Bus Stop

Megan was a very average high school girl. She had a job, she went to school, she worried about college, she did good in school, and she had a boyfriend that loved her very much. Megan worked at a diner that was only about two miles from where she lived with her mom. Megan did not work in the diner at night, but when her boss had to leave early for an emergency, Megan was left responsible for locking up.  After she had cleaned up and done what was asked of her, she headed home. Megan usually walked the two miles from work but the clouds rolled in quickly and covered the moon. With no natural light, she was drawn to the bus stop like a moth. There were only three benches and they formed an open square. Five people crowded under the metal roof. Megan walked up the four steps to the concrete slab where the bus stop sat.

  She sat down next to a chubby man with a long beard. He was simply dressed a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He wore big, rubber, work boots and sunglasses on top of his head. His arms were crossed but he seemed nice enough. Megan looked around and mentally judged everyone under the awning with her. There was a set of boy-girl twins, who looked to be angry with each other, as they sat a foot apart with no words. A woman with a stroller, she sat on the other side of the bearded man and wore a long, summer, strapless, dress. There was but one more person waiting for a ride. A skinny, red headed boy. He looked to be maybe 15 and wore a black hoodie. Megan sat quietly with her hands in her lap as she secretly looked at him. All was silent until the mother of the baby spoke.

"Looks like it's gonna storm, huh?", she nudged the bearded man seated next to her. She looked at him and the wind blew her hair over her face.

"The news called for rain." As he said this, the metal cover began to pop and the sidewalks color ombred to a darker grey. The woman looked out over the dark street and sniffed the air. She tucked her hair behind her ear and turned to the rest of the people at the bus stop.

"Just a little rain.", she said.

Rain

Twenty minutes passed and the bus still had not arrived. The rain became more frequent and half an inch of water covered the ground. Megan stood up and stretched.

"When is the bus supposed to get here?", she asked the the woman.

"About, 15 minutes ago.", she scoffed. Megan took a step forward and leaned in to take a peek at the baby.

"I'm Megan, what is your name?", she said in baby talk to the adorable smiling little girl.

"Her name is Ally, and I'm Racheal.", Racheal held out her hand and Megan politely shook it. "This is my husband Pete.", Megan shook Pete's hand too.

"Nice to meet you all.", Megan sat back down and took out her phone. She had no signal and no way of telling her mom she was okay.

"She looked over and noticed the boy staring at her. She looked up at him and stood to walk to him.

"I'm Megan, you look kinda familiar. Do you go to my school?", he shook his head and peaked up at her.

"I'm Ethan Ross. I have art with you, I drew the cactus that you complimented me on.", he didn't look back at her.  

Just as her memory sparked, the rain became louder and the drops fell harder. The sound reminded Megan of when she was little and the rain that fell on her tin roof.  Soon, the road in front of them began rushing with flood water. Megan started to worry and wondered if she would ever get home to her mom. She wondered if she would ever see her loved ones again. As the water raised up, Ally began to cry and Racheal picked her up, placed a blanket over her head, and began to breast feed her. The group sat in an awkward silence for many minutes waiting for a bus that was bound to never arrive. When Megan looked at the time in was 9:53 and she yawned. The brown, murky, water continued to raise at an alarming rate and the bit that layered the ground grew deeper. Racheal placed Ally back in the stroller and held onto the handle to keep it from washing away. The flood now reached Megan's ankles. Ethan looked concerned and pulled his knees to his chest and his feet into the seat with him. The boy-girl twins moved closer and leaned on each other, eyes growing heavy.

  Megan grew unsteady and became very nervous. She sat criss-cross and played a game on her phone. Ally started to cry again and Pete sloshed his boots in the, now six inch deep, water. Racheal and Pete were talking among themselves when thunder boomed loudly threw out the town. Every heart at the bus stop jumped and Ally cried harder. The rain poured down and the water raised. Megan's shoes were soaked and as they waited she looked down to the park across the street from the bus stop. Lightning struck and hit a tree, snapping a limb off.

 

All Gone

Pete stood and reached for Ally. As he did, the water swept the stroller away and in a panic he leaped after it.

"NO!!", Raechel reached for the stroller but was unsuccessful and fell into the water rushing on the street. As the family was swept away the bus top broke out in panic.

"Oh my god!!", Megan screamed. Ethan stood up and looked out and the disoriented twins scrambled to watch as the family floated away. Everyone jumped up onto the benches to avoid the water steadily raising, in fear of being swept away.  The female twin wobbled and the male one steadied her.  

Thunder struck fear throughout the group again and the lights burst, leaving them in the dark. Before they could react, lightning struck the town once more. This time, it hit the awning that was keeping the group dry. The female twin, holding onto the pole for balance, was electrocuted and her heart stopped. The male twin panicked and, looking for a way out, pulled his sister into the water. Megan and Ethan watched, unable to stop them, as the dark figures floated away and heard nothing but the sound of rain, as the screaming and sound of breathing water disappeared. Megan, in shock, looked at Ethan with wide eyes. As he stood on the bench, he looked back at her in disbelief.

"What just happened?", Megan forced the words out of her mouth. Her voice was low and shaky.  She was trembling with fear and confusion. Ethan didn't answer, he simply sat back down and hung his head. Megan looked around and back down at the park. A swing was missing, a basketball hoop was down, and the slide was mostly under water. She looked down at her feet and the the water neared the top of the seat. A tear fell off her cheek as she looked down. She started to cry and held her hands to her eyes. Her crying was hushed when the awning above them began to move and shake.

     A mixture of being struck by lightning, wind, and a downpour of rain, caused the unsturdy metal to become overwhelmed. The four, thin, poles holding it up, collapsed and Megan got the worst of it. Because she was standing, her head was hit and it knocked her backwards into the water.Her body was engulfed in water and her limp body floated down the road. As for Ethan, he was sitting at the end that the awning fell from. He was not struck and was left, in the rain, holding on to the bench for his life. Later, Megan was found with head injuries and lived. She has amnesia and no memory of the flood at all. The family was found together, washed ten miles down a nearby creek, they had drown. The twins were never found.  And Ethan was left, for the rest of his life, with the burden of telling the tale.

 

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.06.2016

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