CHAPTER NINETY FOUR – GOING DOWN TO THE FARM

The bus rumbled along the empty highway, the corn fields stretching endlessly in the fading light. Scarlett stared out the window, her forehead pressed against the cool glass. The gentle sway of the bus lulled her into a trance-like state, a momentary reprieve from the turmoil within. As the neon signs of yet another small town blurred past, she finally allowed her eyes to drift shut. Sleep didn't come easy these days, but exhaustion had a way of catching up to her when she least expected it. She dreamed of Henry, as she always did. His warm smile, the crinkles around his eyes when he laughed, the way his hand felt intertwined with hers. Fleeting moments of joy snatched away by the cruel hands of fate. A pothole in the road jolted her awake with a start. Blinking away the remnants of the dream, she gazed out at the endless expanse of farmland stretching towards the horizon. "Next stop, Riverdale County," the driver's gruff voice crackled over the intercom. "Ten minute break." Scar