Peter Pan The Killer

Chapter 8: The Bus Trouble to Peter Pan

Gwen and Belle checked out of the motel early the next morning. The sun was dull and orange; the day had just begun. Gwen insisted to get breakfast since they had at least two hours before their bus departed for a five-hour journey to Paris.

"You really eat way too much," Belle remarked.

"You eat way too less," Gwen retorted.

"You know, I think we've had an unusual number of conversations regarding our eating habits..." Gwen murmured, but Belle heard her, and could not help the laughing snort that escaped her.

There was a little bakery across the street. Golden brown pastries lined the trays, hot from the oven. Gwen grabbed a tray and a pair of plastic tongs and picked out her pastries. She eyed the labels printed in elegant cursive. One caught her eye.

Peach danish.

She unconsciously smiled as she reminisced on the evening Peter had annoyingly followed her to her car and forced her to get peach danishes at Billsbury's bakery. The danishes were as good as he claimed them to be, although she did not admit it then. Looking back at those moments, how different she acted towards him. Yet Gwen yearned for those simple moments. She imagined now, having a couple of danishes with Peter, chatting about the most random things. Peter would be relentlessly teasing her about something or the other and they would get into petty banters.

What was she thinking? Why would she need these moments with him? Why did her heart ache thinking about how impossible it would be?

She clenched her eyes shut. With an exasperated sigh she paid for the pastries and left the bakery with Belle.

After eating and taking a walk to the bus station, they boarded their bus. Their seats were two rows from the back. Gwen pulled her shoes off and folded her legs on the seat, wrapping herself with her shawl. The morning was chilly and the bus' air-conditioning was not helping. Belle has already pulled out her laptop and put on her headphones. The two of them were prepared for the long ride, when an unexpected turn of events ruined the peace.

The bus had stopped a few times in the first hour of the journey to pick up passengers from other stations. It was during the third stop that day when things took an awful dive.

Gwen was dozing off, but when the rocking of the bus halted, she awoke. The bus door slid open and in came in a few passengers. At first, Gwen thought she was seeing things when a familiar brown coat caught her eye. Then her hazy vision cleared and her brain alerted.

"Belle..." She muttered shaking the girl beside her.

Belle looked up from her laptop then shifted her focus to the door. They cursed under their breath. A pair of hazel eyes caught Gwen's. They stared at each other for a moment and the bus door slid shut.

They were stuck in the bus with James and his lackeys.

"Now what?" Gwen whispered.

Belle shut her laptop and slid it back I to her bag along with her headphones. Gwen half-expected her to pull out her gun and start an open fire. She did not, however.

James had clearly seen her. His seat was at the front. He was confidently sitting there knowing full well the bus would stop at Paris and it would force them to confront right there at the station. There was no escaping him. The bus rocked as it rode along the highway.

Belle pulled out her phone and checked their location via the GPS. They were at an almost halfway point between Paris and Calais passing the city, Amiens.

"So... What do we do?" Gwen asked again.

"Some kilometers ahead we'll be passing a slip road into the city," Belle explained, pointing towards the map at the forked roads.

"How are we going to get the bus to stop at..." Gwen trailed off when Belle gave her sideway glance.

"No... Belle, no freaking way!" Gwen whispered harshly.

"We're jumping out."

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Gwen had laced her shoes back up tight as she could, her heart pounding ridiculously. They had secured their bags on them and proceeded to crawl out of their seats. It had been ten minutes in and they were nearing the slip road. Greenery filled either side of the highway.

James was a row away from the door, they needed a distraction. "Okay, I'm going to talk to the driver. On my signal, press the door button. Then we jump. Remember angle away from the bus, towards the grass. Tuck and roll," Belle explained. She did not seem too worried about jumping out of a moving bus.

"Oh my god, I am not doing this," Gwen said, an audible tremor in her voice. What if her head split open or something?! She had a ghastly vision of her insides spilling on the highway. Bile rose in her throat.

Belle clasped both her shoulders, "We got this!"

"Was that supposed to be encouraging?!" Gwen retorted, dumfounded.

Belle did not hesitate a moment longer, she walked to the front of the bus, nonchalantly passing James. Gwen with trembling fingers pulled up her hoodie to cover her eyes and made her way to the front.

"Bonjour Monsieur. Puis-je savoir où nous sommes en ce moment," Belle began her conversation with the driver. Gwen stalked up beside and caught sight of the button. She was palpitating so hard, she was worried her hand would just miss.

James caught sight of them obviously. He rose from his seat. And just then Belle gave her signal. Gwen slammed her hand on the button and the front door slid open. Wind rushed into the bus, the driver yelled something in French. James realized what they were up to and hurried to the front to grab Gwen.

Before he could Belle yelled, "Now!" And leaped out of the speeding vehicle.

Gwen did not let her nerves respond and jumped out right after her, just centimeters away from James' grasp. She tucked her head and in a split second she felt her stomach lurch, before her head hit the dirt and her body rolled along the grass. Stones scraped and poked at her, adrenaline rushing in her veins. In the next instant, it was over.

She heard the faint sound of James yelling her name as she rolled. The bus had sped past, but would probably stop to check on them. They had to move. Gwen was laying prostrate on the ground but forced herself up, grimacing in pain. They were alive... They made it.

Some cars had slowed down along the highway. Their little episode had dragged unwanted attention. She saw Belle sit up, rubbing her head.

"We have to go," Gwen yelled over the busy road noises. Belle nodded. They helped each other up and slipped under the guardrails into the thicket of green. They walked and walked, stumbling here and there. Gwen's ankle was sprained, sharp stings of pain shot up her leg. Finally, they were out of sight. From the distance the bus had pulled up on the side of the road, but they were hopefully far enough to avoid James' pursuit.

They slumped to sit behind a bush too shaky to keep going. They stayed there silently till after a good while, the bus had started its engine and drove off, carrying James and his friends with it. Gwen's body hurt in several places, at the moment she just did not want to check if anything was wounded or worse- broken.

"I...can't believe we did that," Gwen muttered, panting. Belle was rolling a handkerchief over a scrape on her arm.

"I swear to god, the crap we're doing to get to Peter."

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