Category : Stories

Sub Category : Romance

Every day I wander around, doing my best to get things done. I don't go outside when I dont have a reason, and I do my best to work on school. But that day was different...

My parents were out for the day. And my brother was at his school, so I was alone. That was normal. I enjoy spending time with myself. Not that I'm not good with people, I just like it this way. 

Looking at my phone, a reminder tells me that I need to submit my analysis for a scholarship I am trying for. Because mom and dad went out early I have to send it myself it's a bother, but might as well.

Leaving the house and heading out the gate, I walk three blocks to the bus stop. The file is heavy enough that I have to go to the post office. 

 The bus comes once an hour because I live far from the city. Honestly, if they were going to do that why send a bus out here?

Getting on the bus, there were three other people. A man who looked like he's a farmer's son. With light brown hair and a strong body, unlike me who has no muscle. There was also a old lady who lives a mile or to up from me. The last person was a homeless looking man who was asleep. He must have been there for a while, the way he's settled in. 

I take a seat in the back corner. Everyone is sitting in front of me but i'm still nervous. I don't like buses or trains. Anyone can get on. That scares me. If something were to happen again... no, don't think about that. I'm being paranoid. 

It's been an hour or two since I got on the bus. I dont have the best sense of time anymore so I'm unsure. This bus is just a "into city" bus so everyone knows to get off as soon as we get near down town. 

I walk a bit to the office while listening to music, I almost got run over once while trying to cross the street. I really don't like going into the city. I love how it looks from afar and even when my mom drives me up here I cant stop myself from aww; but walking is like being on the bottom of the food chain. 

After sending the letter I go to a small little coffee shop hidden in an alley. Its almost dark when I get out of the shop so I'm going to take a shortcut through the alleys. It is getting really dark and I only have half an hour to get back to the bus stop. 

The dark alleys filled with dim yellow light and trash are starting to make me paranoid again. 

The memory of a small girl crying in a dark room flashes through her mind. 

No! Stop! Don't think about it... I repeat that over in my head, gripping my pepper spray in my pocket. 

A man's voice comes from behind me, "hay! Your that prick!" 

Before I  think my body runs. E starts chasing me, running in a drunk zigzag. Even though he's wasted, hes still faster than me. Its just one more block until the bus stop, then I'll take out the pepper spray. 

I'm screaming and running frankly, unable to stop. Fear has filled my lungs. "Help", "stop", "save me", I just keep screaming, until...

"HELLO?! ARE YOU OK?" Comes from the dark end of this endless alley. Someone was at the alley. 

HELP! A CRAZY MAN IS CHASING ME!

"Are you sure?" He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks into my eyes. He was the farmer's boy from before. 

"I- I..." I turn around and look down the alley. It was empty. He must have stopped and I didn't realize it. 

O- oh. I... he stopped. 

I see. Do you want me to call anyone? Did he hurt you?

No... that's.. ok. I'm just going home. 

On the bus? I saw you earlier, right? 

"Yeah." My heart was still raising. It was maybe 8:45 PM when that happened and it kept raising untill we got to the stop. When we got on the bus, farmer's boy came with me to the back.

I'm Marcin by the way. You?

Um.. I'm amb.

Amb? Haven't heard that before. 

It's short for ambeca. 

Oh.

Hey... sorry I acted so crazy back there.

Don't be! I can tell you were really scared.

It's just I dont like to be alone around people I dont know. So the city is a bit hard to go through without...

Should I go then? 

What?!

You said you dont like to be alone around people you dont know. So, should I go? 

WHAT!? No, I didn't mean...

But you said.

It carried on like this until my stop. I got to know him better on that bus. His name is Marcin; he has a brother that he came to the city to shadow during his internship; he likes bad music. The list goes on. But what was the best thing I learned about him was the whole time he was trying to make me laugh. It made me feel so much better, the whole three blocks back, instead of thinking of the creepy man, I just thought of how ridiculous he was. Going so far as to lick to seat because I canplaned about jerms. 

I think I just made my first friend.