Chasing Cars | A Grey's Anatomy Fanfiction

O N E

"Come on Ava! We'll miss the bus!" I yelled, as we ran towards the dimly lit, dingy Seattle bus stop."Ella, thank you for taking me to the li-berry today! You are my favorite!" Ava squeaked. I promised I would take her to the library after school.

Cars rush past us, and we sprint with reckless abandon towards the only stationary thing in the fluid world around us: the bus. My tattered backpack bangs against my spine after each stride. Ava trails behind me, her little feet trying to compensate the distance I cover with my long giraffe legs. My feet scrape against concrete and crunch through fallen leaves, which are a multitude of colors due to the dawn of fall. On my right there is a park, with a green lawn dotted with the same crunchy leaves, guarded by a wrought iron fence. I swiftly look left at the bus, 5 feet in front of me. I set my foot on the black step of the bus, and the closing door opens, the motion sensor noticing my foot. I look up, and an angry bus driver frowns.

"Sorry."

I look up and make eye contact, embarrassed by the disarray around me. I inhale black bus exhaust, and the smog irritates my lungs. I turn up to climb the steps, in order to escape the grey fog, but I feel as if I am missing something. I turn around, and see Ava, still feet from the folding door.

"Ava! Hurry up!" I call.

I walk up the steps, and she follows closely. I pay the bus fare and tip the now less angry driver, probably softened by the cute smile of Ava and the dollar bills I placed in the square plastic tip jar bolted to the dash.

I drag the little electric child to a seat. I sit myself and look at my surroundings, the bus being remarkably empty for evening rush hour. A hooded man enshrouded in a sweatshirt sits in the seat behind the driver, and usually that would freak me out, but he was regular as I have seen him on this route many times. Ava pierces the short silence, only accompanied by the hum of an engine.

"I wanna read a story! Ella please!"

"Okay, shh. You can read your book if you are quiet."

The bus lurches forward, and I wipe the sweat off my brow, as I am not used to sprinting. I can't put one foot in front of the other, although I am surprisingly strong. My thin body is only contoured by muscle, my veins weaving across them, almost as to indent my skin out towards open space. My body was used to taking brute force, because when someone didn't agree with me, their fists would arrive first rather than words. I like to call it "Inner City Educational Facility Diplomacy." The bus lurches from an intersection and I shake the dream of coordination, erasing it from my brain. I undo the zipper holding the ratty backpack closed on my lap.

Our bags were filled with storybooks for the other kids, and dusty textbooks for me. By other kids, I mean orphans. No, I don't help out orphans in my free time to boost my self image, I am one. I have lived in an orphanage all my life, disguised with the happy name of a children's home. The library and studying were an escape from my reality, rather than a sunny fake persona on top of my own. I take the kids to there now, as the biggest kid helps the rest with life. This task is not forced on the oldest, but you inherit the title of role model and most take it because of the absence of one in their own lives, and by role models, I mean parents. The sigh of the bus brakes signal the onset of traffic, cars chasing cars and darting in and out of lanes to shorten their commute. I block out the wail of the horns, assure that Ava is deep in her book, and look up at the rectangle towers lining the Seattle skyline. One day, I'll be out of my free ride scholarship paid college, and I don't even care what job I am doing, and I'll be one of those rich people in the tops of those high-rises and glass doored offices. My daydream is interrupted.

"Look a ballerina," Ava chirps, as she points to the slender girl in a pink tutu, next to a block of text. "I wanna be like her."

Ava doesn't need to fake happiness. She skips everywhere she goes, as a normal seven year old kid would. Although she is has no future foster or permanent family, she doesn't seem alone. I watch the sun melt into the Seattle pavement behind the fabled skyscrapers and the coffee shops.

I hear the angry blaring of car horns as the bus follows the numerous sedans and trucks blocking our path. I slip into my daydream. For once, I got one nice moment in this world even with the chaos ensuring around me. I usually just try to forget my life most of the time, but I felt at peace, even at rush hour in downtown Seattle. I look around the bus, and I see the hooded man moving towards the window. I guess he likes the outside like me. His figure rises up. He turns around, shadow ominously following him. We aren't near a bus stop. For a second, he is standing, staring at me with familiar emerald green eyes, the only feature protruding from his hooded face, piercing my soul. Red flags fly. I set my bag at my feet. I silently grab a can of pepper spray out of the side pocket and conceal it under my leg, praying the book will distract Ava even with the tension in the room. I look down at the pepper spray can, positioning my finger on the trigger. my eyes shoot up, and all I see is a stark black silhouette of a pistol.

I hear one click, and another. Then I'm rattled by a gunshot.

NOTE!!!
So I'm revising everything and adding more detail to this story! I'm filling plot holes as I go, so be patient, but if you want to read along until I eventually finish this book, by all means come along for the ride :)