The Bus Ride Home

part 6

"that's not possible..", you thought, as the bus scheduled to arrive in four minutes closed up upon you. you jumped up and waved at the bus driver pleading him to stop for you. 1755. you got in with your phone still in hand, and the bus sped past the two traffic junctions you were afraid of as if under some divine intervention. your neighbourhood was soon in view and you pressed the alarm to alert the bus driver that you had to alight at the next stop. normally, you would've let the bus drive past this stop and alight you at the next because walking back down to the midpoint between the two stops was downhill, making it a much more favourable choice after a long school day. however you had no time for that then and you had to save whatever time you could.

before the bus doors even fully opened, you snatched up your haversack, took off and dashed towards the small road that led to the stretch of houses yours was situated in. you made a sharp turn left and dashed across the road, looking out for vehicles coming your way but obviously expecting none. for some reason gusts of wind blew past you and a littered trash bag floated from your path into the air and vanished from your sight, saving even a brief moment of your time. you took that final right turn and inhaled a deep breath in order to face the final ordeal of an uphill sprint. the wind got stronger against your favour and the orange sun peeked through the massive rain trees at your northwest, partially marring your vision. you winced at the uncanniness of such a gorgeous sunset occurring at the worst possible time ever as you garnered the last of your energy to speed up the dash. you sped past a domestic helper walking her dog, a man washing his car and scary dogs barking ferociously at you from behind their owners' gates, all while trying your damnedest not to trip over those flip-flops you slid on that morning. each step you took was work done against gravity as your haversack seemed to drag you down more and more as the seconds went by.

1759 - your phone read, in your trembling vision and dripping sweat. your neighbour parking her BMW stopped her car for you to dash past and you made your last lunge uphill towards your house. the roof started to reveal itself, as well as the road ahead. yet you saw no van parked outside your home. it occurred to you that that only meant one of two things - one, that the van hadn't arrived and you were safe, or two, that the van had arrived and the groceries have been dumped on the floor outside your home. the latter happened once and your mother made it clear to you that it should never happen again. fear and suspense struck you as if your heart wasn't already thumping in demi-semi quavers. you shut your eyes in agony as if anticipating pain before an injection, except this was far worse. more and more of your house and gate revealed itself, and as your neighbour's tree slowly displaced itself to make way for your line of sight, your life flashed by your eyes and your legs felt like they were bearing the wrath of hell. so much lactic acid shot through your thighs and calves that you were essentially numb of pain. "free me from hell!", you exclaimed as you took the final step that revealed the gate to your house where the groceries were left that one time you were complacent-

1800.

the van arrived an hour later.