screaming season

the last bus home

Hailey checked her phone, the bus was running half an hour late, she had never taken the last bus before but she was out past curfew and the bus dropped her far enough from her house that her parents wouldn't hear it. Just as Hailey was about to walk home a bus pulled up and the doors slowly opened. Hailey walked onto the bus and gave the driver some change from her pocket. The bus was nearly empty so Hailey moved toward the back,as soon as she sat down her phone buzzed.
Paige: you left your notes here..
Hailey sighed and texted back as she rested her back against the seat.
Hailey: just drop them off at my locker tomorrow.
Hailey shut her phone off and looked up at the bus again,there was a person who was sitting two rows ahead of her,had he been there before? Hailey s phone dinged again and she saw the time was 11:36.
Mom: where are you? You said you'd be home by ten..
Hailey: study sesh ran late,coming home on the bus now.
Hailey had hoped her mom would be in bed by the time she got home,she had forgotten how overprotective her mom was. She looked out the window as the snow fell on the ground,she was so distracted that she didn't notice that the woman at the front of the bus had moved back to sit next to her. The woman tapped Hailey on the arm and Hailey jumped as she turned toward her. "Excuse me young lady,what bus is this?" Hailey looked up at her. "I think it's bus 643" the woman smiled and gave Hailey a Carmel candy as she thanked her and walked back towards the front. Hailey was about to turn back to the window to watch the snow again when the strange man caught her eye again,but this time he was only one row ahead of her "what the hell?" Hailey thought to herself as she watched the man,he wasn't doing anything but he looked creepy and Hailey didn't want to be on the bus anymore. She was about to get up to ask the driver to let her off so she could walk the rest of the way home but then the bus started to slow down and then it stopped. Hailey got out of her seat to ask the bus driver what went wrong but before she got to the front the lights on the bus flickered and went out. "Maybe theres something wrong with the power" Hailey thought. She opened her phone to tell her mom she would be home late but then she heard footsteps coming toward her. She turned her flashlight toward the sound and the man who had been sitting in front of her was standing a few steps away from her flashlight beam. He was shielding his eyes from the light and Hailey noticed his nails were inhumanly long. Hailey took a few steps back from her and she bumped into the old woman who was holding her arms out as if to catch her. "You chose the wrong bus" the woman hissed as she engulfed Hailey into a tight breath restricting hold. "Weve been waiting years for someone to pick our bus" the man said as he stepped closer and closer. "You will probably wait even longer" the woman whispered as Hailey struggled against her grip. As the man scratched her soft arm with his long nails Hailey began to scream,but no one was around to hear.