The Otherworldly Bus

Sei looked at his watch to check the time, it was an hour before midnight and he's the last person inside the office. It was pitch black, except for the dim light of the sole desk lamp sitting on top of the desk. On top of the desk was a huge pile of papers; workloads to be exact, some compiled in manila folders while others fastened on some envelopes. The desk was a mess, pieces of scratch papers with sketches lie on the floor; a single desktop with a drawing tablet is resting on a small empty space in between the piles of paper.

He continued moving his hands along the tablet, the lines and shapes he made slowly came together to create one beautiful illustration. This continued for half an hour until he could take it no longer, he saved the file and turned off his computer. He turned his chair around facing the corkboard behind his desk, it was filled with pins of schedules and deadlines, activities that will or is yet to come. He sighed wearily at his chair while browsing through the different papers pinned through it.

He slowly stood up and grabbed his bag from under the desk, it was a brown messenger bag made out of leather and cloth materials. There were signs of faint embroidery among the bag, but can barely be seen most probably due to overuse. He took one last look around and headed towards the entrance, there he was greeted by the busy streets of the city; there were bright lights and polluted air coming from the smokes of the engines, the crowd on the streets were talking loudly. He ignored all the noise and grabbed a pair of earphones from his bag, which he placed on each ear. He started walking away from the busy streets while the jazzy softly calmed him down.

Soon enough, he was walking through an empty park. A huge trail extends across the park, rows of trees are planted on each side; benches situated every few meters with a lamp post beside each; on the end of the path, there is a single fountain in the middle of a roundabout. He continued treading the park, looking around for a good spot to rest while waiting for the next bus to arrive. He reached the end of the pathway and is now standing beside the fountain, he sat down a nearby bench and placed down his bag.

'I hope I would be able to finish my work before the deadline...'

He sighed deeply and took out a small sketchpad from his bag, a single pen was attached to it's cover. He takes the pen and opens the sketchbook revealing beautiful sketches etched through the dozens of pages inside. After browsing through it, he found himself an empty page. He situated the pen on top of the paper and allowed his hands to move on their own, a beautiful picture started to form on the page where his pen touched; the process itself seems like magic, how random lines and shaped can create a vivid image. He continued drawing when suddenly, he heard movement behind one of the bushes, it was then followed by footsteps and a few chuckles. There clearly were around two, no three people gathered over there.

It was already midnight by that time, and it was without a doubt, not normal for people to gather at a park at this time around. But who was he to judge, he was also there at the same time around. The distant mumbling and laughing drew closer and closer until a line of three people appeared out of the brush; all of them wearing the same brown long robe and have a silly pointy hat on top of their heads. They continued talking, ignoring Sei who was sitting at a bench, staring at them in disbelief while they crossed the roundabout and headed towards another path.

"Hurry up we might miss the bus!" said one of the man with the silly hat.

'Bus... oh the bus! Right! I gotta get going too!'

Sei quickly closed his sketchbook and reattached the pen to back to the cover. He tossed it inside his back and stood up, following the three strangers from behind. Soon, a pavilion appeared ahead of them and the three men walked towards it. There was a tiny door placed in on of the walls, it was so small that the three had to crouch in order to pass through the doorway. Sei followed them from a distant and waited for them to pass through before continuing. He would look suspicious if he were to trail behind them in this time of the day.

As soon as the pavilion was all clear, Sei hastily crept towards the tiny door. He opened it only for him to end up in the exact same place he was in. It was the same pavilion, except this time the three men were out of sight. He straightened up and looked around confusedly. His eyed widened after he realized that only the pavilion was the same, everything else around him was an open field except for the single light from the distance. As he approached the light, he heard familiar voices laughing and blabbing in their conversation. He continued further towards the crowd until he reached a bus stop.

He stood behind the line consisting of about a dozen people under a bus stop, the three men were right in front of him continuing their conversation as usual; it was the middle of the night and there were no light source to be found, except for the single lamp post dimly lighting up the bus stop; the moonlight covered the rest of the area with blue light revealing an open field, as wide as the eye can see with grasses taller than that of an average man.

"Excuse me, may I ask where we are?" asked Sei while trying to get the attention of the three men.

"Where are we? Young man is that a serious question?" asked one of them.

"Yes, as you can see–"

His sentence cut short when a hand suddenly covered his mouth, the hand was soft and delicate with no traces of any callus.

The owner of the hand stood behind him so close that he could already feel their breath.

"He's with me." the person said with a feminine voice while removing their grip from his mouth.

"Oh forgive our rudeness, this is Tera Station." one of the man said while bowing down.

