June 3^rd, 2006

            “Five miles to Ether Green. Next stop, Ether Green.”

            The tired voice of the bus driver crackled through the loudspeakers and echoed against the cold walls of the old bus as it rumbled slowly along. The road, having seldom been used, was nothing but dust and pebbles, with the occasional pothole to jiggle the seats and break up the monotonous journey. This journey having been what had occupied Meg’s afternoon. Her mp3 player had lost its battery and so she had been resigned to staring at the cracked and faded leather seats for the last two hours. She leaned her head against the chilled window and let the grinding of the engine vibrate against her temples. Five miles to her summer home. For the next couple of weeks, anyway.

            It was the summer ahead of Meg Markots’ junior year of high school. She was a fairly skinny girl, with dark curly hair that she liked to keep cut shoulder-length. She had a pale complexion with light blue-grey eyes, which had made her the subject of much teasing when she was younger. Perhaps as a result, though, she had developed an introverted personality. It wasn’t that she disliked people, but she had always found that making friends was harder for her than it was for others. People were just so hard to understand.

            A few minutes later, the bus began to slow with the squealing of brakes and that characteristic hiss as they gradually came to a stop outside a one-room welcome station. What a pain to have to man a place like this, Meg thought as she slid her bag over one shoulder and made her way up towards the front of the bus.

“Hey, thanks for making the trip out here,” she said quietly to the driver. He was a grizzled old guy with a slumped down posture and who smelled of chewing tobacco.

“No problem at all, young lady. I get paid by the hour, anyway.” He peered out past her into the dimly lit welcome center. “You got someone waiting for you?”

“Yeah, my cousin. He’s a local.”

“Well, that’s good. That’s family. Always got to stick close to family. Especially in parts like these. Not always the safest place in the world to be, you know, what with the late hour and all.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” she said, going down the steps. “Anyway, thanks again.”

“Mm-hm,” he muttered.

            As the bus was pulling away, Meg pushed open the door to the welcome center, causing a bell to ding softly. It wasn’t any bigger than it looked on the outside, with a handful of plastic benches lined up along the walls and a small help desk on the opposite side from the entrance. There were only two other people in the room: an old man and a teenager. The old man behind the desk was leaned back in his chair, snoring loudly with his head hanging limp behind him like a ragdoll. The teenager was sitting on one of the benches, upside down with his feet on the wall. When he saw Meg enter, he looked up with a grin on his face.

            “Is that who I’ve been waiting for all afternoon?” He sprang to his feet with that goofy grin and sauntered over to Meg, holding out his fist for her to bump. “Jesus, you look different.”

            “C’mon, man, it hasn’t been that long. You’re just as weird as ever.”

            “Well, I gotta have some way to entertain myself. Sleepy Ben over there hasn’t been much for conversation.” He nodded to the snoring man at the desk.

            Johnny Tuesday was the son of Meg’s aunt, who had passed away after being sick for some time. Being a single mom, her death had left Johnny with no place to live, so he had been sent to his grandpa in Ether Green, a small town out in the middle of the woods in Pennsylvania, a decision that neither Johnny nor Meg had been very happy about. Meg had never enjoyed being around most of the family, but Johnny had a way of bringing people’s spirits up. Him being forced to leave town only meant Meg had one less friend there.

            As for Johnny himself, he was practically Meg’s polar opposite. Always smiling, he had a personality that could best be described as “happy-go-lucky.” With his outgoing attitude, he was a person that never seemed to be bothered by anything. How he and Meg got along so well was something no one had been able to figure out, including them. He had gotten taller over the years, though he and Meg shared the same lanky physique. His hair was dark blonde, and he had grown it out past his shoulders, like a Californian hippie. His mouth curved upwards at the corners so it always looked like he was smiling, even when he wasn’t trying to.

            “Right, how about we hit the road and get home to gramps? It gets dark pretty fast around here and I hate driving home in the dark.”

            They left through the other side of the building and walked to Johnny’s lonely old BMW sitting by itself in the parking lot.

            “Oh my God,” Meg laughed. “That’s what you’re driving? How old is that thing?”

            “At least twice as old as me, and that’s saying something.”

            “Oh, shut up. You barely have a year on me.”

            “And don’t you forget it. I’m the oldest, so what I say goes.”

            “Oh yeah? Good luck with that. If we can get home without breaking down, maybe I’ll listen to you.”

            “Hey, don’t even joke about that. These woods still creep the hell out of me, even after three years living here.”

            Meg leaned against the passenger side door waiting for Johnny to fiddle the door open. This place really was out in the middle of nowhere. She had barely gotten to talk with Johnny or Grandpa Tuesday since the reception was so spotty out here. The trees surrounding the area were tall and thin, and there were so many of them that looking out into the woods was like trying to see the bottom of the ocean, with the concrete oasis they stood in the only reprieve that she could see.

            After a few minutes of fiddling with the lock and a shout of “Bingo!” Johnny managed to unlock his side of the car and got in before unlocking the passenger door for Meg. Admittedly, the car looked much better on the inside than it did on the outside. The interior was nice and roomy, from back in the days when seats were still made out of leather.

            “I gotta admit, Johnny, your car is a lot cleaner than I thought it would be. I half expected it to have empty pop cans everywhere and smell like teenage boy sweat.”

            Johnny patted the dashboard fondly. “I’m gonna ignore that thinly veiled insult and have you know that I have the utmost respect for my baby. Now, shall we be off?”

            As they left the parking lot and drove into the woods to make the trip to town, Meg leaned her elbow on the side of the door and peered out into the distance. The setting sun flashed its warmth on her face as it blinked through the thousands of trees passing by.

            “So, what’s it like living out here?” Meg asked.

            “It’s pretty cool.”

            “Seriously?”

            “I can tell what you’re thinking already. Trust me, it really isn’t as bad as you’d think. There are some pretty cool people here. Oh man, I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

            “Wait, what?” Meg jumped in her seat. “I figured it would just be us hanging out.”

            “Well yeah, but that would get pretty boring, right?”

            “Yeah, I guess.”

            Crap, Meg thought. I should have known this was going to happen. Johnny’s just too freaking friendly with everyone. She turned her gaze back to the sunset. Maybe I can find a way to get out of it somehow. It wasn’t that she was completely against the idea of meeting people, it was just… well, it wasn’t like it mattered all that much anyway. She’d go meet these people for a day and that would be the end of it. They’d forget all about her the next day anyway. What was the worst that could happen?

            “Oh yeah,” said Johnny, half to himself, one hand resting on the steering wheel. “Things are going to get real exciting around here.”