Lessons On Love

7: Snow White Or Prince Charming

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Chapter 7: Snow White Or Prince Charming?

            “Want to hear a ghost story?” I didn’t reply to Marshall’s question, and kept my attention focused on where he was taking me. Everywhere I looked, there were rocks and trees, and then, more rocks and trees. He had abandoned his bike awhile back at the bottom of the hill, and now we were trekking up a winding path with only a few slivers of silver moonlight to guide us.

            “Okay,” he murmured awkwardly, and then decided to tell me the story anyways despite my silent disapproval. “So there once lived this bus driver in a town not much different from our own, and every chance he got, he took the night shift. During the daytime, he found that a lot of people boarded the bus, but during the night, people were scarce, and he found that he could actually enjoy his job. One night, his bus route led him to the deserted part of the town edge. There weren’t many bus stops left, and since his last passengers had left ten minutes ago, he thought this was it. But something felt off that night. Strange.”

            “When the next bus stop appeared, the bus driver was surprised to find someone waiting for the bus. It was midnight and in the middle of nowhere after all, but nevertheless, he stopped the bus and an old lady stepped on board. The bus driver didn’t say anything about her messy appearance or the smell that drifted off her body like she hadn’t showered for weeks. He nodded as she dropped the correct change at the front and then waited until she took a seat somewhere between the middle and the back before driving off.  Suspicious of the odd looking woman, the bus driver kept a constant eye on her through his rear-view mirror, but each time that he looked, he could see the woman staring straight back at him through the mirror until he decided not to look at her any longer.”

            “But the bus suddenly felt colder and try as he might, the bus driver could not shake off this eerie feeling, so at the next bus stop, he swallowed the lump in his throat and took a look back at the old lady... only to find that she was gone! Panicking, the bus driver rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times before taking a look again, but the old lady was sitting where she had been all along... staring at him.”

            “The bus driver decided he must be tired. It was late – his last round – and he just wanted to go home now, so he started speeding down the road. It was an accident when his eyes shifted toward the rear-view mirror again, and this time, he knew he wasn’t just seeing things. The old lady was gone! She was gone! Stepping on the emergency break, the bus slid to a rocky stop and the bus driver quickly climbed out of his seat before turning around to face the empty bus. Then suddenly, where the old lady had been sitting, a head slowly emerged, covered in blood.”

            “Horrified, he ran out of the bus and locked the doors before calling the police on his phone for help. When the cops showed up a few minutes later, they ventured inside the bus to investigate, only to bring a furious old lady out. ‘I only wanted to sit down and pick my nose in peace,’ she screamed, ‘but the crazy bus driver wouldn’t stop looking at me! He kept staring and staring until I was so fed up I hid behind the bus seats to do my business! Then for no reasons at all, he suddenly stepped on the breaks and my finger jabbed up my nose so hard that it bled everywhere!’”

            Marshall burst into laughter before turning to look at me.

            Silence filled the air.

            “Uh... no? You didn’t...” He cleared his throat against the sound of the forest crickets. “We’re uh... we’re almost there.”