Dona woke up, but something in the back of her head screamed that she shouldn’t move. She kept her eyes closed and tried to just imagine the room she was in in the darkness behind her own eyelids. There was no way. There was nothing, no real noise, in the whole place. Nothing but a set of light breathing right across from her.

There was no telling how long either of them had been together like they were now, but her mind screamed at her that she lost time again. It had been happening a lot, but at least this one made sense. It lined up with the heavy feeling in her head that implied that she really hit it hard. Still, she tried to lift up, open her eyes, anything. All she really succeeded was groan.

“Watch out. You either have a nasty case of concussion or hypothermia. And I’m not going to rule out both seeing as you crashed your car into a snow bank in literally just a short sleeve.”

The voice sounded young, definitely not the man from earlier.

She really dragged herself up this time. She blurrily blinked at the girl? Women? Whichever was more appropriate. Teenager for sure. It felt like her entire mouth was filled with gauze, but she managed to get out “Who are you?”

“Allison.” She slammed her phone down, crossed her arms and legs all in one fluid motion. She clicked her tongue on the top of her mouth then left it half visible between her too sharp teeth as she ran her eyes over Dona. “It’s actually pretty impressive. You were passed out from breakfast to practically our closing time. You should have heard my manager when I came into my shift. He was all like ‘And that is the dead girl’s corner. Don’t bother her. We don’t want to be responsible if she doesn’t wake up in front of customers.’ I think it was the most openly done with life he’s ever been with me.”

“Your manager?” Dona wanted to say more, to actually complete a thought, but it wasn’t happening. Allison took enough pity on her to answer, though.

“There’s a ley line in our parking lot. We’re kinda used to crazy things happening. I mean, that, and nothing you can do will surprise me after seeing some of the shit frat boys do at midnight. You are literally the best weirdo we’ve had in literally months. Like a breath of fresh, dead meat air.”

“I… Why? You could have…”

“Kicked you out? Sure. But, hey, what are you going to do when freaking Key brings some rando into a crappy fast food joint. Fight him?”

“Who?”

“Seriously?” She grinned like it was all an entire big joke before it fell off her face completely. “Oh couches. You’re not from around here.”

“No.”

“Then you have no idea—Key is our local cryptid. Anything he says, goes. At least around here with the poor, weak folks.”

The man from the parking lot knocked Allison’s shoulder. “Don’t scare her, Allison.”

“Done throwing up in the bathroom?”

“For now.”

“You know, I don’t know why you never kicked it with Alex. The two of you have so much in common. You both literally should start carrying around barf bags.”

“I doubt he would like to hear that.”

“Well, his feud with you is ridiculous anyway.”

Dona tried to look up to see more than just the legs of the man, but her head felt just plain too heavy for it. She saw him tap at Allison’s shoulder again. Then, she was scooting off. “Be back,” she said, and the two of them just walked off.

Dona let herself lay back down on the table again. It wasn’t like there was much to do. Even if the car wasn’t totally buried, there was no way she was standing up soon.