Chapter – 3 | The dream catcher

I opened my eyes with a groan. Sitting up straight, I stretched my aching arms and legs and yawned in a un-lady like manner. It took me few minutes to realize that I was in a bus.

Slowly, events of last night played in my head like a movie. Me telling him that I do not have a crush on him. He had laughed and I did not talked to him for what seemed like an hour. He then started the conversation again, but most of the time, we just argued over petty things. For example, he said that chocolate chip pancakes were better than the blueberry ones and we fought about that for god knows how long. As I said before, the fights were mostly over petty things.

And between these constant arguments, a point came when I actually thought about what he had said. That I was starting to have a crush on him... but this thought went flying out of the bus window, when he said that my hair looked like a birds nest, and for that, I did not talk to him for another hour. I do not even remember when I fell asleep. With a sigh I rubbed my sleepy eyes and looked at the seat next to me.

He was not there.

My stomach twisted in a way that my breath seemed to hitch. With a frown, I looked around the bus and realized that not a single person was in sight. Standing up from my seat, I looked around; there was nobody around and the bus held a pin drop silence. Looking out of the window, I saw that the bus was standing in front of a fog covered bus-stop of Maplewood Town.

Had he gone away just like that? Did he not even thought about at least saying one last goodbye? These thoughts were running around my mind when I felt someone behind me.

‘Get out’

I jumped in the air with a squeal. Turning around, I saw the ticket collector standing merely few feet away from me.

‘You scared me!’ I exclaimed with a hand over my heart. He gave me a frenzied look. Before I knew it, he picked my luggage and handbag and handed them to me.

‘Your stop is here; now get out of the bus.’ He said and I glared at him.

‘Where is everyone? And w-where is he? The guy who was sitting with me last night’ I asked. He tilted his head and stared me for moment. Taking a few steps forward, he leans in until our face was inches apart; I tried my best not cringe away.

This guy stings like a corpse buried under a ground of a cemetery. Not that I have smelled any before, but I’m pretty sure they would smell just the same as him.

"No one was sitting with you last night and no one else was in the bus, except for me, you and the bus driver. Do you get that? Now get out of the bus!" He growled.

I looked at him wide eyed as he glared at me with flaring nostrils. On the spur of the moment, I found myself out of the bus with my luggage and handbag resting each side of me and the bus doors shut on my face. I winced at its sound.

As the bus slowly started to move, something caught my eyes. A face was staring out of a window. And not just any face.... it was his face. He gave me wink with a cocky smile and the bus soon disappeared in the fog.

I stood there, frozen for good ten minutes and then slumped on the bench and stared at the ground. I’m losing my mind. I have gone insane. That had to be it. Or else how does one explain this?

A guy came out of nowhere, saved me from some creeps, spend the whole night with me… the next morning when I wake up he is gone along with everyone else from the bus, however when the bus goes away I see his face as clear as day in one of the windows.

I heard screeching of tires and a car stopped in front of me. I looked up and my father stepped out of it.

‘Florence, finally you are here!’ My father exclaimed. Giving a small and somewhat forced smile, I hugged him. With a kiss on my cheek, he picked up my bags and walked towards the car. The whole ride back to home, father was talking. I knew that because I could see his lips moving but I his voice did not reach my ears.

Absentmindedly, I gave a nod time to time, and by the looks of it, he did not even notice that I was not listening to a word he had said. In all honesty, I could only care less. The only person on my mind at the moment was Him. That unreal person from the bus…

‘Florence, we are here.’ I looked at my father and then out of the window, we had reached home. With a sigh I got out of the car and walked towards the front door, dad following behind with my luggage. Before I could knock, the door opened and my stepmother greeted me.

‘Look who finally decided to show up.’ she said in a tone that would fool out anyone to think she was doing a sweet tease. Anyone but me, that is.

My father went in the house, kissing my stepmother’s cheek as he did. ‘Get in already, would you.’ her bitter tone came up once my father was out of site. Rolling my eyes I too walked in. Home sweet home… I thought bitterly.

The scene inside was just like any other house that had a wedding on head; relatives walking around, women shouting about their dresses and decorations and food and what not, men looking bored and children running around without the care of the world. When everyone saw me, all had different reactions. Some relatives greeted me with pitied looks, some truly happy and some just formally. But those who truly stood out were the soon to be bride and groom; my stepsister Alyssa and my ex boyfriend Edmund.

Edmund pulled Alyssa closer with his arms around her waist, as they walked towards me.

‘I missed you so much. There are so many preparations to do. We even have to get your Maid of the Honor dress get fitted.’ Alyssa said, with a fake smile and I fought the urge to gag.

‘We are really happy you showed up.’ Edmund said and a sharp feeling crossed my heart. It was not that I still liked him. No, I got over him the moment I caught him cheating on me with Alyssa. It is just the fact that he still had the guts to stand here, smiling in front of me like he owned the place.

“It is alright. Think of it as this way, after the wedding, that dog of an ex of yours will become your stepsister’s bitch for the rest of his life, serves him right.”

‘Oh believe me, I’m the one who is the most happier at the moment.’ I said and Alyssa gave me a bigheaded smile, I continued, ‘I mean, it is not every day that one gets to see a dog turn into somebody’s bitch.’ I said with a grin.

The sharp felling was replaced by a satisfied peace, when I saw Edmund’s eyes widening and Alyssa turning into a deep shade of red from anger. Some relatives who had heard this conversation, gasped and some covered their laugh as a fake cough. Without waiting for a reply, I walked past the couple with my chin up and a calm feeling that I have not felt ever since I heard the news about this wedding. As I was walking towards my room, I saw my grandmother walking out of the kitchen.

"Florence, do not take that night bus." her words rang in my head.

I rushed to her and tapped on her shoulder. She looked up at me and her eyes widened as she pulled me in a hug. After a minute I pulled back, taking her hand I took her in the first empty room that I could find and closed the door.

‘What happened?’ she asked with a confused frown.

‘You knew about him. How..?’ I asked. At first the confused frown stayed there, but soon realization crossed her face. 

‘Oh Flo...’ she cupped my cheeks in her hands affectionately.

‘You knew about him.’ I repeated. She removed her hands and gave me a sad smile.

‘That is the only night bus that came here from your university. I studied in it too, you know. When holidays arrived, I left to come home, but I missed my afternoon bus, so I took the night one... and I met him.’ She looked at her palms and then back at me with a sigh and continued, ‘It will be better if you just forget about him and move on, just like I did.’ She gave a pat on my shoulder and with that she turned around and walked towards the door.

‘Who is he?’ I asked just as she was about to open the door and walk out of the room; she froze.

‘He was a dream Flo... he was just a dream.’ With that she walked out.

If he was a dream, then why did he felt more real than anything… more real than everything?

I stood there for god knows how long, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. Finally taking a deep breath I got myself together and ran a hand through my hair. I frowned when I felt something odd yet soft tangled in my hair as a clip. Taking it out, my eyes went wide and the tears that I was trying hold back fell down on my cheeks as I stroked the blue feathers of the dream catcher key ring. 

The end.

*~*~*~*

I am not sure if I will write a sequel of this short story or not. Maybe I will, or maybe I will not. But I am really grateful that you took out your precious time to read my work. Thank you so much.

Peace,
Dakshta Sharma.