Rei looked confused at what's happening and turned around to look at who the person was.

'Am I being kidnapped?'

A hooded girl was standing behind him, a few strands of her long white hair are exposed. She reaches up to his shoulders and has a very fragile figure.

The girl held his hand and dragged him away from the crowd. She stopped when they were a reasonable distance away, not too far, just enough for them to be inaudible.

"What do you mean I'm with you? I don't even know who you are!" he said once they stopped moving.

"Be quiet! Can't you see, everyone's suspicious of you." replied the girl.

Sei looked behind him to see the crowd eyeing him suspiciously. Some of them were whispering, as if gossiping about him. They stopped when they saw him looking at them.

"What's going on?" he asked her.

"You're not supposed to be here" she replied

"What do you mean I'm not supposed to be here?" he asked again, this time in a much more confused tone.

"I'll explain it later, right now pretend to be my companion. No more questions, follow my lead." she told him.

She entangled her arm around his and they slowly started walking together back to the crowd

*Honk Honk* *Clink Clank*

The breeze of the wind suddenly intensified as the incoming vehicle approached the bus stop, it was accompanied with frequent honking of the horns and a bell being rang by a person standing in the open doorway of the bus. As the vehicle drew nearer, the person standing on the doorway hopped off and walked towards the line.

A tall silhouette approached the line, gradually becoming much clearer while drawing nearer. When he reached the lit up part, a tall, slim man was revealed. He had unbelievably long limbs, his waist reaching the shoulders of an average person; he was atleast nine feet tall, although his torso was very small, his limbs make up for it; to simply say, he has extremely weird proportions.

The man bowed down slightly before the crowd and proceeds to stand beside the door of the bus, now on a full stop in front of them.

"All aboard! Otherworldly bus, at your service. Please enter in an orderly manner, you may leave your luggages at the lobby." the man said in a professional voice.

"Otherworldly what?" Sei asked the girl.

"No questions." she replies in a firm and stern voice.

'Did I mistakenly join a private bus?'

The line slowly started moving as soon as the man gestured them to enter. The crowd began to enter the bus, some looking tired, others looking enthusiastic.

'It seems crowded...'

Finally, it was their turn to go in. Sei assisted the girl as she entered the bus, and followed behind her. He was greeted by a gigantic lobby inside, with a huge chandelier hanging on the cieling. There was a long lobby desk, with receptionists answering calls and booking the long line of different creatures.

He blinked and slapped his face after seeing such surreal events take place before him. It must be a dream, yet no matter how hard he tried to wake himself up, nothing changed. He was still at the same place that he was in.

"Am I dreaming?" he spoke out softly.

"No, this is all real... Now you see that line over there? Get yourself a room and try to settle down. Meet me at "The Witches Brew" at noon. Here take this, show this to the receptionist." she replied while placing a golden coin in his hand.

Before Sei could say something, the girl quickly walked away and disappeared into the crowd.

He looked around confused on what to do while he tried to remember the instructions the girl told him about. He remembered something about a witch and the line.

'I should get a room first, then I'll think this our later'

He sees an empty line in the reception and quickly walked towards it. A young lady looked at him and smiled.

"Hello how may I help you?"

"May I please have a room?" he asked while showing her the coin.

The receptionist smiled at him and handed over a golden key with the numbers "441" engraved on its handle. A symbol was embossed on the key; a single rose surrounded by thorns.

"Room 441 is straight ahead sir. When you reach the elevator, ride it up to the fourth floor." said the receptionist

Sei thanks her and grabbed the key. He placed it inside his pocket and walked towards the elevator. Along the way, there were different shops and food stalls, he still can't believe that all this is inside a bus and he can't muster a rational explanation for what's happening. He reached the elevator and entered it, the elevator was an old fashioned one.

He looked for the fourth floor button and pressed it. A clicking noise was heard and the button opened up, revealing a keyhole. He took the key from his pocket and placed it inside the keyhole, turning it after.

There was a moment of silence before the elevator started creaking. The twisting and turning of gears caused a loud noise that can be heard from the walls, roof and floor of the elevator.

*Ding!*

The noises stopped and the door opened revealing a luxurious suite with a veranda. The room looked very expensive and in the middle was a king sized bed, all for himself. He walked inside and placed his stuff down. He ran to the bed and allowed himself to fall into it, the soft cushion surrounded him and comfort started to cloud his mind.

'This is the life...'

He looked at his watch, it was 3:00AM and he was supposed to be meeting that girl at noon. Right now all he could think about is that he needs to sleep, he closed his eyes and slowly drifted away into his dream.