and turn to Mitch.
"Have you made up your mind?" he asks me.
I meet his gaze squarely as I nod.
"I choose to live."
Chapter One
Triss
Thirteen years later...
Die.
The body falls to the ground. A glass vase shatters. The puddle of cloudy water merges with the pool of blood. It spreads all over the floor, oozing through the gaps between the tiles and painting them a sickening shade of red. It flows on and on and on until it almost reaches my bare feet. I'd move but I can't. I'm frozen in place and the sea of blood keeps inching closer.
Closer.
It seeps under my toes. Still, I can't move. I can't even scream.
Someone help me. Someone... please...
"Hey!"
A voice snaps me into consciousness at the same time a hand shakes my shoulder. I open my eyes. As the haze of sleep gradually fades, I find myself staring at a man wearing a cap and a dark vest over a collared shirt. The familiar logo of a bird with spread wings embroidered on his vest jolts me back to reality.
Right. A bus company. I'm in a bus. On my way to... well, wherever this bus is headed.
"You said you were getting off at the end of the line," the bus driver reminds me. "Well, this is it."
I glance out the window. Sure enough, I realize that the bus has stopped. Past the mist that's starting to fade in the morning sunlight, I also see a sign that says 'Welcome to Summerset' hanging above a bench in the empty bus stop.
Summerset? I've never heard of it. Not spelled this way, anyway. I take that as a good sign. This means I won't be easily found, which is exactly what I want.
A place I've never heard of filled with people I don't know. Perfect.
I get on my feet and pick up my backpack. As I slip my arm into one of the straps, my gaze falls on the bassinet in the seat next to mine. In it, a baby wrapped in a pink blanket sucks on her thumb. When she sees me, she stops. Her blue eyes grow wide.
I, too, freeze in shock. What is this baby doing here? I know her father asked me to watch over her earlier at the bus stop. He said he was just going to go to the restroom. I didn't want to. I was sleeping, actually. But it seemed everyone else had already left the bus and he had already set down the bassinet on the empty seat next to mine, wedged between two armrests. The baby was asleep, so I said yes. I was sure he wasn't going to take long, so I went back to sleep too. I thought the baby would be gone not just from my side but from the bus by the time I woke up. And yet, she's still here. Right beside me. Right where her father left her.
Does this mean he never came back? But why?
"Ma'am, I ain't got all day." The driver lifts the bassinet and carries it down the aisle. "Come on."
He's taking the baby? Where?
I look around, hoping to find the baby's father asleep in his seat just as I was a few moments ago. There's no sign of him. The bus is empty.
He's really gone?
"Ma'am," the driver calls my attention again. "Please. I been driving all night, I need to get home and get to sleep."
"Sorry," I mumble as I follow him. "But have you seen a man with a...?"
Shit. What did he look like again? I was half asleep so I don't even remember.
"Ain't no one else here," the driver says before stepping off the bus. "If you were with someone, you should just call them. I can't help you anymore."
He turns around and waits for me to get off the bus. I can't delay him any longer, so I do that. As soon as I'm on the platform, he hands me the bassinet. Then he tips his cap and goes back into the bus. Moments later, the doors close and the bus leaves the stop, disappearing from my sight in the next minute.
So here I am all alone, in a place I've never heard of, full of people I don't know, with a stranger's baby in tow.
Great. You're doing just great, Triss.
I stare at the baby, who's back to sucking her thumb, completely unaware that she's just been abandoned.
"Poor thing."
To my surprise, at the sound of my voice, she pulls her thumb out of her mouth and smiles