A loud bang right beneath her seat was what brought Aisha back to reality. She hurriedly paused the music on her phone and took her earphones off as everyone around her started waking up.
"What was that?" She heard someone ask as the bus lights came on.
Aisha looked outside the window but couldn't see anything except the lights along the freeway which seemed very dim in the foggy darkness.
The bus driver started the engine again but Aisha knew it was to no avail. It was busted, and the sound it made as he hit the throttle confirmed her fear. The driver kept trying to move the bus but they slid only a few more meters positioning themselves on the center of a closed turn. A dangerous place to be.
The driver opened the door and got out to inspect the damage. Everyone in the bus, now fully awake starred at each other and outside at the cars that sped past them and disappeared in the darkness.
After a few minutes the guy that was sitting behind Aisha got up and climbed outside. Aisha hoped he was a car mechanic and could help with the damage, but it was unlikely that anything could be done on the side of the road, in the middle of the night.
She tried to recollect what she knew from when she was helping her dad fix the family car when she was little, but couldn't remember anything.
"Is it a tire?" A tired looking old lady, sitting a few seats ahead of her asked.
"No, it's the engine." Aisha answered before anyone else could.
"How do you know?" A guy behind her asked.
"Didn't you hear the noise?" She challenged him as the guy that had left the bus came back again and everyone turned to him for news.
"It's the engine." He said, looking defeated. "There's smoke. He doesn't know what happened." He said, collapsing on his seat. He was wearing suit and tie, strange attire for a night bus ride.
"Don't they inspect the buses before they leave?" The old lady asked, to no one in particular.
"Now what?" A blonde woman, with a stern face asked.
"He said he'd call for a new bus." the guy in the suit said.
"We left three and a half hours ago! It will take them just as much to come here!"
"That's what he said." The guy said, sounding tired.
Aisha got up from her seat and reached the front of the bus to climb out of the exit. There were more people on the front including a mother and daughter who were talking.
"We've stopped in a dangerous place. In the middle of the turn." The mother was saying.
"I know."
"It's the freeway, everyone is speeding."
Aisha climbed down but not before she could hear the daughter snigger.
It was chilly outside but it made Aisha more awake. She saw half a dozen people had climbed down and were either on their phones, smoking or interrogating the driver.
"Does anyone have a signal?" A very frustrated bald man asked as Aisha passed by. She took her phone out but she had no bars.
"Fucking awesome." She heard a guy in a cap say as he threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it.
"... a piston exploded. It's so far inside I can't even reach it." The driver was telling a few people.
"Mind if I have a look?" She heard someone behind her and turned around abruptly. A tall guy in a military uniform passed by her and started inspecting the engine.
