The Longest Bus Ride [Fiction]

The soft melody of the Happy Birthday song from an alarm clock on the bedside table woke Thea Cargill up. She stretched like a cat, her satin silky duvet wrapped around her. Her eyes popped open at once —it was her eighteenth birthday!

Thea sat up straight and reached out a hand to silence the alarm clock. Finally, she was an adult, a stage of life she had longed for.

It was her last day as a senior in high school. She took extra care in her dressing and wore new Lee Copper jeans and a Good American stretch satin blouse bought specially for the occasion.

Used to getting everything she wanted, Thea looked forward to expensive gifts worthy of a girl from the Upper East Side from her classmates and friends. Some would give gifts to buy her silence on secrets that could destroy their reputation. While some would give simply to gain her favour, after all, she was the queen bee in her school.

Thea smiled at herself in the mirror, angled her iPhone, pouted her lips and took a selfie. She quickly uploaded it on Instagram, picked up her bag and went downstairs for breakfast.

Plates of tasty banana pancakes, strawberries, blueberries and a tall glass of orange juice were neatly placed on the dining table. The work of a maid. Thea frowned and looked around. Her parents were absent.

"Mum!" She faced the staircase and called. Just then their maid walked in from the kitchen with a tray of porcelain teapot and tea cups.

"Um, where's my dad and mum?" Thea asked.

"They left for office very early. They say you, um, to take a bus to school because drivers, um, busy. Very busy," the maid said gently and returned to the kitchen.

Thea screamed at the top of her voice and stomped her foot like a child. It was her eighteenth birthday, for crying out loud! Her parents had never asked her to take the bus before. Why would they do this to her now?

She stormed out of the house without breakfast. Getting to the bus stop which was a two-minute walk, there was a bus waiting. The door swung open to reveal a middle-aged man as the driver.

"You going?" He asked. Thea scowled at him and stepped in without a response. There were three passengers inside: a teenage boy with headphones gazing through the glass window, a hollow-eyed, haggard woman who looked to be in her mid-30s wearing a familiar necklace, and a young mother holding her baby in a swaddle.

^Source

Thea moved to the back seat away from these passengers, pulled out a wipe from her bag and cleaned the seat before sitting down. She swiped her phone open and began to scroll through her Instagram. As the bus began to move, the haggard woman sat down beside her.

"Never taken a bus before, huh?" She asked, her voice low and throaty. Thea pulled away into her seat and frowned. The woman chuckled.

"What? Do I smell? Do I not appeal to you?" The woman asked again. Thea became confused and angry. This was harassment, surely.

"Um, I don't want to talk to you or anyone. Do you mind returning to your seat?" Thea said.

The woman stared at her in silence, a slight smile on her pale face. Thea took in the deep lines etched into the sides of her nose and mouth, the dark circles under her puffy green eyes, and her dull and lifeless hair.

The woman too had her fill of Thea's long, flowing chestnut hair with tints of red, piercing green eyes, porcelain skin, and her slim and toned figure. The hint of stubbornness and determination in her features did not escape her notice.

Tears pooled in the woman's eyes and streamed down her face making Thea uncomfortable. "Have we met before?" Thea asked gently.

"What do you think? Look closely, Thea."

Thea gasped. "How do you know my name?" She shuddered as goosebumps formed on her arms, and the hair on the back of her neck stood straight.

Thea realised something was very wrong. The bus did not pick up any passengers at the stops. It moved on at an average speed. Thea looked through the window. The atmosphere had become bleak. The sky was grey and cloudy, the buildings looked dull and dilapidated, with broken windows and graffiti-covered walls. Trash and debris littered the streets.

Thea turned to talk to the other passengers. They and the driver stared straight ahead with blank expressions on their faces. She faced the haggard woman with fear in her eyes. "Who are you?" She whispered.

The woman shifted closer until her body touched Thea's. Tears streamed down both their faces as they gazed at each other. Thea trembled uncontrollably and her iPhone fell to the floor.

"I am YOU from the future," the haggard woman announced solemnly.

Thea shook her head. "That's not possible."

"There is no impossibility," the woman sniffed. "You know I tell the truth. You look into my eyes and see yourself. Do you deny it? See this?" She waved at the littered streets which was a far cry from the glamorous Manhattan city that Thea was used to. "This will be our life, your life, if you do not change."

"What do you mean, change?"

The woman caressed Thea's soft cheek with the knuckle of her forefinger. "Being born with a silver spoon is no guarantee of a great future. Your choices at distinct points of your life determine your fate." She winced before continuing.

"I learned this quote from experience and also from a book. What you see is what will be if you keep being haughty, cruel and mean to people. It's time for a change. Is it not exhausting?"

Thea suddenly felt tired. She wiped her face and nodded. "It is but I don't know how to be different."

"You have to learn. I won't tell you the tragedies ahead. To do so is to change people's lives. I came only to warn you so you can see for yourself and avoid the terrible fate ahead."

The woman touched Thea's neck, leaned in and pressed her forehead to Thea's. "Happy eighteenth birthday."

In a blink, the atmosphere changed. Thea gasped and quickly looked around. The sky was blue with few clouds. She could see tall buildings and skyrise apartments around as the city bubbled with activities. The passengers were lively.

Thea picked up her iPhone from the floor. The lock screen revealed it was 4.32 pm. Her eyes widened in shock. She had missed school while on the longest bus ride of her life.

She noticed the woman's necklace on the seat beside her. The experience was real. Thea made the choice right inside the bus to listen to her future self and make the necessary changes to avoid the dark fate that awaited her.

Just then her phone rang. It was her dad, her ally. "Sweetheart, where are you? Your surprise party is about to start. Act surprised, okay?"