A Late Night Ride

It was around 11 P.M. The roads were nearly empty with at least two or three bystanders walking on the roadside.

I am a bus driver and I was on night shift that day. I was so tired and exhausted because I had to helped my wife with the preparation of celebrating my son’s return from Cambridge University.

As expected, there were not many passengers on board. I could even count and described them all. Four more bus stops and I’ll be on my way back to the bus depot. On my third last stop, many passengers have alighted. Leaving a pregnant woman, and two bodybuilders.

Puzzled me though was the pregnant lady. Where was exactly she’s headed at this time of the night. I looked through my rear mirror every now and then. Her skin was pale. Her face was somehow not alive. Maybe she was holding the pain in the womb.

Eventually one of the bodybuilders caught me looking back and snapped.

“Hey buddy! Do you have a problem? You kept looking back at us!”

I was shocked. I stuttered trying to say that I was observing the pregnant woman at the far end of the bus.

“No, no. I-I was looking at th-the pregnant lady at the back,” I was worried one of them was gonna beat me up while I was driving.

The situation got tense. I did not look back anymore but strangely it was quiet at the back. Really quiet.

I arrived at the second last bus stop. It was a neighbourhood area so I expect all three to alight. To my surprised only the bodybuilders alighted. That was a little bit of a relief.

Then I saw the faces of the two hefty men. Their faces were scared, frightened, horrified. It was like they have seen a ghost. I didn’t took any interest of it though and continued driving.

Now I have one more bus stop and more passenger. This time, the bus stop was away from any urban area and into a more rural area. The stop was quite far unlike the previous stops. Around 15-20 minutes.

Halfway throughout the journey, I heard a loud boom coming from under my bus. I immediately lost control of the bus. Luckily I managed to get control of it and stop at the side of the road. I asked the pregnant lady was okay. She did not response. Her face was still the same as before. Pale white. She was just facing the window face dead.

Now it started to give me creeps. It was just weird. I turned back toy seat. I took my flashlight out beside it because it was dark and I could barely adjust my eyes to it.

I opened the rusty door beside my seat and alighted. I flashed it at all four tires. They’re all seemed still in good condition. I scratched my bald sweaty head and wondered “Then what the hell was that just now?” I went back into the bus only to find my last passenger was missing. I calles her a couple of times but there was no sign of her.

I peered my head out of the window beside on one of the passenger seats. There was nothing out there. I was feeling more unease and my body was starting to sweat. A lot. So I decided to just drove off. I went back to my driver seat to start the engine,  and that will be the worse decision I’ve made.

Right outside the window beside my seat,  her face was looking directly into me. Now her face was happy. Creepily happy. Her eyes were wide and red. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was too afraid to start the bus because the stupid window was opened.

So I ran outside going back to the neighbourhood area. I thought I was safe after running about 10 minutes. I was panting hard. Not too bad for a man in his fifty’s though.

I dial 911 and wait for response when suddenly, “Who are you calling?”

It was right beside my left ear.

My whole body was paralyzed.

“This is 911, what is your emergency?” I didn’t replied. My heart was beating fast. Faster when I was running earlier on. I was trying my best to move my body and tried to turn around. By that time my phone dropped and the battery was out of it.

There she was again. This time right in front my eyes. I tried screaming again but my throat won’t let me. I wanted to cry really bad. “Please, please don’t hurt me,” I pleaded her repeatedly.

“I just want to show you my baby,” I just realized at that moment, her belly was flat and she was carrying a… a baby. Then her body gesture started changing. I could hear the crack of the bones produced by her vigorous movements. Moments later, she was opening her mouth wide. And what came out was just unexplainable. A fetus with an umbilical cord was vomited out through her mouth.

“Oh looked he chose you,” she said as her eyes were white, and her body was as fragile as a snake. Her long stained with blood of the vomit.

“Oh s**t,  oh s**t. What the hell?” I started running again towards the direction of the neighbourhood. It was 1 a.m. I was alone crying and screaming. Eventually cops came by, maybe because I scared the residents nearby.

Long story short, I was brought to the hospital and was detained for two days. My wife accompanied me so I was feeling relief. However the picture of the woman still haunts me to this day. What the hell does she meant by ‘he chose me’.

I kept telling myself it was nothing and eventually the thought perished. I am now coming into my sixty’s and long since retired. This is my horror.

  • Rose Morrison

    Good story line, but very poorly written, mis-spelt words, wrongly used words, sentences that don’t make sense, constant changes in tense and jumps in the story. It needs a good edit, then it would be good and way more readable.

  • Sabrina

    Very enjoyable but yes excessive grammatical errors can take away from the pace of the story. Still a fun read, thanks author!