It wasn't the truck that got to Cass. At least not totally. It was the book Norman and Emma had showed her. The book she buried away four years ago. The feeling and knowing that Summers and Shelby found it, unburied it and hid it in one of the motel rooms. Shelby knew it was her. And now she had to be extra careful. God knows that if Shelby gets her alone, it would mean the end of it all.

Cass kept her eyes straight. Glaring at the endless road with trees overlapping the sky and the road seemed to only lead into more darkness. Cass used to be afraid of the dark. The idea of opening your eyes and still feeling like their closed used to horrify her. Unfortunately for the current circumstances, her mind was too busy replaying the issues in her head. She really liked Dylan and his family but it was too much. She was already too fucked up to consider trying anything new. She was unstable and she knew it. As her mind slipped away and her feet dragged on the side of the road, she heard the sound of tires slowly coming up behind. She glimpsed back to see burning headlights. The car came closer; once again, it was Shelby. Cass gulped back and her heart raced. She kept forward to avoid him.

"Cass!" Shelby yelled to her as he slowed down the vehicle and opened the passenger door window. Cass ignored him. "Come on get in the car. It's freezing outside."

"I'm fine."

"Cass, stop this. I'm not gonna hurt you," he said. Cass stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at him.

"Fuck you," she said coldly. Shelby began to cringe. He stopped the vehicle and ran out. He grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him.

"You think this is some kind of joke? You dumb bitch. I know what you found out, have I killed you yet? No. I have my reasons. Tonight is not you're night. Now get in the fucking car," Shelby snapped, steam rolling off him. Cass glared. She went to squirm out but he gripped her tighter.

"Get your hands off of me," Cass said with flaring nostrils.

Cass tried to escape again but she struggled. He kept yanking her but over and over again, he yanked her back. He opened the passenger seat and tried to shove her in before headlights appeared behind them. Cass kicked his knee and he flew back. She jumped out of the car and ran over to try and stop the vehicle. The car came to a halt. Cass peeked in to see Emma. Cass had never been happier to see her.

"Come on get in!" Emma said. Cass glimpsed over as Shelby struggled to get up. She turned back and got in the car, slamming the door. Emma then stepped on the gas pedal and drove off leaving Shelby to fend for himself.

Cass sat there for a moment. Unable to move or speak. Emma glimpsed at her a few times, waiting for her to say something. Cass looked down back at her hands. Shaking endlessly. She gulped back and closed her eyes before moving to look out the window. She opened them and watched the darkness speed alongside the car. She knew Emma was waiting for an excuse but, she had nothing to tell her. What excuse could she have possibly come up with? Cass didn't express herself and she sure as hell wasn't about to start any time soon. Emma sighed and took a turn. Cass looked around. Not the right turn.

"Where are we going?" Cass asked. Emma shrugged.

"A place to help calm you down. Don't worry, Norman and I go there all the time," Emma said. Cass watched her closely before turning back to face the front.

It wasn't long before the road had reached an end. Emma drove up close to the edge and stopped the vehicle. She watched Cass slowly fade off. She got out of the vehicle and walked to the water's edge. Emma glared as her platinum hair blew back from the wind flying off the water. She sighed and slowly climbed out of her car. She held her tank close and made her way to Cass's side. Standing there she glared out. She was curious as to what panicked her and why. She knew Cass was hiding something and she was too anxious to wait and find out what it was exactly.

"How did you know about the book?" Emma asked. Cass remained quiet. "What happened that scared you so much?"

"Do you believe that people are good?"

"Yes."

"Then you're a fool," Cass said. Emma watched her wondering what she was on about. Cass turned and looked at her. "Humans are naturally bad. Doing good things seems to be getting harder and harder for people to do. The bad things are our weakness and that's only because it's the true us."

"What does this have to do with the book and Shelby?"

"It's got everything to do with that," Cass replied. Emma remained quiet. Cass bit her lip. Was it time to say something? "Four years ago, I noticed the oddness with Summers and Shelby. They were becoming friends? It was so weird. So one day I decided to follow them. They led me to the motel. I sat outside in my car for almost three hours. When I was ready to drive home I saw them leaving."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah. Summers went to the house and Shelby drove off down the road. So I decided to check out the room. Back in high school I got into the wrong group. Learned a lot of shit. I broke into the room and saw that the room seemed untouched. I eventually found the book hidden under the bed. I grabbed it and flipped through it. Each sketch was more fucked up then the last. That's when I heard noises from the bathroom. I got up and checked it out. I found an Asian woman. She was sitting there, completely out of it. Full of blood. Then I heard the sound of whistling. I ran to the window and saw Summers heading down the steps. I panicked and I got the hell out of there."

"So you just left the girl there?"

"I had no other choice. I didn't want to but….. What the hell was I supposed to do? Everyone thought I was crazy already," Cass said ending with a mumble. Emma continued to keep her eyes fixed on Cass waiting for the rest of the story. "I went home and tried telling my dad. He didn't believe me. I got angry and ran out of the house. Eventually, I decided to bury it and never bring it up again."

"Then it showed up back in the room?" Emma questioned. She paused thinking back. That's when it all clued in for her. "One of them found it. They knew you took it. That means Shelby knows why you ran off. Oh shit Cass. What's gonna happen?"

"That's the thing. I got no god damn idea," Cass sighed.

"You need to stay close to us. Me, Norman, Norma and Dylan. We can all look after you," Emma said slightly getting excited.

"No Emma. No matter what, Shelby will always know. Norma is blinded by his so called charm, Norman is too busy trying to take him down and Dylan….. He's got more issues than I do. The only way I can stay safe, is staying clear of the Bates. Shelby wouldn't touch me knowing that my father was around. Close or not, my father would kill him."

Emma and Cass sat there for a while in complete silence. Watching the ocean blissfully sway. In the far distance the sight of sunrise began to appear. As beautiful as the scenery was, it was nothing to help overcome the inner feeling Cass had. The gut wrenching defeat, the worry, the questions, the relationship ending before it even begun. Guess it was bound to happen. Nothing good ever last forever. Especially for Cass. She was cursed and she was starting to think, so were the Bates.