It was 8 AM, and Tina had two hours to kill before her bus departed. Heidi had left already: her first patient was scheduled to arrive around now. Now the young girl was alone, all her earthly possessions with her. A bag filled with clothes. A backpack filled with food, water and everything Heidi considered necessary for the potentially long trip. And a coat, generously donated by Annie. It was actually too big, but with a coat, size didn’t matter so much. A bit too long, obviously, but not enough to make her stumble in it.

In addition, Heidi had gifted her two wallets and a serious amount of cash. She had insisted the money be split between the wallets in case one of them got stolen. It was enough money for her to eat for a month, but not pay any rent on top of that.

Tina was seriously considering what to do now. The wise decision was probably to remain seated and wait. A tempting possibility was to buy a decent pair of headphones so she could listen to music again. An even more tempting alternative was to pick up a vibrator somewhere.

Caroline had been completely right: A showerhead was an ingenious device for achieving an orgasm. Okay, maybe those hadn't been Caroline's exact words, but probably her meaning. Now she was eager to test out her second suggestion: a vibrator.  

She hadn't actually planned to test out anything in the first place, but her body had had other ideas. Listening to the two lovers, in particular Heidi’s screams, had awoken her horny side. She had done her best to satisfy her needs with her fingers, but again failed to achieve the desired climax. After a lengthy, frustrating session, she had finally fallen asleep, and woken up just as horny. And then she had seen an opportunity…

After some experimentation in the shower, she had reached the desired height. Her second attempt had been foiled by the rapidly diminishing supply of hot water. Still, she had been thoroughly convinced to try again later.

There was also another lesson she learned from the experience: Female voices screaming in pleasure aroused her. She idly wondered if male voices would have the same effect. How did heterosexual women in general feel about the subject? Maybe she could ask Caroline about it when they met next time. If they met again. Even if she survived all this, it was not certain she could actually meet Caroline or the others again without inviting danger to all of them. That saddened her: she had grown fond of Caroline. Not in a sexual way, just in a friendly way, for lack of a better word. It was hard to describe her exact feelings on the subject.

Returning to the subject of a vibrator, she had two hours to kill anyway, and browsing cost nothing. Hopefully, a fourteen-year-old girl would not raise any suspicion entering such a shop. Surely she couldn’t be the only horny teenage girl in the world, right?

Fortunately, she didn’t need to ask for directions. That would have been awkward. Martin had been to such a shop a few times, most of the times looking for a gift for his current girlfriend. Even that had been a bit embarrassing. There were a lot of different kinks being catered to in such a place.

While walking to her destination, she mentally reevaluated her choice of a hiding place. She had spent more than two hours yesterday looking up all the locations from Heidi’s list. To call all of them villages was a stretch: Several of them were nothing more than a few buildings, and looked more like ranches or neighboring farms. And that was providing she could even find them online: She learned that there were a lot of farms and places with identical names out there. As Heidi had explained, all of them were really remote. She needed to cross several places off the list, simply because she had no way of getting there without her own car and driver’s license.

In the end, she had chosen one which piqued her interest: a village located in a valley below a magnificent manor, complete with a huge garden. It reminded Tina of an old noble’s house with the servants living close, but not close enough to be spotted from the manor itself. There was a chance that some sort of bigwig outside the Veil lived there. What better place to hide than in such a person’s shadow?

Of course, it all required her to somehow be accepted in the village. Since these villages existed outside the Veil, they were probably closed to outsiders. But if she could spin a convincing lie and reveal she already knew of the world outside the Veil, maybe they would accept her? It was worth a shot. Her main concern was how much attention entering uninvited would garner. If such an event were to raise any amount of suspicion, she’d be practically screaming her position to the agents.

She did have a trick up her sleeve, though: her ability would probably allow her to notice anyone looking at her with a lot of suspicions. If that scenario occurred, she’d just have to leave immediately and find someplace else to hide.

While thinking these thoughts, she arrived at the sex toy shop. Despite mentally preparing herself, she still tensed up. Why did she find this embarrassing? She had a perfectly good reason to be here. Yet, upon entering she found her cheeks growing red. Apparently, a shop employee noticed as well. A woman in her late thirties approached her before she had a chance to retreat.

