It’s been a few days and still I’m trapped. I have my phone, though its battery has dwindling down to a meagre 40% and I don’t think I’m any closer to escaping.
It happened on Monday. I had just finished work. Another grinding night-shift at a metal factory in the west industrial district. Its not a remarkable job, I’m just one of many drones who needed the cash and couldn’t find anything better - but atleast it paid well. My shift was like any other. Long, hard, and bloody tiring. Eight hours of doing the same repetetive tasks with the same repetitive motions and only a single half-an-hour lunchbreak to break the day up. With christmas coming up I’d agreed to take on some extra hours, push myself to my limit so I could buy something nice for myself for once. God I regret it.
I’d finished at around 4:00. My usual bus had long since finished and I was just desperate to get home. The air that night was freezing and I mean freezing. I could see the cold itself, a chill mist haunting the air as I walked through those silent streets to the single bus-stop. At around 4:15 this bus appeared. The number 7. I didn’t know the bus but if it got me closer to home atleast I would have a shorter walk. That was my first mistake.
It was like any other bus, unremarkable. An awful off-white colour, marked with the dark green banner of our local brand. Noone else was on the bus except for the driver. The ten rows or so of stale, seats with a pattern better fitting of my grandma’s curtains didn’t seem like they had been used in a while. But still I got on.
There was something unsettling about the bus driver. He sat staring forward dead to the world. Deep pitted bags under his eyes, a slick of greasy hair curling out from underneath a sun-bleached cap.
“Single to Marlborough Street please” I had murmured to him.
All he did was gesture to the coin tray. Tapping it with a scratched up-hand. He didn’t say any amount, so I gave him the usual £2 it cost and he said nothing more. Just pulled the coins into his tray, not taking a moment to count them or look at me. Silently waiting for me to take my place on his bus. Strange as it was, I didn’t think anything of it - I swallowed my unnease and walked to the back of the bus.
He waited for me to take my seat before he set off, leaving the doors open. I wish I had taken the hint and left. But I was stupid. I am stupid. Sitting down at the back of the bus by the window seat, the doors shut closed with a THUD. The engine kicked off. The bus began to roll down the street. I was alone and tired, but something told me I couldn’t sleep here.
The window by me was fogged with condensation, after one too many wipes it finally gave way to a small sliver to peak into the quiet city. We followed the usual streets before taking turns off into housing estates, passing by shuttered shops, down long-silent roads before rejoining the sparse traffic of the city on the dual-carriage way.
Atleast we were heading the right way I thought,
After around 30 minutes, we were coming up to my spot. The glimmering lights of the city hospital acting like a beacon. Atleast I knew I wasn’t dead, someone else was working in there, the city was just…quiet. This bus was just…quiet.
I pressed the button and the red glow of the stopping signal lit up. No stop came. We drove passed the hospital in eerie silence. I pressed it again. The red glow returned and again we carried on. I had shouted at the driver then, I was angry and tired, I just wanted to get home.
He never responded. He just put his hand out and gave a dismissive wave of the hand. No matter how much I shouted, how many times I pressed the button, the bus never slowed down. Then I tried to get up. I couldn’t. I can’t. It feels like my boots have been cemented to the floor; my body glued to the seat. I don’t have the strength to fight it anymore, I just feel empty, terrified of what is going to happen when I don’t have the strength to stay awake.
I’ve tried to message, to phone anyone for help but it won’t let me. The signal dissapears. All that I can use is my data. I hope someone out there can help, or else I think I am trapped. This busses only passenger. Perhaps its first passenger. Please, don’t get on my bus, don’t join me - if you find me, help me leave. Don’t keep me trapped on this bus. I just want to leave.