Episode 17: The Bus Stop Incident
It was a misty morning on October, 2007. Matt waited at the bus stop near his home, “Orange route… was it? I thought I never had to ride the bus in the morning. Damn it.”
~~~
Matt’s mother smiled, “Oh, honey, your brother’s going to take me to my friend’s house and-…”
Matt interrupted her, “You know it’s obvious what you’re going to do there, right?”
“What, gamble? Pfft! No way, honey. You know I don’t do that.”
Matt looked away and said to himself, “You do that often now because you know you earn a lot of money.”
His mother continued, “Eheh, anyhow, your dad started working again last week so you should feel proud of him. For today though, you have to take the bus.”
“Oh, goody.” Matt frowned.
~~~
Matt yawned at his bus stop, “Ah, this is so boring. My mom made me go ten minutes earlier but the bus is not even here and it’s over fifteen minutes late. I might get late for school darn it!”
Moments later, he saw the bus come closer. It stopped and the door did not open yet. Matt knocked on the slide door. The bus driver opened the door and he said in a guilty tone, “Ah- um, I’m sorry about that, kid. I didn’t mean to trouble an innocent elementary kid. I need to do something first.” He started walking out of the bus.
Matt said to himself, “Hehe, so I look like an elementary student to you, hm? Idiot.” He walked into the bus and two gothic students were watching him while chewing gum. Matt thought in his mind, “I’m still not used to these upperclassmen. Bleh.” He turned his head towards the window, “What is the bus driver doing?”
A girl poked him on the shoulders and whispered, “He’s new at this. He said that he needed to check up on something on the back of the bus.”
Matt turned to her, “Oh really? No bus drivers I’ve known had done that. I always take the bus in the afternoon.”
The girl laughed, “Maybe that’s why. Anyways, I’ve seen you around at the library for the past two years. My name’s Maria.”
Matt smiled at her, “Maria, hm? I heard about you. They say you’re pretty loud and-…”
“AND?” Maria said angrily.
Matt stopped, “And… that’s why you’re funny. Yeah that.”
Maria giggled, “Oh my, I’m pretty funny aren’t I? Hehe.”
Matt looked away, “(Sigh…)”
~~~
During first period on the back courts, Matt ran towards his teacher, “Sorry, I was late. The bus was slow and then I got distracted with this loud girl and-…”
“Yeah, and my dog ate my homework.” His teacher joked, “Sit down. You’re lucky I’m not marking you late because I know you’re never late.”
Matt walked towards his seat as he said to himself, “Geez, I’m late everyday. You’re just even later with all the other P.E. teachers.”
Santi whispered from two seats away, “Ooooh hehe.~”
Matt clenched his fists, “Be quiet. Gr…” He whispered back, “Wait a minute, you can reverse time. Make me come here earlier!”
Santi rolled his eyes, “Or I could simply rewind the teacher and slow her down, then I can erase the students’ memory of seeing her coming here.”
“That works too, now hurry.”
~~~
After a few minutes, Matt sat with ShirelyC and Santi. Shirley questioned Matt, “Why were you late today?”
Matt shrugged, “How should I know why? I was just late because of the bus. There was a new bus driver and stuff. He said he had to check the back of the bus or something.”
Santi stood up, “What for? You don’t need to do that.”
Matt said in a monotone voice, “I don’t know. He stopped the bus to do something.”
“Are you sure? Hey, how late was the bus?” Matt did not have a watch or a cellphone, so he estimated that it was fifteen minutes. Santi thought about it out loud, “Hm, that’s odd. No bus can be that late.”
Shirley spoke up, “Maybe there was some handicap. You know, those strange-looking people on wheelchairs.”
Santi became angry, “That can’t be! Matt, we should go. You need to take me to this bus.”
Matt was confused at his eagerness, “What? Why? The orange bus I took this morning goes to the El Monte Bus Station. The one I take in the afternoon is different. It’s the yellow route that goes the opposite direction, sort of like a counterclockwise path.”
Santi made a picture in his mind, “Well, the orange bus near this school does not go to your house. It goes to the El Monte Bus Station like you said. So, is there a chance that the yellow bus meets the orange bus near your house?”