“I see you’re nervous,” the employee said with a lot of empathy, “Is this the first time you’ve been here? Don’t worry, we have a lot of customers around your age. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

That was easier said than done, but at least Tina got one of her fears refuted. She allowed the employee to lead her past sections of kinkier merchandise and towards the more beginner-friendly items. The woman immediately began introducing her to vibrators despite Tina not saying a word. Apparently, her silence was acceptance enough.

The employee demonstrated several vibrators, from the very small to the more average-sized, and invited Tina to touch each one to feel how strong their vibrations were. Either she was very experienced in her job, or she picked up signals Tina didn’t know she sent, because she did not suggest any of the more life-like vibrators shaped like a man’s phallus.

About a quarter of an hour later, Tina walked out of the store, her backpack containing one more plastic bag than before she entered. While she may originally have planned to primarily browse, she had been pretty easily convinced to buy one of the vibrators. It hadn’t hurt that the saleswoman was very convincing, or that she was genuinely curious. At least she had landed on a more economy-friendly vibrator, despite technically being able to afford a lot better right now. Then again, who knew when she’d get any more money? It was probably not a quality item that would last a long time, but she hoped it would fulfill its purpose for a while.

She resisted the very slight urge to find a restroom and test her new purchase immediately, and instead bought herself an early lunch and a book before boarding the bus. Since she had been waiting for quite a while, she was first in line when entering the bus. Choosing a seat in the middle with a window, she settled in for the journey. There was a decent amount of other passengers, too, but it didn’t seem like a risk that the bus would get too full.

Unfortunately, one of the last passengers sat down next to her. A boy in his late teens. For some reason, he seemed to think a mustache suited him, despite clearly lacking enough facial hair for it to look even remotely good. If it was laziness, he would’ve had a beard as well, but he had obviously shaved that away. There was no need for him to sit next to her: There were plenty of other available seats, even double seats.

“You don’t mind if I sit here?” he asked, after sitting down. Was he asking for permission or forgiveness?

“As a matter of fact, I do mind. I would like to sit alone,” Tina replied as politely as she could. She didn’t want to give him a reason to be angry at her.

“Aw, don’t be like that, girl,” he flashed her a smile and proceeded not to move.

What was she supposed to do now? Was this a normal situation other girls had to deal with? How did they deal with it? She felt anger building up: This was at the very least a violation of her personal space.

The way she saw it, there were at least two ways to deal with the situation: Either remain seated and try to ignore him as much as possible or get up and move to some other seat, and hope he wouldn’t follow her. It wasn’t like she could call him out for harassment, at least not yet. ‘What did he do?’ ‘He sat down next to me’. Not exactly statements that would hold up in court.

She looked at him, trying not to let too much anger seep into her voice. “I’m not feeling very social right now,” she said, “Can I ask you to please leave me alone?”  

“Sure, baby, I’ll leave you alone,” he responded and once again failed to move away. Funny guy. Or not.

She caught a signal from him. He seemed to think a girl such as Tina probably didn’t get much male attention, and thus was shy about it but really just wanted to get laid. Seriously? That was what he honestly believed? Even Martin had never been that naive about it. Or had he? Maybe he had unintentionally purged it from his mind as he grew older.

Immediately after, she caught another signal. A simple image, set from his perspective. Tina was kneeling in front of him and sucking … No! What the fuck was wrong with this guy? She snapped her head away from him, looking out the window just to avoid meeting his eyes.

It struck her that this was probably just a flicker of his sexual fantasy, which Martin had been guilty of several times. No harm in thinking such thoughts, right? Except when the participant of such fantasies could glimpse into them. Not something Martin had ever feared.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She felt a shiver, mostly from the sheer disgust. There was also something else mixed in. Not strong enough to be called fear, but maybe anxiety? The guy was older, taller and stronger than her. If he wanted to force her, what would she do? Kicking his jewels seemed like a good start, or maybe poking his eyes out. Hopefully, the threat of punishment from society would be enough to discourage him in the first place.

It occurred to Tina that she just had a glimpse into the abyss of women being at the mercy of men throughout history. While Martin had heard of stories like that, he had never felt threatened in such a way. Sure, he had been in situations that might have resulted in him getting his ass kicked. But he was never at risk of getting raped. At least, he had never considered that a real risk. Maybe something she might want to consider for the future.

A thought struck her. She was underage, wasn’t she? Would this count as pedophilia? Well, obviously not, since he had not actually done anything apart from thinking about her. But even if he acted out those thoughts — yuck — he probably wouldn’t think of it that way. After all, she was not strictly a child, she had breasts. Not very big, but then again there were adult women that were practically flat as a board.

