It was just past midnight and the bus system had stopped running. All passengers were to exit, so she stood up and walked off the bus into the pouring rain. It was the end of the line and it dumped her in the middle of nowhere, far from the bright, suffocating city lights.

Rain beat against the old green raincoat she wore. It was heavy with water and memories. They weighed her down and pulled her closer to the earth beneath her feet. She had taken it from that house on her hurry out the door, not knowing it would be the last time she saw its owner again.

The paved road turned into gravel and mud. The rain made the warm air cold, chilling her bones. Slowly she moved from the middle of the dark road to the safety of the dimly lit plastic shelter provided for lonely wanderers. Another bus would come by in the morning to take her even farther from the city, deeper into the heart of the land. She was forced to get far away from the poisonous city streets, and disappear.

Thunder roared over the rolling foothills covering the land in dark somber clouds. Each was charged with bright bolts of pure energy. They would strike down on the land in every direction, bringing light to the shadowy sky. She didn’t mind the storm, it had never frightened her. Instead it made her think of home and all those she had left behind there. She sat down on the stiff bench inside the shelter and did her best to nestle into a comfortable position. Her empty backpack didn’t make for much cushion, so she held it tight to her cold chest, like a blanket, trying to cover yesterday’s fear that still radiated from her shaking body.

She tried to close her eyes, but the mighty lightning and thoughts of her friends she left behind kept her wide awake. His hopeless face and desperate voice still haunted her. She winced at the sound of gunshots still ringing in her ears as he screamed for her to run. Her eyes drifted to the small black tattoo that marked her right wrist. It’s our mark, he had told her after lifting the ink needle from the little lightning bolt that now covered her raw skin, to show we are a family, that we’ll never be alone. But here, she was alone. She had left them alone in the raid, she didn’t even try to fight back, she just ran. Guilt swirled in the warm tears that dripped down her face. She had broken their oath of loyalty by leaving them to face the devil, and that thought crushed what was left of her broken heart.

She spent all night shivering in the cold shelter. The more the thunder and lightning struck above her, the more tears fell from her red stained eyes.  The memories of friendship and family, pain and hardship, and love and hate tore at her fatigued mind until the sheer exhaustion of it all put her to sleep.

When she awoke the next morning, it wasn’t to the sounds of her friends playfully arguing down stairs or the rustle of the sheets next to her, but to the weak headlights appearing from down the dark road. The next bus had come to take her farther west. She watched as it pulled to a stop and opened its worn doors, inviting her back on the same endless loop as yesterday. Upon entering the bus, she took her seat once more, wondering how many times this cycle would have to repeat until she could go home again.