“Actually, sometimes it does but I don’t think it would today. The bus is going to be late since it already was today.”
Santi laughed, “Hah, you’re worried about that? I can distort the bus’s speed. Anyway, meet me after sixth period in our English class.” He walked away.
Shirley stood there with an empty expression, “Don’t we all have sixth period class together?”
“Beats me.” Matt said.
~~~
At the bus stop hours later, Santi became impatient, “Gee, the bus sure is late, isn’t it?”
“Don’t blame me. It’s not my fault.” Matt stood beside him.
“Coincidentally, this bus is late as well?” Santi questioned.
As the bus finally arrived, Matt was surprised, “Hey, you’re the same bus driver as earlier this morning!”
“Oh goody, it’s you again. Hurry up.” The bus driver seemed angry.
Matt noticed his shiny face, “Are you sweating?”
Santi stopped Matt and stood in front, “Hey, your name is John Stuart, no?”
“What?! H-How did you-…” The bus driver stopped talking.
Santi gave a smirk expression, “Just continue driving. We need to get to our destination.” The bus driver looked nervous. Matt looked around the bus and saw two empty spots.
Santi followed Matt and Matt took a step back, “Oh no-…”
The same girl waved at them, “Hi Matt, what’s up?! Hehe.”
Matt said in a bored tone, “Oh, Maria, right? How is it going?”
“I asked you first. Teehee!!”
Matt paused and said slowly, “Uh, o-kay…”
“Oh, I forgot to mention. You live near me don’t you?! I see you get off this bus at the cross street. You know, the one with no bumpers and a hill going down?”
“Sure, sure.” Matt looked away. He watched as Santi was chuckling. Matt yelled, “What are you laughing at?!”
“Who’s that? A friend of yours? I once had a friend who was just as tall as that. He’s my boyfriend now.” The girl said quickly.
Santi stopped smiling as Matt began to laugh. Matt gave her a thumbs-up, “Good job! Nice one.”
~~~
Near Matt’s bus stop, Matt pulled the rope. Santi looked around, “This is the spot?”
Matt pointed at the stop sign, “Yeah, that one. I live around three blocks from here.”
“Why didn’t you go to Kranz middle school then?”
“I was supposed to. I went to Columbia middle school first but two months later, I moved here. I thought Kranz would be scary and that I would hate it.”
Santi laughed, “Then you made a mistake.”
Matt wondered, “Why- Huh?” He thought about it from there. The comments coming from Santi were in Matt’s mind, “A… mistake?”
“Look! The bus stopped. Let’s go, quick!” He ran off and Matt tried to follow.
Maria giggled and waved goodbye, “Hehe, see ya!”
Santi pointed at the other side of the street, “It must be over there, no? There’s a stop sign on both sides.”
Matt ran diagonally across the street, “You mean that stop? This is where I got picked up this morning.”
The two of them almost got close to the bus stop as it suddenly exploded! A car nearby exploded as a domino effect, along with a tree which was burning into flames. The grass on the neighbor’s yard was starting to burn and Matt and Santi only stood there, devastated. The neighbor came outside of the house and screamed in horror, “NOOO!!!”
~~~
A few minutes later, the fire truck arrived with a few police cars and ambulances. Matt whispered to Santi, “Is the ambulance necessary?”
A policeman stood in front of them in anger, “Did you two do this?!”
The neighbor pointed at them, “It could be possible. I saw them!”
Matt began to panic, “W-Wha?! It wasn’t us. I swear!” Matt dragged Santi away, “Psst! Why don’t you just reverse time?! This is horrible!”
Santi shook his head, “I can’t. Why do you think I didn’t do that by now? I can feel it. Someone is watching us. A very strong mysterious power. I just can’t.”
Matt looked around, “Someone? Who is it?”
Santi closed his eyes, “My powers are powerless! I can’t reverse time. Want me to tell you the truth?” Matt waited and Santi went on, “My powers are dying. It is completely lowering. Haven’t you thought about Danny? His powers died since he came back. He can do minimal now.”
Matt stared at Santi with annoyance, “Darn it! That means you didn’t reverse our P.E. teacher’s actions.”
