The Night Bus

STRANGERS

"You know, it's really nice to finally meet someone who speaks English," Alec muttered, trying not to upset the passengers. He looked at Manila in hope for an answer but realised she was sound asleep a second later.

The bus halted ten minutes later and Manila was almost shaken out of her seat. She cursed faintly and sat upright. She looked out her window for the first time.

"Why are we stopping here? There's no one here," Alec said, also looking out the window.

"Don't know but do you think you can ask the driver?"

"I don't really know how to speak Bangla," Alec said, clearly embarrassed.

"Alright, I'll ask him," Manila said, gesturing Alec to get out of his seat.

She slowly went up the driver while practising what to say in Bangla.

"Brother, why have you stopped the bus?" She asked in Bangla with a horrible accent. Her cheeks flushed instantly when she noticed a couple of men in the front seats laughing at her disgraceful attempt.

"Flat tyre," the driver replied bluntly.

Mildly annoyed, she returned to her seat. "There's a flat tyre," she said to Alec.

Alec simply nodded. He was bored out of his mind, he didn't feel like playing games on his phone or listening to music. He was exuberant and wasn't in the mood to sleep at all. Close your bloody eyes, weariness should come naturally, he thought. He sighed, realising what a mistake sleeping for 6 hours before getting on the bus was. He looked over to Manila, she was awake. He lightly tapped her shoulder.

She stared back at him questioningly.

"So," he paused for a moment and smiled at her, "where are you from?"

And for a moment, she didn't feel so tired.