Where was a wormhole when you needed one? Or even just a regular sinkhole? So long as something opened up and erased her from existence, Thea wouldn't be too bothered with the details. Anything was better than riding the public bus.

Closing her eyes, she tried not to think about how the air she sucked in was coated with diesel fumes and stale sweat. She told herself not to imagine how many people on this bus had contagious illnesses. She focused on calming her breathing and tried to distract herself from the tightness in her chest.

But then someone touched her.

Of course you expect to bump into people on a crowded bus, but this was Thea's nightmare.

Some people - ordinary, sane people - have nightmares about being naked in front of people. Thea just had nightmares about people. In general. Being near people, talking to people, contracting germs from people. It had been five years since she had braved a space this crowded. This...filthy.

On any other day she would have had groceries delivered to her home so she could stay in her own controlled environment, but she was trying to face her fears in order to overcome them. So far, this experiment only seemed to be increasing every single fear she had. After the elevator incident, she wasn't sure why she was still agreeing to Dr. Harper's suggestions. If riding this bus was any indication, she was still cripplingly claustrophobic and the doctor's theory that these exercises would help fight her fears had so far been wrong. So very wrong.

See, everyone is afraid of something. But Thea's problem was she couldn't find anything she wasn't afraid of. She had all of the typical phobias like the fear of heights, spiders, and clowns, but then she also had a few more uncommon ones too, like mysophobia. Mysophobia is commonly called germaphobia and it was the main reason she was having an absolute meltdown on this grimy bus.

Her hands shook as she struggled to keep herself under control. If she had a panic attack on this bus, she could end up on the floor. The sticky, vomit-coated floor.

Just as sweat began to pool on her forehead and she began to wheeze, fishing in her pocket for her inhaler, salvation came in the sound of squealing brakes and the creak of the doors opening. Usain Bolt couldn't have beaten her out onto the sidewalk at the rate she launched herself from the seat. She panted with relief at the fresh air and open space, but her future destination loomed brightly in front of her: a reminder that where she was headed wasn't much better.

Grocery stores like this one probably had hundreds of customers a day if not more. And those same customers were disgusting and contaminated, incubating who knew what kind of bacteria or viruses. Their grimy hands touched everything in the store, and they passed their germs and illnesses along to other unlucky people. People like Thea.

She had chosen to shop early in the morning, before dawn, hoping to avoid larger crowds, but there were still lots of people walking around. She had somehow forgotten about all the people who didn't work from home like she did. Thea made a mental note that if she ever did this again - fat chance - she would go in the middle of the day. She took a deep pull from her inhaler and tried to slow her racing heart.

Several of the bus riders and passers-by were giving her strange looks, and she couldn't blame them. After all, after getting off the bus, she had been standing underneath this streetlight for nearly ten minutes staring at the shiny store doors with dread. And from a brief glance of her reflection in the glass, she could tell her eyes looked wild and manic. It took a few minutes to try and get herself back to some semblance of normal, flattening her bird's nest of hair and straightening out her rumpled, now sweaty, clothes. She practiced deep breathing and relaxing her tense muscles. It wasn't working.

Gathering all the courage she possessed, Thea took two steps into the store and looked around. It seemed clean, but she knew the truth: handles of shopping carts could be just as germ-infested as bathroom door knobs. Baskets were a safer bet, but not by much. Picking one up with extreme prejudice, she held it with only two fingers and far away from her body. She pulled hand sanitizer from her pocket and coated the basket with it and then put two coats on her hands. Better safe than sorry.

Less than nine minutes and two bottles of hand sanitizer later, Thea had what she deemed enough groceries and fled toward the checkout line like the aisle behind her was on fire. Her left eye had developed a twitch and her lungs were burning but she didn't dare fish her inhaler out of her pocket until she knew her hands were clean.

The sleepy cashier at the checkout looked rather concerned with her obvious nervous breakdown, but he kept his opinions to himself. In all honesty, Thea might have gotten through the entire ordeal without further incident if it hadn't been for the man behind her.

His sneeze echoed like a gunshot through the store and she stood frozen in horror and disgust.

"Excuse me," he said, unconcerned, as if he hadn't possibly brought death upon everyone.

