BUS NUMBER 26

Bus route number 26 is always crowded, no matter what time it is. When An finished school, it was difficult to jostle to get on the bus, but once on the bus, the smell of people, the smell of sweat, the smell of road dust, all mixed with the smell of air conditioning, created a mixed atmosphere that if it weren't for the arrest. Surely no one will want to endure it.

It was a late afternoon. An had just finished working with the group to prepare for next week's presentation. An hurriedly packed her books and ran to the bus station. Tonight she promised to go see a concert with her mother at the Kim Ma theater.

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BUS NUMBER 26

(Second Prize - Horror Story Writing Contest) - Bao An is a first-year student at a top university in the city. Every day she still goes to school regularly on bus number 26 from Mai Dong to My Dinh Stadium.

***

Bus route number 26 is always crowded, no matter what time it is. When An finished school, it was difficult to jostle to get on the bus, but once on the bus, the smell of people, the smell of sweat, the smell of road dust, all mixed with the smell of air conditioning, created a mixed atmosphere that if it weren't for the arrest. Surely no one will want to endure it.

It was a late afternoon. An had just finished working with the group to prepare for next week's presentation. An hurriedly packed her books and ran to the bus station. Tonight she promised to go see a concert with her mother at the Kim Ma theater.

transfer-bus-so-26-2

Upon arriving, An missed one flight, and it took her nearly 20 minutes to catch the next one. Bao An quickly slipped inside and found a place to lean against the chair. Even though she has ridden the bus many times, she cannot get used to the sudden braking or weaving on its spectacular road, so looking for a place to lean on is the first thing An does when stepping on any bus route. any.

Leaning on a chair near the back door, An put on his headphones and began waiting to cross the long, crowded road at rush hour in noisy Hanoi to get home, swooping down on his waiting parents' dinner tray.

At the right stop, An pressed the bell to signal the next stop. Out of habit, she looked down at the back of the car. Most people were nodding off and about to turn away, but something stunned her.

A sharp gaze glanced at An, just as she turned her head. It was a woman, with sharp eyes that An had never seen in anyone before. She even felt those eyes were red and filled with vicious glares.

Home > Short Stories > Horror > Bus number 26

BUS NUMBER 26

(Second Prize - Horror Story Writing Contest) - Bao An is a first-year student at a top university in the city. Every day she still goes to school regularly on bus number 26 from Mai Dong to My Dinh Stadium.

***

Bus route number 26 is always crowded, no matter what time it is. When An finished school, it was difficult to jostle to get on the bus, but once on the bus, the smell of people, the smell of sweat, the smell of road dust, all mixed with the smell of air conditioning, created a mixed atmosphere that if it weren't for the arrest. Surely no one will want to endure it.

It was a late afternoon. An had just finished working with the group to prepare for next week's presentation. An hurriedly packed her books and ran to the bus station. Tonight she promised to go see a concert with her mother at the Kim Ma theater.

transfer-bus-so-26-2

Upon arriving, An missed one flight, and it took her nearly 20 minutes to catch the next one. Bao An quickly slipped inside and found a place to lean against the chair. Even though she has ridden the bus many times, she cannot get used to the sudden braking or weaving on its spectacular road, so looking for a place to lean on is the first thing An does when stepping on any bus route. any.

Leaning on a chair near the back door, An put on his headphones and began waiting to cross the long, crowded road at rush hour in noisy Hanoi to get home, swooping down on his waiting parents' dinner tray.

At the right stop, An pressed the bell to signal the next stop. Out of habit, she looked down at the back of the car. Most people were nodding off and about to turn away, but something stunned her.

A sharp gaze glanced at An, just as she turned her head. It was a woman, with sharp eyes that An had never seen in anyone before. She even felt those eyes were red and filled with vicious glares.

The red eyes were filled with vicious glares

An quickly got out of the car, suddenly looked back, and felt a cold feeling down her spine when she noticed that the woman was still watching her, with that look, and the red color of her eyes made An shiver slightly.

