The Bus Stop

Chapter 1:

Long days like these make me want to quit my job. But watching people come and go kept me busy enough. I watch them trot towards the bus as I drive it closer, trying to check wether this is the bus they should get on or not. I open the doors and the people huddle around it, trying to get inside and away from the rain. A woman holding her child by one hand and her scarf by the other, closely clutching it towards her body. A man's boots drench the bus as he quickly hops on, looking back at his dog that splashed the water out of his body before trotting behind his owner, dragged by the leash. He takes out his card and scans it, leaving a loud "beep!" before finding a seat. More and more people came in, more and more rain poured outside. Some immediately got out their cards and scanned, some let someone else do it for them so they could quickly find a seat. I shivered as the cold wind blew into the bus and prompted the people to get on faster.

The unlucky ones had to stand up throughout the ride, but the more unlucky ones were like the kid that ran towards the bus just as I closed the doors. She wore a blue scarf and huge glasses, her shoes were dirtied by mud as she ran, splashing in a puddle on the way. I opened the doors again and grumbled, there always has to be someone who's late.

She was huffing, her black backpack carried only on one shoulder. She fumbled for her phone and tried to scan her digital card, but there was no "beep."

I closed the doors anyway and finally started driving, briefly looking at the helpless kid that was still standing there, trying to get her digital card scanned. Her face was all red and her body language so tense that I started to wonder if she was being chased by a bear before she came in here.

I don't enjoy the hassle of being a public transportation driver, but watching people everyday started fascinating me, and even though I'm a fifty-something year old, I like to make up stories about them in my head. I watch as they get on and interact with each other, sometimes there are new people, sometimes there are not. I watch as all the different people with the different ages that I lived through go on with their busy lives, reminding me of myself and how I used to be when I was their age. My busy days are long gone now, all I have is this job. My life has become so simple, but I like it that way.

I like it even more when I watched that kid finally managing to get her digital card scanned but then stumbling and falling between the standing crowd. She must have had it tough.

"Careful!" I yelled back at the girl then looked at the road just in time see that I was only inches away from crashing into a giant truck, "woah!!" I cursed at the driver and took a sharp left to avoid his truck. The loud "BEEEEEP" of my angry bus horn surprised me with how loud it was. I stopped beeping and sped in front of the truck - accidentally making the same kid fall. Again.

I always follow the same path everyday and repeat it from 7AM until 7PM-- when my shift ends. So I obviously memorized every bus stop and every corner, but as I eyed the same girl on every bus stop, she just wouldn't get off. People came and went, but she stayed put, occasionally texting in her phone or staring at the watch in her hand. Gradually, the people in the bus became less and less as I approached the last stop, until no one got on, but only got off. But she stayed there until the very last stop, where I usually take a break before resuming my shift. I stared at her, sitting there, the only person left on the bus besides me. I had no idea what she was up to, but she looked more confused than I was.

Ah, lost. Poor kid, but nothing was going to disrupt my break.

Eventually, we reached the stop that she came from and she hopped off.

The next day was rather sunny despite the harsh winter that year, I quickly got dressed, had my tea and biscuits, kissed the photo of my daughter goodbye and left for work. My daughter was all that was left for me, but I lost her last year, only a couple of months away from her university graduation. People said that I was never the same anymore.

"E-Excuse me, does this bus lead of I.H University?"

I looked up, it was that same girl, but she didn't seem to recognize me. It made sense since she literally didn't notice her university stop the day before and missed it because of how stressed she was. "Yes, hop on."

The girl looked like a middle schooler, I would have never guessed that she attended university. I.H University was the same one my daughter attended, I would pass by that building and remember her. Now, this girl that stood in my bus every morning and every evening, reminded me of my daughter more and more.

Chapter 2:

“D-does this bus go to I.H University?”

I stared at her, I couldn’t believe she still asked me the same question two weeks later, “kid, you ask this everyday, just get on!” I watched her blush in embarrassment and look me in the eye for the first time, giving my face a quick scan before she hurried back in. I looked at her from the mirror and shook my head, wondering if this little runt could survive university.

