Bound in Blood 1 Clandestine (5 page)

Suddenly, Lucy’s dark hair, which framed her face like a
flowing curtain seemed mysterious. The silky smooth
complexion of her fair skin glowed mystically in contrast to the
illumination of the room. Her dark, chocolate brown eyes
seemed to burn deep into Emily’s, conveying a message. Emily
shook her head, as though she could toss the theory to the floor.
This is just silly, it’s Lucy for crap’s sake!
Truth be told, it frequently wierded Emily out how Lucy
always seem to stare directly into people's eyes. It was as though
she could see them.
Once, a guy accused Lucy of lying about being blind,
telling her it was cruel to make fun of the handicapped. He
waggled a finger at her and said that she should be ashamed of
herself. Shockingly, it didn't discourage Lucy a little bit. Well, if
it did, she sure didn’t show it. Seriously, if it were Emily she
would have told him where he could shove that finger. Not to
mention, she would have shattered the bone in it. Lucy might not
have seen the finger, but Emily was sure she felt the air from the
movement with her heightened senses. He did it right in her face.
She simply laughed, telling him she was a people person, which
allowed her to find their eyes without seeing them. Before he
stalked off angrily, Lucy made sure to include the fact that she
was not handicapped, she was blind. Then she said that he
should look up the difference, before attempting to fight a cause
he knew nothing about.
Emily admired her friend’s conviction to face life and
never let anything upset her day. With George as a father, it
didn’t make sense. Even though she was Emily’s best friend it
goton her nerves sometimes. She didn’t see how someone could
be that happy, all the time. You would think it would make her
cheeks crack or something.
The dim florescent light above them flickered eerily, as
if to dramatize their conversation. After Emily put the last of the
labeled books back into the box, she stood to take them to their
places around the store. Lucy took her usual place at the counter.
Picking up the load of freshly priced books, Emily
headed to reclaim her stocking duties.That’s me, she thought
dryly. Literary goddess, bringing the great works to the masses.
As she wandered to the first section, her mind drifted back to
Lucy. Her assumption that her friend was paranoid had broken
away, leaving behind the rightness of what Lucy was saying.
Emily didn’t know why, but she believed Lucy and still had a
feeling, that this was more than intuition.

After work, Emily remembered that she had to get a few
things from the store. Emily chose to ride the bus, knowing it
would cut her travel time in half. The prospect of walking across
town and back before dark wasn’t thrilling. Try as she might, she
couldn’t help but regret that choice, when it came to this
particular occasion. Lakeview was small, so ordinarily Emily
walked everywhere. Sometimes, she would be lazy and turn to
public transportation, but it was rare.

A
variety of people rode Lakeview’s public transit system.
Emily understood that most of the riders were from the low
income family, but really? Come on, just because a someone
doesn't make a lot of money, doesn’t mean they have to be a
weirdo. Emily knew plenty of low income people, who were
perfectly normal, herself included.

Upon walking up the bus steps and through the automatic
door, a nasty B.O. smell overwhelmed her senses. Instantly, her
nose wrinkled at the disgusting stench. The owner of the smell
needed to be washed down with a fire hose, immediately. The
reek of the bus permeated location and almost made her turn
around. It almost would have been worth the extended trip to
avoid being near that smell. The prospect of being out after dark
was the only thing that kept her from bolting. She turned her
head away and sucked in a deep, cleansing breath before being
submerged in the nasty odor.

There were no seats near the safety of the front. So, she had
to make her way through the thin, overcrowded aisle. She tried
hard not to step on anyone, but it was like an obstacle course
with all the bags everywhere. Hardly anyone moved out of her
way, as she passed. Every timeshe touched someone’s ankle,
she half expected a buzzer to go off like in the board game,
Operation.

Movement caught her eye in the back. She looked up to see
a skanky looking girl slide into her assumed boyfriends lap.
They were really going at it, looking like they were going to
swallow each other's tongues. Okay gross, that is just not okay.

Emily wondered why the driver allowed the kissing fest to
go on. Then it occurred to her, he was a middle aged sweaty guy,
who was probably enjoying the free show. How disgusting,
where was that girl’s self-respect? Didn’t she know, how
completely wrong it was to give free peep shows on a public
bus?

Forcing her eyes to avert from the couple, Emily glanced
around, hoping to find a seat by some of the halfway normal
people. Finally, three rows from the back she spotted one.
Luckily, the seat next to it was empty too. Emily hurried to it,
tossed her backpack down and sat quickly. The bus revved its
engine before it headed to the next stop.

The majority of the riders were relatively quiet. A teenage
boy sat nearby, completely enthralled in the couples exploits.
Emily sighed and rolled her eyes. Well,isn’t that just sweet,
nothing like the city bus giving children sex education?
Watching the kid drool, made Emily want to go and smack the
couple until they stopped.

The bus came to a halt at
the next stop and Emily’s body
jerked forward. She planted her feet firmly on the slick floor to
steady herself. The elderly woman in front of her groaned and
clutched her tan colored granny bag closer to her body. After the
doors opened to one of the residential parts of town, a few
people got off.

The people that entered the bus next were interesting, to say
the least. Most were dressed in tattered clothes that looked like
they had been passed around way to many garage sales. The two
women, occupying the seats across from Emily, reminded her of
TV commercials for a bingo parlor. One was wearing faded,
black sweat pants with an oversized man’s T-shirt, displaying the
phrase “Get’er dun” across the chest. Emily could tell the
woman wasn’t wearing a bra and desperately needed one. The
other was more conventional, wearing an old pair of jeans and
fitted red top with too much make up. Her red lips matched the
color of her shirt, vaguely reminding Emily of a circus clown.

