Chapter 58 The bus ride
The morning air was damp and pale with fog when Lila stepped out of the dorm building, clutching her camera bag tightly against her chest. The parking lot ahead shimmered faintly with dew, and the white university bus idled at the curb, a thin column of smoke rising from its exhaust.
She could already hear the faint chatter of students waiting to board, the laughter, yawns, the soft clinking of coffee cups. A few girls leaned against the railing, scrolling through their phones.
When she approached, the noise seemed to dim.
She caught the shift immediately, the subtle glances, the quick nudges, the way a few students straightened and looked elsewhere.
It was the same pattern she had come to recognize over the past weeks. Fear disguised as curiosity. Disgust disguised as pity.
Someone whispered softly behind her, not softly enough.
“That’s her, right? The girl from the dorm, the redhaired.”
“Just like her sister and her best friend.”
The words stung, even though she’d trained herself not to flinch.
“Just keep walking,” she told herself. “You’re not here for them. You’re here to work, to breathe, and to feel something other than fear.”
Her sneakers squeaked slightly as she climbed up the bus steps. Inside, the air smelled of coffee and fabric softener. The seats were all taken except for a few empty spots but when she moved down the aisle, people shifted away, turning their faces toward the windows.
Her pulse quickened, the rejection hitting harder than she wanted it to.
Then she saw it, a seat halfway down the bus, beside a girl who wasn’t avoiding eye contact.
The girl’s hair was a deep, dark red, catching the morning light like copper. She looked up, met Lila’s gaze, and gave a small nod toward the seat beside her.
“Hey,” the girl said softly. “You can sit here. Nobody’s sitting next to me anyway.”
Lila exhaled quietly. “Thanks.”
She slid into the seat, her bag balanced on her knees.
The girl smiled faintly but genuine. “I’m Ava. Ava Addams.”
“Lila,” she replied. “Nice to meet you.”
The bus filled up slowly. The last few students shuffled in, their laughter filling the air again once Lila had settled in her seat, and she wasn’t their focus anymore.
Roy, Professor Mercer's assistant, stepped on board holding a clipboard. He gave everyone a quick but stern look.
“Alright, everyone. Listen up,” he said, voice firm. “We’re heading to Oakwood Lodge for the photography field trip. It’s a professional setting, not a rumor convention, so I expect you to act like students, not children. No more whispers. No more stares. Got it?”
There was a murmur of agreement, some sheepish, some defiant.
Roy’s gaze flicked to Lila briefly, then softened before he stepped back down from the bus.
Lila’s chest loosened slightly. Roy always seemed to see her, not the shadow of her sister.
The bus engine growled to life, a deep rumble that filled the silence.
As they rolled away from campus, Lila stared out the window, the world passing in soft blurs of gray and green.
After a few minutes, Ava broke the silence between them.
“So,” she said, twisting a red strand of hair around her finger, “are you in the photography department?”
Lila shook her head. “No, it’s just a minor course. My sister used to take a lot of photos. I guess I wanted to understand why she loved it.”
Ava smiled gently. “That’s sweet. Keeping her passion alive.”
Lila looked down at her hands. “Yeah. Something like that.”
Ava hummed softly, then leaned her head against the seat. “I’m in the department, this is my second year. I didn’t even want to go on this trip, honestly.”
“Why not?”
Ava hesitated. “I just don’t like crowds much. Or people who like to stare.”
Her voice had a slight tremor to it. The kind that made Lila glance at her more closely. There was something fragile in the way Ava held herself like she was always ready to shrink, to vanish if someone looked too long.
“You get that a lot too?” Lila asked.
Ava laughed lightly. “Are you kidding? With hair like this? Half the campus thinks I’m some sort of curse.”
Lila blinked. “Because of me.”
Ava met her eyes. “Because of her, the first victim, others, then your sister, Serena. People don’t separate faces, they see red hair and they remember tragedy. It’s cruel, but it’s human.”
Lila didn’t know what to say to that. Her fingers tightened on her bag strap, the coffee still bitter in her mouth from earlier.
“Sorry,” Ava said quickly, realizing she’d gone too far. “I didn’t mean to..”
“It’s okay,” Lila interrupted quietly. “You’re not wrong.”
They sat in silence for a while, the hum of the road beneath them steady and hypnotic.
Halfway through the trip, the bus stopped briefly for gas. Students stepped out, stretching and chatting near a roadside café.
Lila stayed inside, content to watch the others through the window. Ava stayed too, scrolling through her phone.
Then it buzzed.
Ava’s face changed instantly, her shoulders stiffened, her eyes darted down at the screen, then quickly to the window.
“Are you okay?” Lila asked.
Ava forced a smile. “Yeah, it’s nothing.”
But her voice was too quick, too forced. She locked her phone and shoved it deep into her bag.
Lila frowned. Something about the way Ava’s hands trembled made her stomach twist.
Before she could ask again, the door opened and more students started filing back inside.
That’s when Damian and Asher arrived.
They were late, both walking toward the bus from opposite directions, carrying their camera gear.
Lila looked at them, she hadn't noticed they weren't in the bus. How did they plan on protecting her when they arrived late?
Why did they arrive together? Could it be that they're getting along?
The air changed the moment they stepped in, Damian’s calm confidence brushing against Asher’s tense, sharp energy. They didn’t even speak, but the tension between them felt heavy enough for others to notice.
Damian slid into a seat near the back, flashing Lila a small grin when their eyes met. Asher sat near the front, his jaw tight.
Lila sighed softly. “Great. This trip’s going to be fun.”
Ava noticed. “Friends of yours?”
Lila hesitated. “Uhm, something like that.”
“Something complicated?” Ava asked with a teasing smile.
Lila smiled faintly. “You could say that.”
As the bus rolled on, the chatter slowly returned. Students began sharing snacks and laughing at bad jokes.
Lila and Ava leaned close over the camera in Lila’s lap. Ava showed her how to adjust exposure manually, her fingers moving quickly over the buttons.
“You’re good at this,” Lila said.
Ava shrugged. “I like making things look softer than they really are.”
“That sounds like hiding,” Lila murmured.
“Maybe it is,” Ava said with a quiet laugh. “Maybe that’s the only way to survive here.”
There was something honest in that tone, something heavy.
The bus turned off the main road, tires crunching onto gravel. The tall trees of the forest loomed ahead, their tops brushing the pale sky.
The light changed, it became sharper, colder and fractured by the branches.
Lila pressed her forehead against the glass, watching the world blur into deep greens and golds.
That’s when she saw it.
A single rose lying on the roadside.
It looked almost placed there, its petals untouched, its stem angled neatly across the dirt like someone had left it deliberately.
Lila’s breath caught.
No, it couldn’t be.
Her pulse thudded in her ears as she stared until the rose disappeared from sight behind the trees.
Ava noticed the shift in her face. “What is it?”
Lila forced a small smile. “Nothing. Just thought I saw something.”
Ava didn’t push, but Lila could tell she didn’t believe her.
The bus continued down the forested road, the light dimming as the trees grew thicker around them.
For a brief moment, everything went silent, the laughter, the chatter, and the music. Even the hum of the bus seemed distant.
Lila’s fingers trembled against her camera bag.
She didn’t know why, but deep down, she felt it again, the familiar weight pressing on her chest.
The sense that something wrong had just begun.