The 2:30 Bus

A Horror short(I guess it's short lol) story. This is the first story I have ever written.

The 2:30 Bus Hey. Well, I really don’t know how one would start when writing about something like this. So, yeah.. I guess I should just go for it. I want to tell you about one of the.. wait, what the hell am I talking about? One of the? THE worst night of my life.. and the scariest experience I have ever gone through. My name is Logan and I’m 20 years old, I was 17 at the time.. but I just now found the courage to finally sit down and write about it .I used to work at a movie theater outside my town, It took one bus to get there. I would normally work at reasonable hours, something between ten o'clock in the morning and five o'clock in the afternoon. So after work I would take the bus home, the ride was only a half hour until the bus stops at my station which was really close to my house.

But that one night.. that one night was different. I was just about to leave work and go home, my bus was just arriving at the station right outside the movie theater. But I was stopped at the door by my boss, he said that a new guy that was supposed to start working nights bailed on him. So he practically begged me to work a double shift and stay until we close. To be honest I wasn't really in a hurry getting home and I didn’t really have anything important to do that day.. On top of that, he was going to pay me double. Score, right? I thought so too.. Boy was I wrong. So like I said, I agreed to work until we close which is at 2 am. My boss was going to give me a ride back home, so I wasn't worried.It was a half past 1 am when my boss got a phone call, his mother was in the hospital for some reason..who can remember?

Anyway, it meant that he was leaving me to close up the place by myself. That moment I really didn't know what to think, I mean how am I going to close all by myself? I never worked alone at this hours, And how in the hell am I going to get back home at two in the freaking morning? I told my boss that I’m not sure about this, but he calmed me down and told me that there is a bus that can take me home and that it leaves at a half past two. So half an hour after my boss left I waited for the final movie showing to end so I can close up and go wait for the bus at the station. I went to the office to get my phone which I plugged to my charger at the start of my shift, well at least I can be on the phone for a half hour before the bus arrives..

Or so I thought, you see I did plug my charger into my phone but I didn't plug it into the outlet. Goddammit! My battery had 15 percent left.. that is just great. I’m going to sit at the bus station for a half hour with absolutely nothing to do. The people who watched the last movie already left, so I checked that everything was alright and I closed the place. I went outside and.. It was raining. F**k! seriously? I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts.. the forecast said it wasn't going to rain at least for a week. Thank you, Fox News. I went over to the bus station, it was literally a minute walk away. I sat down on the bench, and waited. I looked at my phone, it was 2:25.. the bus should be here in five minutes. The road was empty, no cars, no bikes, not a living soul in sight. I was already kinda scared, I mean I don’t think I was ever this alone outside at a time like this.. The rain soon turned into a thunderstorm and the lightnings didn't really help me feel better.

Oh thank god, there is the bus. I could see his lights a mile away, he was coming up the road, he drove extremely slow because of the rain. The bus stopped in front of me, and the door opened. If only I knew what is going to happen.. I would have never gotten on this bus.. Never. I got into the bus, I looked at the driver, he looked a little bit nervous.. I think. I wasn’t sure what was that all about, but that thought slipped my mind quick as I when I payed the driver I took a look at the bus seats. They were all empty. Every single one of them, I was all alone on the bus. This was getting creepy real fast. But all of a sudden, I didn't care. I was really really tired. All I wanted was to just sit down.. That was weird as hell. I mean, I know I just worked a double shift and I should be tired.. But I wasn't. Not until I got on the bus. I was just fine, but in the bus I felt like a wave of tiredness hit me. I crashed on one of the seats, and I laid my head down on the other. My eyes were closing on their own.. There was nothing I could do. I fell asleep.

I woke up. What the hell? Where am I? I thought to myself. It was so dark, I can barely even see anything. I knew I was still on the bus, as the only light inside was coming from a street light outside the bus. It lit up the driver’s seat and wheel. But.. there is no driver. And the bus is not moving… It’s parked. What? What is this? I was still lying on the seat, I was too afraid to even get up and try to figure out what was going on. Could have the driver forget about me and just leave? I'm clueless. I felt a vibration, my phone! It’s still on. Yes! Thank god. I took my phone out of my pocket and saw that the vibration was a notification from some random game. I didn't really think too much, I opened the flashlight app and lit up a portion of the bus.

