The Music Of Loving You

16. Paramedic Problems Part 2 & Bus Stop Forever

Millie's POV

I woke up to a loud whine, like squeaky brakes, and the smell of something that reminded me of a mix chlorine and new plastic. I opened my eyes and saw white. I slowly pushed myself up, careful not to slip off the cushioned table which I was laying on.

"Please, lay back down" a mechanical voice said. I looked around and saw nothing but white. White tile floors, white walls, and a white ceiling. One wall held a mural, but, beyond that, the room was completely blank.

"Where am I?" I wondered.

"Please sit back down" the voice said again. As I looked, I found the source of the voice. A speaker and a video camera occupied the back left corner of the room. I also saw a giant, doughnut shaped machine. As I watched, the cushioned table slid into it. The speaker crackled and a door I hadn't noticed, opened.

"Hi" a woman said as she walked in. She carried a white blanket in her arms. She wore a white doctor's lab coat with a little red symbol on it. Her name tag read Mage. Mage slipped the blanket over my shoulders and led me back to the machine. "This is a MRI machine. It's used for testing for brain damage. Please lay back down." Mage said. I nodded and lay back down. Mage left without saying anything else.

The machine was ear-shatteringly loud and wailed while the table slid into it. Once I was in, I curled under the blanket as my ears adjusted to the screeching. Then, suddenly, the machine began pulsing like a machine gun. I jumped when it first started but then adjusted to that too. Then it stopped and the screeching came back.

*********

I'm not sure how long I was in that machine, I fell asleep in the middle, but after a long time, I came back out and the machine went silent.

The table was pulled out and Mage came back in. Mage walked out of the room and I followed her, not knowing what else I should do.

She opened a door that led into a small room.

"Your things are in there. Then you can go home" she explained. I nodded and walked in.

The walls were light blue, the tile cold under my feet. I glanced around the room. There was a coffee table, a hospital bed, and a stand for an IV, although there wasn't one there. I found the clothes I was wearing, washed and in a neat pile. I picked them up carefully, still wary of any contact with my cast. Sadly, my shirt dropped, falling to the floor. I picked it up, dusted off the dirt, changed, and walked out. I was two steps from the door when Mage called my name.

"Hm?" I mumbled as I turned around. I was shocked when she hugged me.

"Good luck" she said, smiling. I nodded and headed out.

************

I took a bus back to my house, which turned out to be fifteen minutes from there. I got a text from my mom saying she couldn't leave work but she would be here tonight.

***********

Eleven minutes into the bus ride, the bus suddenly swerved, jerking everyone out of their seats.

"What's going on?" Someone yelled as the bus jolted to a stop. The bus driver jumped out of his seat, pushed open the doors, and raced out. I slowly stood up, assessing any damage that had been done. After diagnosing that I was fine, I walked to the front of the bus and pushed through the small group of people already forming to see what happened. I caught bits of conversation as I pushed through.

"Who is...."

"He didn't need to...."

"What happened to....."

"..... He's dead...."

I finally got to the front and saw something horrific. Outside, on the road was a man, his shirt red with blood and black with a tire print. He was still bleeding but he lay completely still. I gasped, realization crashing over me like bitter waves. This man had been run over by, probably, a truck. The truck had run over his chest.... And over his lungs.

Everyone else ran out of the bus, running to help the man. Everyone except me; I was frozen still.

I was so involved in watching the man that I didn't even hear the banging.

Suddenly it became loud and clear. Banging, fists and feet against the sides of the bus. Banging, pounding, from all over. There were a chorus of fists, pounding away, trying so hard to get in. I looked out one of the windows and saw them. There must have been a hundred people. They wore black clothes and masks. As they pounded, I heard it. They murmured words, crying out desperately. They couldn't have been far from insanity.

"Millie" they whispered. The pounding got louder, the walls bent inward.

"Mille" they murmured. The bus began shake. The bus groaned as it shook, screaming out for them to stop. Fear had taken over, I couldn't think, I couldn't move.

"Run" a voice murmured in the back of my head. But I couldn't. Instead, I stood there, clutching the blue fabric of the bus seat, holding on for my sanity, watching as something horrifying occurred.

"Millie!" They screamed as the doors of the bus crashed open with a deadly shatter.