Thea's eyes stared at the bags of groceries in front of her, but she wasn't truly looking at them. Her mind was far away, envisioning all of the possible illnesses she could have just contracted from this sick stranger.

To get her attention the cashier cleared his throat and instructed, "Ma'am, that's thirty-two fifty."

"Right," she managed to croak in his general direction. "Here."

After shoving a fifty at him, Thea picked up her bags and shot out of the store, not caring that she was supposed to wait for change. She lived blocks from the store, but she would rather walk home before getting back on the bus again. If she sprinted home, maybe she could wash the germs off before they had time to incubate.

"Hey, lady!" The sick man from the checkout line yelled, "You forgot your change!"

"No, no, no," she hissed under her breath and jogged faster. "This cannot be happening. For the love of all things holy, please don't let him catch up to me."

"Lady! Hey, lady!"

"It's okay!" Thea called back over her shoulder. "Please, keep the change!"

"I can't do that!" he shouted in return. "It wouldn't be right. Here, wait!"

She could feel her lungs contracting. Her throat closing. It was only minutes before she had an asthma attack and there was no way she was going to touch her inhaler with filthy hands. No way.

"Hey, wait up," he called again. He was sprinting to keep up with her now and she prayed with all her might that he would just give up and leave her alone.

Unfortunately, some deity had to have it out for her because as she turned to look behind, she slipped in a puddle and slid off the sidewalk and three feet down into the drainage ditch. A ditch full of muddy, garbage-filled water. The final catalyst: seeing a dead raccoon floating in the water beside her head - its body bloated and decomposing.

The asthma attack she had feared having earlier hit her like a freight train. Just as her lungs seized up painfully, the man from the grocery store finally caught up. As if things couldn't get any worse, when he approached Thea saw him wipe his nose and then use the same hand to pull her up out of the water. Her palms had grown clammy and the snotty man's voice had been replaced with the thudding boom of her heartbeat in her ears. Her vision was blurring. Her head was spinning.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" She heard another muffled voice say to her left. "Let her go, man. Can't you see she's having a panic attack?"

Looking around, Thea came face to face with an angel. Well, not literally, but he was gorgeous. He glared at the man from the grocery store and she let out a whimper of relief as snotty man finally let go of her wrist and took a few steps back.

"Hey, easy," the newcomer whispered. "Concentrate on my voice. Take deep breaths."

Temporarily forgetting her aversion to touch, Thea let this new man take her arm and lead her away. The people passing seemed eager to make a path for him and averted their eyes as if they were afraid. That baffled her. How could they fear him? Couldn't they see this man had saved her?

Thea ignored their reactions. The humid air outside didn't even bother her for once. She was covered in mud and grime but her sole attention was focused on the man leading her down the sidewalk. How was this possible? Had she overcome her fears? She felt light, free. Unburdened. All thanks to this kind stranger.

His blond hair glowed underneath the streetlights, making him seem even more angelic, but his black leather jacket and boots conflicted with that image. A fallen angel perhaps?

On any other day she would never have allowed herself to get this close to a stranger. She had never met this man before in her life. Why was she so comfortable with him? Looking at the leather of his jacket creased under her arm, Thea wondered why she felt so strange, so alien. She was not herself.

"I'm sorry about this," he whispered, not looking at her directly. "But she's given me no choice."

His voice was music to her ears and she stared at him in confusion. Sorry for what? What could her guardian angel have to apologize for?

Thea didn't scream or run when he lured her into a dimly lit alley. It didn't even occur to her. She felt no fear as he transformed into something monstrous before her eyes: his teeth becoming fangs and his fingernails lengthening into talons. It didn't even hurt when his teeth sank into her throat. She could only stare down at his golden hair in awe.

It was only after it was all over and Thea was drained of blood that feeling returned. That fear returned. Panic and pain began to blossom throughout her body, but before it could completely take hold, the dark angel stared into her eyes and commanded, "You will forget what happened here."

And she did.

...
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A/N: So part of this is in the original version, but I hope the edits have added some character depth to it. I really wanted to give more depth to all the characters, but especially Thea's. Hope you enjoyed reading!