I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary, just a dark out of service bus. But what was out of the ordinary was that I was in that f*****g bus. All by myself. I finally worked up the courage to get up on my feet. I was so afraid, but I didn't know from what. Yes, I’m in a bus all alone at night.. I have every reason in the world to be scared.. But why am I here? There’s gotta be a simple stupid explanation. The bus went dark again. What happened? Oh.. f**k. My phone died. I was now standing in the middle of a dark empty bus. I don’t know how I kept myself from peeing my pants to be honest. I needed to light up the bus again, but how? I walked slowly towards the driver’s seat. I heard every step I took, even tho the rain is pouring on top of the buss and making noise, It felt so quiet inside.. Too quiet. I was absolutely terrified.

I got to the seat, I sat on it. I don’t know why but standing makes me way more scared. I stuffed my hand in the compartment, looking for something. Anything that can provide lighting. What is this? I pulled out a lighter. Well, I can’t say anything is going bad for me. I light up the bus again, or at least the small portion that the little flame can light. I stand again, It’s less scary now. I went to the bus door. I don’t know what I was thinking.. How can the bus door open? How the hell can I open it?  But you can’t judge me, who would be thinking straight in this situation? Anyway, I touched the door, nothing. Of course nothing. I slammed my hand against the door. The street light outside went off. Did I say that not everything is going bad for me? I really need to learn to shut up sometimes. At least I still have the lighter.. It’s not much.. But it’s enough.

I get the lighter closer to the bus window, and I look outside. It’s so hard to see anything, with all this rain. But I could have felt no one was out there, no one. I tried opening the little window above the bigger one, you know the ones that usually are open. But no.. not this time. Stuck. What am I doing? Should I just give up and wait until the morning? But what time is it? When is morning exactly? And what is going to happen in the morning? No. No way. I’m not just going to sit around for god knows how many hours and wait for the sky to light up. Hell no. I have to do something.. I don’t know what, but.. Something. I went to the door again, I kicked it. Hard. My feet hurt. The door didn’t open. F**k! What the hell was that? I feel like my thigh is burning. My phone, I took it out of my pocket. Oh god! It’s so hot, it burnt my fingers. I threw it on the floor. It exploded. WTF!? My phone just exploded. I don’t know what the hell is going on, I want out. I want out now. But how? Such a feeling hurts so much.. A feeling of powerlessness.. It just burns you up inside. The gas in the lighter wouldn’t last long.. I really don’t know what to do. I’m sweating, inside and outside. I can’t breath.. Can I? I don’t know, I don’t think I remember how to breath. What is this? Why is this happening to me? Why me? Why? I asked myself, but to no avail. I don't deserve this. I really don’t. I pray to god to let me out, I pray to god the door is going to open all of a sudden and I can run.. Just run for miles and not look back. Nothing. Not a single thing. I lay down on the floor, it’s burning hot, I don’t know why.. And you know what? I don’t care. I can’t care. I close my eyes. Please god.. Let it be quick.  

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Hello. I don’t know why I’m writing this. But… I am. I need to tell someone.. And I guess it’s you. The worst night of my life happened a long time ago… I can’t even remember how long.. Too long I guess. I worked at a gas station on a far away side of my town, really far from my home. I take to bus to get there, and to get back home. One night, after night shift, I walked out of the gas station and went over to the bus station. I waited for my bus, the 2:30 bus. It just got there, how lucky I was that I didn’t miss it…I thought to myself. The bus door open, I went inside. The driver looked at me, he smiled. “Hey.” he said to me. “My name is Logan.”

Author's Note

I can really use some reviews :D

Reviews

[Jennie Lynn]

That was good. A campfire story or creepy pasta. I liked the asides, talking to the reader. It also has a great sense of frustration to it. All good horror stories need that. Why can't he just break a window? Why can't he just open the door? As a reader I'm frustrated because of course he should be sble to get out but he can't. You also balanced well telling me enough I knew what was going but leaving enough out I can make my own conclusions. Scary stuff like this is hard to write. You did great.

[Maor Gal]

OMG thank you :P It's my first review so i'm a little excited lol. Glad you liked it :D

[EdwardRaimes]

Good story!
I like the stream-of-consciousness point of view that you use, it sucks you in and provides a frantic pace. Very well done!.

As constructive feedback, I would recommend a little more detail: How did the rain feel? How did the Theatre smell? What did you hear around you at the empty bus stop? That sort of thing. Also tell us a bit more about your manager and about the driver, maybe foreshadow the end a bit...

Be cautious about swamping it with detail though! You have already struck an awesome balance of pacing, and the last thing you want to do is slow it down....

My two cents, my first review. I hope I am doing it right.

[Maor Gal]

Thanks for the review man. I'll take your feedback with me I promise :P