My shift was finally over, I parked the bus and took another to get home. The night was very cold, just like the night my daughter died. It was the same date, actually, the 5th of June. I walked, shivering, limping. My shoes splashing on the puddles scattered all around the streets. I looked down at the puddles, they seemed so big, so deep. I closed my eyes. My head swirled and swirled, round and round until my feet were too deep into the water. Before I knew it, the water reached my waist, my chest my shoulders. Until it swallowed me whole.

I swam, I swam, I swam. Trying to grab her. Trying to save her, leaving behind my car that was also submerged in water. But she was limp, looking just like the car. Frozen, destroyed, lifeless. We drowned further and further. Me, my daughter, and the car I drove recklessly as I yelled at her before the steering wheel got out of control and we fell into the sea, in the middle of that rainy night.

It should have been me instead. I'm the one who yelled, I'm the one who was cursing. She had her whole life ahead of her. Instead of watching that timid girl come into my bus every morning and every evening, it could have been my daughter. I would have been happy if she were still alive. I would have been happy.

I opened my eyes to that same puddle, bombarded with raindrops, restless. I limped on.

I would have been happier if she were alive, otherwise, I didn't know why I was still alive. All that was left for me in this world was her. But she left, taking away my purpose and will to live along with her, leaving me with nothing but misery. I had no reason to smile.

I woke up late the next day late. I took the bus and drove in a hurry, the rain hadn't stopped and it was banging on my windscreen, desperate to get in. I barely looked at Timid Kid (it's what I decided to call her) as she entered the bus, but I could tell she was relieved the bus finally came and she hadn't missed it. I drive. Coughing, frowning and cursing. This day seemed like any other hideous day, until I saw something ahead. The next stop was the university, Timid Kid stood up and got ready to hop off, but the road was closed for construction. I cursed under my breath, feeling panic rise in the kid. I bet she thought she took the wrong bus and was now blaming herself. I took another route- the only other route leading to the university stop- the route I knew too well.

My muscles clenched on the wheel as the bus approached the seaside road. I never drove on it since the day I lost my daughter, but there I was again. The rain didn't show any signs of stopping, and suddenly it was the 5th of June, in the middle of the night. Suddenly I was in my old car, with my daughter arguing with me about-- what were we arguing about...? I can't remember. I can't remember but I yell in reply, "be quiet! sit down and let me drive"

"Please, I just want to get off, sir!"

I went faster, honking and honking at every vehicle in front of me."Just shut up!! SIT DOWN."I approach the middle of the road where my car fell into the water, glass shattering, the girl screaming, I'm crying. And before my body was submerged in water again, everything stopped.

I was back in the bus, hands shaking, we weren't moving. I looked to my right to see Timid Kid, holding a water bottle towards me with one hand, and the wheel with the other. She apparently moved the bus to the side of the road and stopped it."I-I'm sorry, do you need some water--" I took it from her hand, took a gulp cried. I cried because I was so angry at everyone else as if everything that had happened to me was their fault. I cried because I knew I had the choice to be kind because others could be going through nightmares worse than mine.

I was never happy. I always complained. Then I remembered what my daughter and I argued about that night. She was trying to cheer me up about a silly thing I was so angry about. She told me there was a bright side to the world that I just can't see. As I looked around me, I saw them smiling despite that I was late, smiling even though I yelled. I started the engine again, and everyone was back in their seats, except for this unlucky, timid kid who had no choice but to stand, but she smiled anyway.

I moved the bus and resumed the drive to the university stop. The rain kept pouring, the cars kept getting in my way, the raindrops kept banging on my windscreen, nothing changed. But I smiled anyway. I smiled because there are far more beautiful things in life, and far more reasons to be happy than to be sad. More reasons to be cheerful than mad.

Four years passed slowly, but that's how I liked it. I only retired when the girl I no longer called Timid Kid graduated. I saw my daughter in her as she held her diploma on the ceremony. I smiled, then cried, but then I smiled again.