Santi suddenly joked, “Oh that? I wouldn’t have done that for you even if I had the chance. Hehe.” He became serious again, “Anyway, we have to think of something without using our powers.”
Matt crossed his arms, “Wait a minute. You brought me and yourself here for a reason. Why is that?”
Santi pointed at the bus driver, who was taken back from the bus station, “That man is… the same bus driver that drove me to school when I was in elementary.” Matt froze in surprise. Santi said softly, “When I was about eight, he got fired and he murmured to himself that he wanted revenge by causing chaos. I didn’t understand what he was saying at the time, but now I remembered once you mentioned a slow bus driver. He got fired because he was slow. I was also worried that people might get hurt and…”
Matt began laughing, “Haha! Wow, you care. You didn’t want me to die, didn’t you?”
Santi punched Matt on the shoulders, “Saving many people on a bus is more important than just saving you.”
Matt rolled his eyes, “Oh whatever.”
The policeman interrupted them, “ANYHOW, I need to ask you two some questions at the police station.”
Matt jumped, “W-Wait a minute! We didn’t even do anything!”
Maria nodded, “Yes, they didn’t!”
Matt was surprised from her, “Where did you come from?!”
Maria pointed at the bus driver, “I knew he was a crook all along. He looked suspicious. Here, policeman. Come with me.”
~~~
When the group of four arrived at the bus entrance, Maria pointed at a container with a button, “This is it. This is the bomb execution.”
Santi walked up to the execution, “Yes, this is it. The origin of the past when I used to take the bus…” Matt focused on Santi’s nostalgic expression.
~~~
Six years ago… Santi walked into the school bus, “Hi, mister! Huh? Why are you crying?”
John Stuart was his name. He said sadly, “This is my last day here, kid… They said I was too slow at driving. But, it’s really idiotic! In order to make it on time to get back to the bus station, I’d have to go over the speed limit. As a bus driver, you’re supposed to smile at your people and show care by driving safe and not fast. The stationers only wanted money by speeding up our progress. I really do not like the system. I could quit if I wanted, but then I would have no other job to resort to! If only… if only I could get revenge with the cause of chaos!”
Santi tilted his head in confusion, “Chaos? Isn’t that like… some kind of mess thing?”
John Stuart patted Santi’s head, “Well, something like that, kid. But don’t worry. I won’t do it. I love my people. I’ll think about it.” Santi watched as John Stuart’s expression became monotonous…
~~~
Santi laughed, “Who knew such a nice guy would do something like this. He could have killed many people…”
Matt sighed, “People change over time. Those that are most sincere… would stay with you forever if they meant it. I learned about it from two special people… both in elementary and middle school…”
~~~
At Matt’s home, Matt said to his mother, “Hey mom! Guess what? The bus caused an explosion at my bus stop. Thank god I’m safe. So, does that mean I can get a ride home from my brother or dad in the afternoon from now on?”
Matt’s mother was surprised, “Oh my goodness! An explosion? That is not safe at all. Guess what, I will make it easier for you.”
Matt became excited, “Yes, yes?! What is it?”
Matt’s mother giggled, “I’ll have you walk home from school. You always said that you wanted to get faster on the mile to beat your friend, Jeanette, right? Oh-ho-ho, that would be nice. It’s all the more convenient. Well, anyways, I need to start cooking before your brother gets home from work. You should do your homework first. I don’t want you to start worrying about it after dinner. It wouldn’t be a nice feeling now, wouldn’t it?”
As she left, Matt sighed, “Aw man… I thought catching that bus driver was going to make my life easier. That’s the last time I’m gonna have Santi help me get involved in such things. Bleh.”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:
Matt: On the next chapter, my fire ability improves again!
ShirleyC: Does it involve blowing up schools?
Matt: No! I don't need your comments. I'll show you how awesome this is going to be.
Jen: What is?
Matt: Eek- It's none of your business! Um, um...! Next chapter, A Luminous Spell!
Matt: On the next chapter, my fire ability improves again!
ShirleyC: Does it involve blowing up schools?
Matt: No! I don't need your comments. I'll show you how awesome this is going to be.
Jen: What is?
Matt: Eek- It's none of your business! Um, um...! Next chapter, A Luminous Spell!
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