Heartstrings

Snippet 2- Looks Can Be Deceiving

My mom wanted to visit our relations in another city. We woke up and got everything ready. We decided to go by bus as we could easily rest in our 2 hour ride. The bus arrived a bit late and people rushed in to get seats. Luckily I found an empty seat just near the door and me and my mom sat down.

We got our tickets and our conversations turned to our family, gossip, and to our general lives. We were at the end of the bus and some people were standing. After a while, we saw the conductor sitting on a seat which already had two women. It caught my mom's eye. She pointed him out.
" Look," she said.

I looked where she pointed.

" What?" I asked confused.

" See, how close he is sitting, two women are already sitting he should sit somewhere else. It's not right"

I saw a woman sitting by the window, I couldn't see the face of the woman next to her, but her legs were dangling and they were clad in pajamas. The men in front of me shifted and I lost my sight.

" Maybe they are his relatives," I said focusing my eyes again on the conductor who was chatting with the women.

My mom shook her head.
" Look at him, a relative wouldn't just sit down so close, imagine the space between them there isn't any!!" she exclaimed

The conductor shifted even closer and turned to the women to talk.

" It's not right, the woman should tell him to move "

" He must be tired too ma," I said still trying to reason his behavior.

" Even so, he could sit with men, if two women and a man could fit so could three men "

I observed him for a while then finally gave in. She was right, even for a relative he was sitting too close. His hand went up to the seats back which I imagined would be the woman's shoulder. We both started talking about how this world has become. No one was trustworthy and men pounced on women whenever they could. I listened to her when she said it's not safe to even walk in broad daylight. I remembered the horror stories that I had seen so many times in the news. Women, girls, babies raped mercilessly, their families left hanging in long hours of courtrooms. Their bodies abused and justice denied. God forbid if your abuser is richer than you, then asking for justice is nothing more than humiliation, because evidence could be twisted and the assailant would become the victim.

I remembered the time when my drawing teacher's hand went just a little closer to my breast. That intentional brush of shoulder and I forced my eyes away. I had done nothing then and I hardly had the courage to do anything now. My mother's rant went on and I was forced to agree. The world had indeed become far too cruel. Justice was just a word arising fake hopes and crushing them in time.

" It's inappropriate" my mom exclaimed again.

I saw that the crowd had increased pushing the conductor even closer. We talked some more hoping somehow someone will say something but no one did. The conductor's conversation seemed to be amusing at least to himself because the sly smile was constant.

Stops after stops passed, the conductor got up to get more tickets but eventually, he came back again to the same spot every time.

Finally, our stop came and I got up, I threw a nasty glance at him while going but it changed when I saw the figure beside him. It wasn't a woman it was a small girl wearing oversized clothes. She was playing with him. The smile that I thought was sly changed to it's purer form. The child looked at him astonished when he showed the buttons on his ticket machine. She laughed gleefully when she saw a ticket pop out. The crowd pushed me to go ahead and get down, I kept looking back. The child's mother was looking lovingly at her daughter. Somebody shoved hard but the conductor took the force on himself. Now I knew why he sat there. There was enough space for the three of them. The hand that was behind her shoulder was actually holding the rope that signaled the bus to stop. I shook my head as I got out. I glanced at my mother and she too had a guilty look. He was just amusing the child, sparing her from the boring journey. The smile on his face was so pure. He has not touched her, in fact, he took the blows of the crowd on himself protecting her. Looks can be deceiving. What appears at first glance may not be always true.

The world had become such a cruel place but it still has light. We see so much cruelty around us that we assume the worst thing first. We flip the news we see 100 bad things and one good news, it's not because there isn't good in the world. It's because no one is showing it to us. There are people that are still human even if we doubt that humanity exists.

--Anonymous

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I'm so glad that you shared your piece, I wasn't expecting people to open up but you texted me and that is a big thing. Even if it's just a small moment it is really precious. It's true that we have so much evil that we expect the worst. Our judgment is often based on what we have previously experienced but every situation is new and so judging too hurriedly is never wise. Did you ever have such a misunderstanding? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you again, that you trusted me with a snippet I hope I have risen up to your expectations, and thank you for taking initiative.

To submit your snippet just post a message on my wall or personally text me. I will write a story that will be approved by you and tag you. All snippets are welcome. Have a beautiful day. Vote , comment and share😊