All Aboard

Part Two

Dan

Dan looked at the rest of the guys on the bus and relaxed when he saw that they were all mirroring his own expression. Absolute wtf-ness.

'If you're the conductor, where's your orchestra?' he said.

Dan couldn't help cracking a joke, despite the near death and pant wetting experience. The girls rolled their eyes at him, and Nav shook his head, a slow smile spreading across his face. At least one of the passengers appreciated his banter.

'That's very witty, Dan, thank you. Not that kind of conductor, but that gives me the opportunity to elaborate. For today I am the conductor of this experience. I'm here to guide you, to support you on your journey, whatever it turns out to be.'

'Okay, Mr. Conductor, before we go any further, can you please tell us what the hell is going on? What was that? What are we doing down here?' Mikaela asked, her eyes wide. 'And how the hell is that dog driving the bus?'

'More excellent questions, thank you, Mikaela. When we took our little detour just now, you all thought you were going to die,' said Lazlo.

'I didn't,' said Barney.

Lazlo turned sharply, his eyes on Barney like a tracking missile. 'Yes, you did. And you were terrified for your young life, as were all your fellow passengers.'

Dan turned to get a look at Barney who was staring back at Lazlo. Barney and Dan had been pretty tight through primary school. They played football, went fishing, and spent most weekends at Barney's massive house, which was awesome because his Dad was always away on business and his mum just used to sleep all the time.

Then secondary school happened. On the first day of school, Dan got on the bus and nodded at Barney, but Barney wouldn't make eye contact with him. He'd spent the summer with his parents in California and returned looking about ten years older than everyone else. Dan caught up with him at lunch time and Barney gave him some bullshit about how his dad didn't want him hanging out with Dan anymore. Dan couldn't be arsed shedding any tears over it, he had plenty of other friends so left him to get on with it.

As it turned out, Barney had not only doubled in size but in ego as well. He'd turned into a complete wanker and had no idea how to act around girls. Dan wasn't exactly God's gift, but one time he saw Barney put his hand right up a girl's skirt, totally uninvited, like he was reaching into a jar of biscuits. The poor girl had looked like she was going to burst into tears. If that's what being good looking and rich turns you into, you can keep it to yourself thank you very much, thought Dan.

'You were all scared, and you thought you were going to die. It's rather a cliché, but before you die, your life really does flash before your eyes,' continued Lazlo. 'I've been watching you for a long time now, both Desmond and I have, and I've selected you to benefit from this rather unique bus journey.'

'Desmond?' Dan looked at that girl, Chloe. He'd never heard her speak before. In all honesty he thought there was something wrong with her, the way she was always staring at a book.

'Apologies!' Lazlo turned towards the front of the bus and opened his arms. 'How rude of me. Desmond is my dog.

'Okay?' Chloe responded. She opened her mouth to say something else, then gave her head a little shake and sat back in her seat.

'You are a group on this bus, together every day, but you all think you're alone. You think that nobody can hear you, that nobody can help with the pain you carry around in your backpacks, and that you don't matter. You've built walls around yourselves, so tall that nobody can climb over them. If you could just peek over, you'd see that you're sharing a wall with someone else,' said Lazlo, then looked at each one of their faces. 'When your life flashed before your eyes, we saw it all. Desmond and me.'