After suffering through a few more seconds of disgust, another equally important thought struck her. Did this mean that she was now a lesbian, since she found his attention extremely undesired? Not necessarily, she realized: Even heterosexual women didn’t like getting attention from every random stranger. And not every woman liked giving blowjobs. That part was easy to understand, at least. Putting a dick in her mouth was a downright disgusting thought. Then again, she had given women oral before. How was that technically different? Ugh. Complicated thoughts, and possibly double standards.

She tried to put those thoughts away for now and focused on ignoring the guy next to her. As long as he just sat there, she had to deal with it somehow. Ignoring him seemed like pretty much the only real course of action. Fortunately, she had something to distract her with; her recently purchased book. She lamented her lack of headphones, but there was nothing to be done about that right now.

Martin had read every Discworld book by Terry Pratchett. This was one of his non-Discworld books which Tina had never had a chance to read. Ten minutes into the book, she had already snickered to herself multiple times. She was deeply concentrated on reading when she suddenly felt something foreign on her thigh. She glanced down to see a hand, and quickly traced it back to the guy next to her. He flashed her a smile that she could only describe as smarmy.

What the hell? Another wave of disgust soared through her, followed by an even stronger wave of anger. She slapped away his hand away and met his eyes. Hopefully, they reflected the ire she felt. “I distinctly recall asking you to leave me alone,” she reminded him, her voice filled with acid.

“I'm really sorry,” he held up his hands as if to prove that he was no longer touching her, “It was just a mistake.”

Sorry my ass, Tina thought to herself, feeling his dishonesty clear as the sun on a cloudless day. A signal gave her the impression that he believed she was playing hard to get. She also caught another glimpse of a sexual fantasy: This time she was on all fours, getting pegged doggystyle. Her furious eyes lingered at him for a moment more before turning away. She really didn’t want to catch any more of his disgusting fantasies.

Seriously, what the fuck gave him the impression that she was playing hard to get? Her lovely, hatred-filled eyes? Her clear, unmistakable rejections? In his world, were all girls either clearly showing interest in him or playing hard to get?

What would it take for this guy to think otherwise? A punch to the face? Despite how tempting it sounded, it was probably not a good idea. In fact, inciting violence against someone stronger than herself sounded like a terrible idea. What if he struck back? And on top of that, she had heard somewhere that it was possible to break your own fingers if you didn't know how to properly throw a punch.

It was probably more productive to search for a non-violent solution. Problem was, she was still angry. It prevented her from seeking other solutions apart from those that made him suffer somehow.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to focus on the reading again. She was intentionally trying to distract herself from more uncomfortable thoughts. Her mood was poisoning her enjoyment, though, at least for the first two pages.

And then, after an indeterminate amount of time, she felt the hand again. Even worse, this time his fingers touched dangerously close to her crotch.

Tina exploded with rage. Before she could even make a conscious decision, her palm landed on his face with a resounding ‘SLAP’. Fuck, that hurt like hell! But her anger supplied her with plenty of adrenaline, allowing her to mostly ignore the pain.

“What part of leaving me alone don’t you understand?” she thundered at him. She hadn't even registered when she stood up. “Move, scumbag!”

The guy was taken aback by her anger, even looking a bit scared. When Tina pushed against his legs, he pulled them back mostly by instinct. Not intending to wait for him to recover and serve another half-baked apology, she pushed past him. With her backpack on one shoulder and the book in her hand, she made her way to an empty double seat in the front of the bus, intently observed by all the other passengers.

She plunged down on the window seat with unnecessary force. Damn, she felt much better now. Except for the hand she used to slap him with; it stung like hell. She could feel her anger slowly seeping out, replaced by feelings of embarrassment.

“You okay, miss?” she heard the bus driver call out to her.

“Yes, sorry for causing a scene,” she half-muttered, feeling her cheeks turn red.

“Ah, he probably deserved it,” the bus driver responded and focused on the road again.

“Yes, don't worry about it, dear’” an elderly, female voice from behind assured her, “men can be such jerks sometimes.”

She didn't want to meet anyone's eyes right now, so she simply nodded and muttered thanks.

In her mind, she could almost feel the stares of all the passengers boring into her. Not exactly the type of attention she enjoyed. At least the situation wasn’t getting worse; the boy had sense enough not to follow her. Which was good for more than one reason: She'd rather not face trial for attempting to kill a fellow passenger.

