Just a dream

Chapter - 3 | The dream catcher

Chapter – 3 | The dream catcher

I opened my eyes with a groan. Sitting up straight, I stretched my aching arms and legs and yawned in a un-lady like manner. It took me few minutes to realize that I was in a bus.

Slowly, events of last night played in my head like a movie. Me telling him that I do not have a crush on him. He had laughed and I did not talked to him for what seemed like an hour. He then started the conversation again, but most of the time, we just argued over petty things. For example, he said that chocolate chip pancakes were better than the blueberry ones and we fought about that for god knows how long. As I said before, the fights were mostly over petty things.

And between these constant arguments, a point came when I actually thought about what he had said. That I was starting to have a crush on him... but this thought went flying out of the bus window, when he said that my hair looked like a birds nest, and for that, I did not talk to him for another hour. I do not even remember when I fell asleep. With a sigh I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked at the seat next to me.

He was not there.

My stomach twisted in a way that my breath seemed to hitch. With a frown, I looked around the bus and realized that not a single person was in sight. Standing up from my seat, I looked around; there was nobody around and the bus held a pin drop silence. Looking out of the window, I saw that the bus was standing in front of a fog covered bus-stop of Maplewood Town.

Had he gone away just like that? Did he not even thought about at least saying one last goodbye? These thoughts were running around my mind when I felt someone behind me.

‘Get out’

I jumped in the air with a squeal. Turning around, I saw the ticket collector standing merely few feet away from me.

‘You scared me!’ I exclaimed with a hand over my heart. He gave me a frenzied look. Before I knew it, he picked my luggage and handbag and handed them to me.

‘Your stop is here; now get out of the bus.’ He said and I glared at him.

‘Where is everyone? And w-where is he? The guy who was sitting with me last night’ I asked. He tilted his head and stared me for moment. Taking a few steps forward, he leans in until our face was inches apart; I tried my best not cringe away.

This guy stings like a corpse buried under a ground of a cemetery. Not that I have smelled any before, but I’m pretty sure they would smell just the same as him.

"No one was sitting with you last night and no one else was in the bus, except for me, you and the bus driver. Do you get that? Now get out of the bus!" He growled.

I looked at him wide eyed as he glared at me with flaring nostrils. On the spur of the moment, I found myself out of the bus with my luggage and handbag resting each side of me and the bus doors shut on my face. I winced at its sound.

As the bus slowly started to move, something caught my eyes. A face was staring out of a window. And not just any face.... it was his face. He gave me wink with a cocky smile and the bus soon disappeared in the fog.

I stood there, frozen for good ten minutes and then slumped on the bench and stared at the ground. I’m losing my mind. I have gone insane. That had to be it. Or else how does one explain this?

A guy came out of nowhere, saved me from some creeps, spend the whole night with me… the next morning when I wake up he is gone along with everyone else from the bus, however when the bus goes away I see his face as clear as day in one of the windows.

I heard screeching of tires and a car stopped in front of me. I looked up and my father stepped out of it.

‘Florence, finally you are here!’ My father exclaimed. Giving a small and somewhat forced smile, I hugged him. With a kiss on my cheek, he picked up my bags and walked towards the car. The whole ride back to home, father was talking. I knew that because I could see his lips moving but I his voice did not reach my ears.