its my birthday and im going for my leaners licence but i will try 

love u guys - hope this is ok