Several minutes later she rose to her feet and stared at the street before her.
Bloody hell...
The street that led to Fifth Avenue was steep; almost like the ones in San Francisco. She'd never been to the City by the Bay, but from the pictures she'd seen, her perception was most likely not that far off. As tired as she was, it would take forever to walk three blocks uphill and the mere thought of doing so was overwhelming. But she had no choice.
Taking a deep breath, she started up the hill, finding it nearly impossible to walk more than a few feet without stopping for a few seconds before continuing. At this rate she might get there by morning.
By the time she finally reached her destination, she could barely move and she simply had to find a place to rest. Unfortunately the street was so jammed with shoppers that there was no where to do so.
Like a fish swimming upstream, she pushed her way through the crowd, sighing with relief when she came to a bus stop. Despite the fact that it was sheltered, the concrete slab was filled to capacity with potential bus riders and shoppers waiting to catch the illusive bus. Still it was a relief to finally be in the right place. At least she could relax.
But a half hour later when the bus still hadn't arrived, she checked the schedule again, dismayed when she realized that she was at the wrong stop. There was no orange crescent to be found.
She grabbed her cell phone intent on calling the bus company to give them a piece of her mind, when she caught a glimpse of the tiny screen. When she saw that she had no missed calls, she couldn't ignore the hurt. She was certain that Frasier or Martin would have called to check on her. It was hours later than she'd planned on being home. Didn't they care about her at all?
Tears filled her eyes and she angrily brushed them away. There had to be at least one bus in this city that would get her home. Seattle wouldn't just completely shut down because of some ridiculous Christmas tree lighting. Surely a bus-any bus-would be along any moment.
She walked on and on until she finally came to a sign with an orange crescent-six blocks away from where she had begun. And when she paused at the bus stop, she couldn't help but shudder. The company around her left a lot to be desired. The longer she waited the more apprehensive she became and it was much later when she realized that something was very wrong.