as the way comes

Chapter 3

I woke up, face down. The first sense that grabbed my attention was my sense of smell. I smelled dry air. Then I felt the liquid pouring out of my nose. Apparently, I had a bloody nose. Where the hell was I? I then opened my eyes. My head was against the floor. To alleviate the odd smell, I squinched my nose and lifted my head. Holy crap. All the fear that I had was immediately overturned.

In front of me, Tabetha stood with great power. She was wearing a black skirt, looking down upon me. I was surrounded by an oddly wide, spacious area and a lit-up floor. I then heard a bump. A few moments passed. Another bump. We were in a bus. I examined the space again. It was a bus, indeed. But it wasn't a school bus. It was one of those city buses that people took to get to work or college or whatever.

"Where the hell are we going?" I noticed a man standing to the right of Tabetha. He was wearing a suit and carried a fat chin, but a chiseled beard forgave it. He was standing uprightly with one of his arms tightly against his side, between his hips and knees. His other arm was bent upward to his mouth. With a serious face, he was eating chicken. I'm so hungry. I noticed a pistol packed tightly in his belt. As I looked at him, he looked at me, almost as if I were judging him.

"Seriously? What is going on?" I asked, looking up. "I need to get to my English class."

"Shh. Shh. Shh." Tabetha responded. "Don't ask questions."

"Ok..." I trailed.

"Do not fear." She said, almost assuredly. Her soft voice deeply pleasured me. "Take off your pants." Holy crap. Is she serious?

"Look, I want more than anything for this to be real, but there's no way. You see, I'm 17, and I'm pretty sure you are...so..."

"I'm not talking about that." She interrupted. "I'm here to provide you with something that you have extensively failed to provide yourself."

Ok. That seemed vague. I fail on several accounts: intelligence, looks, a social life, skills in any sort of thing at all. Of these, what would she provide me with?

"Look, I like you. I like you so much." I said, lustfully. "You are the only girl that has even acknowledged my existence in years. So, I'm sorry if I seem desperate or scared. But, seriously. What is going on?"

"Just let me make you happy." She responded.

I complied.

"Take off your pants." She repeated. I quickly obeyed, and regrettably so. Mr. Chicken here was clearly hiding laughter. The laughter, of course, was quite justified. After all, I was lying there on some bus in my tighty whities.

I witnessed a sort of mutter between Tabetha and one of the men. I was still confused, but less scared now. "Trust me, you don't want to touch me. I'm pretty sure I'm cursed."

"How so?" She asked, seeming genuinely interested.

I dismissed the topic.

"You," she partially shut her eyes, seductively. She looked at me then bent down to reach my level – I was still on the floor – and put her right hand on my body, slowly crawling her fingers up to my chest. "Need happiness."

I excitedly and fearfully nodded. She had my attention. "And how can you get me that?" I asked.

She grabbed my hand with hers and threw me up. Wow, she was strong. My fantasies grew wild for a moment.

A pause.

I looked down and noticed my pants were still down. I was back to reality. I stood up and pulled my pants back up. Tabetha handed me a little plastic Ziploc bag. I looked inside through the opaque bag and saw a single red, white, and blue pill. I looked at it for a bit in interest. It kind of reminded me of America.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Thank me later." She smiled. Mr. Chicken opened the door with his chickenless hand and, as Tabetha was stepping out, I called for her. "Ok, but what now?"

She turned around. "Oh, right. Come with me."

I put the bag in my pocket, stepped out of the vehicle, then realized that I had no idea where I was.