The "gentleman" in front of them was obviously a
mechanic. His hands, hair and clothes were covered in grease.
His hair looked, as though it had been covered by a hat most of
the day. He had nice eyes though and his skin was a creamy,
mocha tone. He was kind of cute in a rough sort of way.

Emily wasn’t trying to act all high and mighty or anything.
There was nothing wrong with jeans and a T-shirt. She had many
in her own closet. Either way, there was still a right and wrong
way of doing things. Certain clothes didn't look right, no matter
what a person looks like. Emily had nothing against them and
they were probably nice people. She even recognized many of
them, as patrons of Blake’s Books. She peered around the rest of
the bus, feeling guilty for her judgments and her mouth dropped
with an audible pop.

Two of the most beautiful people, she had ever seen sat
behind the driver. She didn’t know how she could have missed
them. The couple looked like they were on their way to a red
carpet event. The woman was tall and stick thin like a model.
Even sitting on the bouncy seat of the bus, she looked graceful.

The man belonged on the big screen or in Calvin Klein
underwear ads. His face looked like a flawlessly, chiseled statue.
They were both dressed in sleek black clothing. However, the
woman wore a deep plum undershirt beneath her V-neck top.
They had a sort of timeless quality and Emily couldn’t help
staring at them open mouthed. They looked young, but nowhere
near her age.

They couldn’t
be from anywhere near Lakeview, which
would explain why they were on the bus in the first place.
Perhaps they were taking a tour of the city?There wasn’t much
to see but maybe they were investors, scouting new business
locations or something. The mayor did say he wanted to bring in
more businesses. Emily glanced at the other passengers to see if
they noticed the couple too.

Out of nowhere, her stomach tightened with a jolt and her
hands rolled into clenched fists. She quickly turned around to
stare out the back window, biting her lip against the agony.
Letting her eyes shift slightly, she concluded no one would have
even noticed. She could have danced down the aisle, singing
show tunes at the top of her lungs.

Every single person on the bus wore a mask, designed in the
same frozen expression of pure and utter terror. The gut
wrenching kind you would expect to see after a plane had just
been hijacked. Emily followed their horrified stares to see what
she had missed. They were all staring at the strange, out of town
couple. Only they didn’t watch with wondering admiration like
she had.

Looking back at the couple, she saw were not troubled by
everyone staring at them and their faces were absent of
expression. The interesting thing was that their eyes bore holes
into the people focused on them. What was going on? They
looked normal; possibly rich, but normal. Definitely over dressed
for Lakeview, which wasn’t that big of a deal.

At the next stop, two people got on the bus and no one else
moved. It was a young woman with her young child. She was
pretty in a natural sort of way. Emily couldn’t help but watch
her, as she sat across from the couple to see if she had the same
reaction, as the others.

The small boy tried wiggling out of her arms, causing the
woman to hold him more firmly to her chest. She held her body
confidently, but eyed the couple with confusion, quickly
transforming into worry. Her brows rose slightly, creasing her
forehead, leaving her eyes were wide and lips pursed.

If Emily hadn’t have been so engrossed in the scene playing
out in front of her,she wouldn’t have noticed the man's
movement. With the rest of his body completely still, he gave the
newest rider an almost imperceptible nod. His eyes then shifted
to his friend, jutting his chin slightly in the direction of the mom
and her son. The woman noticed too, her body flinched and
tensed. Her motherly embrace on the boy, abruptly turned to that
of iron bars locked around him with no sign of release.

Why was everyone except for Emily riddled with paralyzing
fear? Even the make out couple sat upright in their seats. Making
out apparently held no importance for them anymore. The knots
in her stomach clenched spasmodically reminding her of their
presence,as if she could forget. If it wasn’t for being scared of
drawing attention, she would have cried out in pain.

As if reading her mind, the man’s head turned to Emily and
he watched her appraisingly. At first, he gave her a slow, languid
smile, revealing a perfect set of pearly teeth. Soon though, his
smile dissolved into a look that seemed confused and frustrated.
His eyes moved to the teenage boy near her and the kid
immediately cringed. His frustration turned to satisfaction and
then back again, once he regained focus on Emily.

It must have caught the beautiful woman's attention because
she turned her emerald eyes to Emily, as well. How odd that they
both have the exact same color of eyes, Emily thought. Were
they siblings? The porcelain Goddess's annoyance morphed into
fury. Her eyes blazed, narrowing at Emily. Emily’s head darted
back and forth, from the man to the furious woman. What was
their problem? Did they think because they were high society
everyone should bow down to them? As far as Emily was
concerned, that was crap. If they were such high society, why
couldn’t they have sprung for an expensive rental car? Clearly,
they were posers.

The bus stopped breaking into their seemingly impenetrable
stare down. Emily's body lunged forward causing her to clutch
the seat in front of her, to prevent her from sprawling into the
aisle. The couple’s heads nodded in the direction of the young
mom, the teenage boy and then hesitantly at the mechanic. At
first they recoiled in their seats, as though they wanted to hide.
Then like cattle, they rose to their feet and followed the couple
down the steep steps to the folding doors. When the couple
passed they gave the driver a tight smile and he nervously
nodded back.

Before the couple descended down the steps, the man
flashed a murderous look at Emily. It lasted a few seconds, but
time seemed to stand still andEmily couldn’t tear her eyes away.
The man’s expression softened, his eyebrows rose slightly and
then he was gone. Emily stood to get a better look out of the
windows. She watched to see where the group was headed and
saw they were all going to the same place.