Suspects

I was waiting at the bus stop and the phone in the phone booth started to ring. My friend and I were the only ones around for miles. Why would this phone be ringing? So my friend thought she should answer it.

"He-Hello?

What? Who is this?

No!

What?

Hello?

...Oh crap..."

I watched as her face was confused, then shocked, then afraid...and I wished she hadn't answered the phone call.

"The voice told me not to get on the bus. To walk down the street to the east and not to look back when I hear the bus. He threatened if I did I would be killed! Oh, Candy, what do we do?! This threat could be for both of us! Come with me!"

I was frozen in place. What had we gotten ourselves into? Nevertheless I wasn't about to get on the bus with that kind of threat.

So together, we walked the road. In the middle of the wilderness. No life in front or behind. And waited.

We didn't say anything to each other. Both our minds were working too fast for conversation. A few minutes later we heard the bus behind us. I saw Shirley's eyes dart to the side for an instant and almost grabbed her arm.

"Don't look back."

BOOM!

I woke up on the ground with Shirley beside me. We were covered in black dust and laying on the side of the road. It was dark. I looked up to see a car idling on the road. A note taped to the door read in bold letters. "GET IN AND DRIVE" I shook Shirley's shoulder to wake her up. She mumbled something incoherent and rolled to her side.

I got up and ripped the letter from the door, reading the small print.

"This car is for your convenience. Take it where you need to go and abandon it on the side of the road. Thank you for your cooperation."

We did just that.

The next morning, Shirley and I awoke in our hotel room remembering what had happened and wondering if it had been real. I would have thought it was a dream except that she had been there with me.

Shirley flipped the TV on while I was in the bathroom doing my make-up.

"Candy!"

I came out and stared. There on the news was a story about an explosion on the bus in North Dakota that had killed a Senator on his way home from a camping trip with his family. There was no evidence of who had planted the bomb. There was one survivor who had left the bus moments before the explosion. He believes it came from two women he saw walking away from the scene. Police are investigating.