Patting his forehead to reassure himself that he was too hungry to cause hallucinations, An laughed and quickly turned into the alley to go home.

Little did An know, there would be something waiting for her ahead.

***

The concert ended quite late, so An drove her mother home. The road is quite deserted but not dark.

An walked and chatted happily with her mother. At the turn into the alley, suddenly An screamed in terror, the steering wheel wobbled, the car fell onto the road, a loud noise rang out in the quiet night on the small street.

Behind the electric pole at the beginning of the alley, An saw it - the red eyes of the afternoon. The woman dressed in black, her hair tied up neatly like a young girl was standing there, turned around, and stared at An.

"What's wrong with walking? Luckily you're not walking fast? Are you okay? Why is your face so pale?"

An couldn't respond to her mother's constant questions. There were so many things in her head that she couldn't even think anymore. Because, when he regained his composure and mustered up the courage to look up at the electric pole, An saw nothing but a long shadow lying motionless under the quiet streetlight.

***

An confusedly remembered that moment, her heart beat a few beats faster. If that's not a hallucination, then who is it?

That night, An dreamed that she was sitting on a bus, and a hand suddenly placed on her shoulder from behind. An turned around and saw red eyes shining with a vicious look!

Screaming and waking up in the middle of the night, the air conditioner was still set at 22 degrees and sweat soaked the back of his shirt. An couldn't sleep until morning.

***

An came to class with dark circles under his eyes, and his friends joked, "If you're in love with me, you won't be able to sleep all night, huh?".

An smiled with her mouth distorted, other worries were rising in her heart.

An didn't know if she should tell anyone about what was happening to her. She suddenly felt uneasy, she looked everywhere wherever she went. If it was a real person, she would probably see it somewhere. But throughout that day at school, she saw nothing but groups of girls huddled in groups of three or walking happily around the campus, arm in arm.

Temporarily forgetting his fear, An happily boarded the bus home. This time, he learned from experience. When he got off the bus, An did not look at the back of the bus once. Just arriving at the beginning of the alley, An stopped when he saw the electric pole, then breathed a sigh of relief. There's no one.

Maybe yesterday I was so tired that my imagination was wandering, An thought and reached for the key in his backpack to open the gate.

When the gate opened and An turned to lock the gate before entering the house, An fainted in the yard. That black shirt and red eyes were on the other side of the street, looking at her plaintively!

***

An woke up at 7pm and saw his parents sitting next to him. An's parents questioned her harshly, worried that there was something sad or tiring their daughter was hiding. An was about to tell everyone what she was feeling, but thought about it for a moment. She asked to sleep with her parents.

It was a good night's sleep. An hugged her mother and slept soundly until morning, without dreams.

***

The next day, An's parents asked An to stay home and rest for a day before going to school. An obeyed because the feeling of the stranger still haunted An, she thought it would be better to stay home for a day and see.

An spent the whole morning watching Disney Chanel, surfing Facebook, making scrambled eggs for lunch, eating tangerines and then going to his room to sleep. It's been a long time since she had a full nap. Going to school and then working part-time makes her time full 16 hours a day. While he was half asleep, An suddenly felt a very light noise. An opened his eyes. The curtains flutter. She jumped up. An remembers that he did not open the balcony door, nor did he turn on the fan in the room, nor could the curtains fly naturally like that.

Then An saw a black shirt, no, to be exact, a black shirt, a long shirt like a cape in the collections she still saw in magazines. Then a hair tied up, and a woman's face slowly turned behind the curtain...

transfer-bus-so-26-5

***

At 6pm that same day, An's parents discovered their daughter's body on the bed in her room, with long streaks of blood flowing from her wrist, cut with a sharp fruit knife.

Under the girl's pillow, an open book was discovered.

The wind blew from the balcony, the book automatically folded, clearly showing the 4-word title "Suffering to Death" - a newly released horror novel.