Addicted to You

by Belinda Boring

  I pulled the brochure back to my face to see it did, indeed, say Telluride on it.

  What in the . . . ?

  Feeling like I was going crazy, I checked my watch to see it was 11:51 p.m. I left the store and went around to the back, where a large bus depicting a mountain scene with Havenwood Falls written on it sat idling, no passengers on board, just one driver seated up front. I looked around to see if anyone else was in the parking lot, but it was deathly quiet.

  I suddenly realized I didn’t have a ticket, but I approached the bus anyway. The door was open, so I stepped inside and looked at the driver. He smiled at me with warm, brown eyes and waved me on, his face crinkling at the corners of his eyes. “Welcome!”

  “Um, hi. Thanks. Where is this bus headed to?” I asked cautiously, remembering how the lady inside the truck stop couldn’t see the brochure the same way I had.

  “Well, where do you want to go?” he asked jovially, his pale skin looking almost sickly under the one orange light illuminating the parking lot.

  Here goes nothing. “Havenwood Falls?”

  “Well, you’ve come to the right place, elf. Choose a seat, and we’ll be on our way!”

  I blinked at him a few times before quickly checking my reflection in the large overhead mirror at the front of the bus. I was glad to see my glamour hadn’t slipped, as the driver had given me a strange look. Sighing, I pushed a stray blond strand from my forehead and looked at him.

  The old driver grinned at me and then looked down at the newspaper he’d been reading. At that moment, the only thought I had was to exit the bus and just run. Hitchhike, Uber . . . something, and get the hell out of Montrose and go back to my mundane life. But something even stronger than fear was pulling at me to stay on that bus.

  So without another glance at the driver, I took a seat in the middle of the bus, set my backpack on the seat next to me, and blew out a breath. To my surprise, the driver closed the door, put the bus in gear, and began to drive. I glanced at my phone to see it was midnight on the dot.

  Feeling weird that I was the only passenger, but too tired to give a shit, I used my backpack as a makeshift pillow and quickly fell asleep.

  The first thing I felt was cold. As I blinked my eyes open, I could see I was still seated on the bus, I was alone, and it was dark outside. The door was folded open, but the driver was gone. I wiped drool from the corner of my mouth and stretched.

  After wearily grabbing my bag, I made my way down the aisle, and off the bus. As I stepped down, I could see I was in front of the coffee shop Jalen had told me about. The January air was chilly as hell, and I was only in a hoodie and jeans.

  With my breath pluming out in front of me in foggy puffs, I hurried toward the shop and hoped it was still open. But judging by the darkness behind the windows, I wasn’t optimistic. So I wasn’t surprised when I tried to pull open the front door to Broastful Brew and it was locked up tight.

  The hissing sound of air brakes caused me to turn my head. I saw the bus’s doors close and its wheels turn, pulling away from the coffee shop.

  “Shit,” I murmured, wondering what I was going to do now.

  Purchase Affliction Mine where books are sold.