Hiding in her book seemed like the best option by far. She had to read the next page three times: despite her eyes passing over every word the first two times, her brain just didn't register the content over the noise generated by her chaotic thoughts.

At some point, her mood calmed down enough to allow her to enjoy the book again. Still, she turned her head every time she heard steps, in case they belonged to a certain scumbag she'd rather not meet again, if at all possible.

About four hours after the trip started, the bus stopped for lunch. The place was chosen by the driver, or possibly the bus company, could only be described as desolate. It consisted mainly of two buildings: A gas station and a small diner. The location was probably deliberate: When they resumed the drive after the half-hour break, it was a clear advantage if people hadn't lost track of time shopping or something. The only thing you'd find in this place was a ticket to getting lost in the surrounding forest.

The passengers streamed out the bus. Staying inside was not an option; the driver intended to lock the door. Tina disliked the prospect of facing the boy again, and knew it was inevitable unless he, against all odds, had finally taken the hint.

“Want me to accompany you, dear?” the same voice from earlier suggested. Tina turned around to see a woman probably somewhere around seventy, sporting a big, warm smile. She was like the archetype of kind grandmas everywhere, capable of lightening the mood with her mere presence. The only part that didn't quite fit was one of her eyes. It was somewhat discolored with a sickly yellow, and didn't quite meet her eyes. It took a moment to figure out it was probably fake.

“That would be great,” Tina exclaimed at the suggestion, making no attempt at hiding her happiness at the solution to her conundrum.

The two of them walked into the diner together. For once, Tina was accompanied by an adult shorter than herself. She spotted the boy on her way in, and promptly looked away, not desiring any eye contact.

The woman ordered a salad. For some reason, Tina felt it appropriate to mirror her choice. For the sake of politeness, maybe? At least neither had to wait for their food and could sit down together immediately.

Tina would have been okay eating in silence, but the old woman was having none of that. Five minutes into the meal, Tina had learned the name of her companion, Mary, as well as all five of her grandchildren and how her three children were all trying to sweet talk their way into her will, preferably in favor of the others. Mary had already decided to split her earthly possessions evenly between them, and the will was already written.

Tina caught a few tidbits between the lines; Mary was not expecting to live much longer and seemed comfortable with that. Some terminal disease, maybe? But as far as she could tell, Mary displayed no glaring symptoms, apart from what you expect in reasonably old people.

Almost the moment she had finished eating, the boy she least wanted to see showed up at their table. His attempt at making it look like a coincidence that he happened to walk this way fooled no one.

“Hey, babe. I forgive you for hitting me earlier,” he had the audacity to utter.

“You forgive me?” Tina repeated, mostly in disbelief. “How extremely magnanimous of you,” she almost spit out, the sarcasm so sharp you could cut bread with it. She felt her ire rise to new heights, drowning out all other feelings.

“Unfortunately, I have no intention of forgiving a jerk like you. Do you know what you lack, apart from possibly a few million brain cells?” she paused to take in a breath. “Some fucking common sense! Now take the goddamn hint, and get the hell away from me, asshole!”

The boy looked bewildered, as if this was a completely unreasonable reaction. Fortunately, Mary came to his rescue: “That is your cue to walk away, young man.”

He obeyed, half-stumbling as he turned around and briskly walked away. That went better than Tina had even dared to hope for.

“Thanks for your help,” Tina said, her anger swiftly abating. She had barely resisted the urge to punch his face in.

“No problem,” Mary responded, as naturally as if they’d been discussing the weather. “Young boys often have a hard time taking a hint. Do try to forgive him eventually, dear. Boys at his age can be rather foolish at times.”

“Oh, I know,” Tina muttered, recalling some less than flattering episodes from her own experiences at that age and gender. At least she hadn’t tried to rape anyone. Then again, the boy hadn’t actually done it, either. Would he have done it given the chance? She had no desire to find out.

They entered the bus together and resumed the journey in silence. Tina was more than happy to enjoy the solitude of her book.

Eventually, even unpleasant things came to an end, and she arrived as close to her destination as the bus would take her. Hopefully, she’d never meet the jerk again, but she had no doubt she’d meet other jerks instead. As for Mary… she felt bad for the old woman, but Mary had obviously accepted her fate, so there was nothing to be done about that except thank her for her help before leaving the bus.