"Have you wondered about death?" he asks me, as I just stare at the piece of paper in my hand – for long, silently – so he fills the silence.
I just… nod, feeling sadness in my heart, and my face. "It is scary. To even… think. How it'd just end and I just wonder…"
"Wonder what?"
"If I'd only get to see you once…" there was no solace in knowing… there was a chance that I couldn't see him anymore.
But he just chuckles, making me glare at him instantly. "Hey, don't get me wrong… same, honestly."
"Oh," I say, blinking. "Then?"
"At least… we are here now."
But I had to leave. I just look at him through the bus' window. It shudders like my heart beating, rapid and unsure. And the bus starts its departure. Away…
<~
Away. From you just doesn't sound right
But here I pull myself out of your sight
Divine. Yet you still hold me in your eyes
But soon I admit both of us will drown in our cries
Goodbye. No this is not, it is to say you're mine
Even if there can or cannot be millions of you, only you are mine
Rain. I hope was you, so I could be engulfed with a smile
I'm only in love, call it or let it be even after I get senile
I'll hold you then
~>
I hear murmurs so close to shouting, waking me from my seat – to look to the front.
"I said, sit down!" somebody screams, throwing something at me – it just passes from above my head. The voice of his feels eerily familiar, but scary and loud. "If anyone else wants to die before seeing what the hell the threat is, you can stand and halt the ride."
"That is just a young girl! How could you try to harm her?" somebody else asks.
"Yeah? Harm? Do you not understand how bad it could be? And how much worse?"
"Excuse me," I say, pushing my head sideways from the seats. "Is there a problem?"
"Do you hear the tone? So… frus-aaaagghh!" he screams while hitting on the arm around his neck.
I get up and see that no one is stopping the man choking the guy who had thrown something on me. Cautiously I step forward.
God I need to get to literature school. I can't even describe the ongoing happening properly. I need to learn to phrase. And so much more.
"Canada will be hit soon," I… hear gibberish from the radio. What was that supposed to mean even? "Please do not go up the hills."
I look to my left and find a hill there. Upon that, I see a kid trip down.
"Kid, you alright?" I ask, after pulling him back to the ground – as I meet it too.
Boys. However they get the courage to wear a white t-shirt up the hill. His eyes glow orange to the sunrays, almost making me blinded by the reflection. How pretty his brown hair sway to the wind – messy and dirty.
'Have you runaway from your house?' I mean to ask, with respect to how he looks.
"Knee, crawl, run, but fall only forward," I instead tell him. I had heard that nowhere… but that was pretty much it on how to climb a hill.
Only if I remembered how nice it was to climb a hill with someone.
Dad was always busy, and he thought I was good enough to climb on my own, so he didn't worry too much about it. But moving forward with this kid was…
<~
Never. Did I know to lose my breath could bring such ecstasy
With your close fall, I think you made me a fantasy
To live. And to hope to live this with you, again for a moment more
Oh how I wish my quirky self isn't to you too much of a bore
Mine. Could I ask of you to be and give nothing else?
And love, and talk about silly things and elves
Forward. With you, hand in hand might be a dream
I think it'll be a forgiven sin, to hope with you – to scream
~>
"Hey, stop, you are hurting him!" I say, slapping at the arms of the guy.
"He is gone crazy," he tells me, while loosening up.
The first guy only coughs while kneeling to the floor.
"What is happening? What was that with the radio?" I ask, looking to the front where the door to where the driver is was still closed – maybe he never heard the commotion because he was still going forward.
"You might've not heard it from the back, but there is a tragedy to come. Something about some pits. We were asking to be let down, at least some of us, but the driver and him are scared to stop, and are being violent – the rash driving and this guy…"
Rash driving? Surely they hadn't been in my mom's van.
"All of us wouldn't know what happens. We can't just stop," the guy on the floor says.
"Doesn't mean you start throwing fists at people."
"I'm sorry," he tells me. "I just… got angry. It… they were basically bullying you."
"I can… take care of myself," I say, and he still only stares down at the floor while sitting on the bench. He clearly didn't fancy my shoes, for staring at them like that. "I'm sorry. I just… don't want you getting hurt."
"Well-"
"-your lips are bleeding. Don't you deny it."
I give him the extra jacket I had brought, as he continues to rub his hands. He silently accepts it, and wears it.
"Doesn't matter," he tells me.
"Pardon?"
He looks at me with tears at the brim of his eyelids, while still shivering a bit. "Doesn't matter if I fall, or get hurt, or whatever. I need to make sure you are ok. Not because you can't take care of yourself, but because I'll do anything and everything to make sure you aren't hurt."
<~
Red. Your bleeding lips show a pain, a rage, a love
Who are you to confidently stand, oh angel fallen from above?
Upon the hill. Where I caught you, and every place with you
Has me in a bind laid down me as a mess to adore
Healed. Stitched up in all the bits I was left to tend as mine
You owned and broke me down while calling me 'mine'
With me. I will hold all I am and all of 'us'
You keep me awake through this life – a buzz
~>
My ears buzz and ring as I slowly take a couple steps back to hold the seat behind me. My hands trace the edges of the seat behind me and find the handle of a bag. With one swoop I swing it while the guy shoots another bullet – now to the roof of the bus. The other guy grabs his hand to grab the gun.
"Oh my god, he is crazy," somebody comments.
But my eyes search to where the first shot had gone… to… no, that'd be towards the driver's seat. I push towards the front and go to the small cabin.
"H-help," the bus driver calls while still concentrating on driving. I find dark spots of red on his hip.
I go closer to help hold the steering wheel or… I remember mom showing me… the middle one was the brake.
"Please move," I say, squeezing besides him.
"N-no, don't stop the bus!" he says.
"But-"
"-I SAID DON'T!"
"The crotch, scar points, the nose, eyes even, ears, chin can be risky as they hurt back a lot – but if they have their tongue misplaced that'll leave a terrible scar and a good stun. But be careful when aiming for the neck, the chin usually comes in between. A good punch on the stomach or a chance shot on the chest can help too. But that'll aggregate them."
"YOU-"
I roll the steering wheel carefully while smacking his cheek to push his head towards the window. It was the cliffs here, one wrong move… is all I needed.
<~
Mine. For all I see, all I don't, all you are
By your side I'd gladly die in a war
With you. By your side, death would be appreciable
For before my body goes cold, your warmth is all I need before I cripple
Pain. Would be an illusion I'd overlook – just smile to me
Speak my name, how breath-taking that would be
My love. My arms ache for you to hold
My frame, before come my death foretold
What if…
~>
My body clutches itself and I roll upon the road, alongside the driver. I struggle to push him off of me, and jerk my body away in the motion. The rolling doesn't stop, I feel each roll faster and more painful than before. But as I push his body away, I gasp for air, but hold my breath at the same time as my body is in the air and not the road. I watch the driver fall off the edge of the cliff, and my body follows too And I brace as-