Chapter Text
Green.
Everywhere she looked, there was green. The leaves, the grass, much more than the city she was escaping. Trees framing the sky replaced never ending skyscrapers, the noises of hectic rush hour left behind for the soft rustling of leaves and the slow stream of water meandering over some rocks. It was the picture perfect painting, just begging her to pick up her pencil and get sketching. After spending so much time dreaming about escaping the concert jungle to pursue her true passion, it almost didn’t feel real.
“Ah shit”, a loud screech was heard from the front of the bus
Almost, it almost didn’t feel real
The small bus she was riding lurched to a stop as the driver hit the brakes, narrowly avoiding slamming the side of the bus into the tree line skirting the road. Leah looked to the only other passenger on the bus, a taller man who looks like he would fit much better in a romance novel than a run down bus, only to see him occupied with whatever he was jotting down in that journal he was carrying. If only she had inspiration to keep her mind occupied at this moment, but the nerves of traveling to a far out small town were keeping her too aware of her surroundings to get lost in the paper and pencil.
She decided to turn her attention to the front, and noticed the driver had already made her way outside to look over the bus. Perhaps she was fixing whatever made that noise, surely the only bus driver in this town knew enough about this bus to keep it running.
After making her way to the front of the bus and seeing the driver kicking the front wheel, those thoughts were extinguished.
“Goddamn bus, breaking down for the fifth fucking time this week, I should have driven you into a fucking ditch after the first time ‘it’ll still run, don’t worry about it’ my ass Lewis I should rip those wheels off of that stupid fucking truck of yours you god damn…”
So maybe now wasn’t the best time. Settling back into the row of seats she had claimed for herself, Leah contemplated her options. Sure she could forget about her personal safety and go try and calm the driver down herself, but she would rather not spend her first night in a new town getting acquainted with the town doctor. Ruling that out she once again glanced to the writer on the other side of the bus, only to see him pensively looking out the window in deep thought. It was almost a picture perfect image that could belong in a sad music video, all it was missing was some rain and a black and white filter. Leah was tempted to sketch what she was seeing, already grabbing out her sketch pad and pen. The angle he was facing, the now dimming light from outside, the pose, it was almost to perfect. It has been a while since she has actually sketched anyone, being one to prefer landscapes and nature when it came to her drawings. Now that she thought about it, last time she drew someone was…..
Never mind, her mood quickly took a turn and she put down her pad and pen. She was leaving to avoid that person, not be reminded of him at every turn. Sighing to herself, she dug around her satchel to see if there was anything else to help her pass the time. Granola bar, half knit scarf she doubted she was going to finish, a half carved wooden bear she tried working on earlier, and an old deck of cards. Sliding the cards out of the box, she shuffled through them as they reminded her of before. The cards were old, some paint stains littered the edges, and some corners held worn down creases from where someone had bent them. What was most significant, were the backs of the cards. Holding an art piece she had drawn when she was only 8 years old, one that had won a school competition that earned her this deck in the first place.
Her mind lost in the nostalgia of the deck, she almost didn’t notice the figure standing in front of her. Suddenly, they cleared their throat, almost making her drop the cards all over.
“Glad to see you back in the real world” It was the bus driver, looking a bit less red than earlier. Now she sported a couple of grease smudges on her face, a scrape or two on her arms, and a weird almost excited grin on her face. That last part worried Leah, and from a quick glance over to the writer, he felt the same.
“Now I don’t often have two people helping me when the bus breaks down, which makes this a bit easier” the driver stifled a chuckle, “for me. Lucky for you two we are only 5 miles from town, and we have about 2 hours of daylight left”
“Pam are you suggesting what I think you are?” The writer quickly inquired, “Last I heard it was supposed to rain this evening.”
Leah looked outside to see the sun peaking out behind some angry looking clouds. Supposed to rain, no its certainly going to rain. From the looks of it within the next 30 minutes, which led her to realize why exactly the writer (she really needs to learn his name) was so nervous. Why else would the bus driver, Pam from what he said, be telling the how far away they were from town with such glee.
“Well you should get started then shouldn’t you. You should consider yourself grateful the bus took us this far, last time it broke down 15 miles out and the poor trio of idiots had to push it back in the middle of the night.” With one last gesture outside, pointing to the back of the bus, Pam nodded. “You know where to push, I have to go steer, have fun”
Watching Pam watch away, Leah groaned as she put back on her beat up jacket. Maybe with both her and the writer it won’t be that bad.
“You have to be fucking kidding me.”
She looked sadly at the hill in front of the bus, now barely visible behind the shroud of darkness of the night sky and the downpour of rain assaulting her and Elliott (it took her 30 minutes to ask for his name). It was a small hill, barely going up 3.5 feet total, but every incline felt like absolute hell.
“Why does this feel even heavier than earlier” she heard from next to her. Not even looking next to her, she made a noise of agreement. Her arms were aching, and she had fallen three times in the last 20 minutes.
“I’m finding whoever this Lewis person is, and he will regret not fixing this bus when he had the chance” she angrily bit out. Whoever he was, he was apparently responsible for the bus being so run down if Pam was anything to go by. Which, judging by the clink of glass bottles she occasionally heard from inside the bus, might not be the best source of information.
Elliott once again tried to shake the hair out of his face, forcing Leah to move her head to dodge what would feel like a slap to the face. She felt bad for the guy, neither of them had a hooded jacket and Leah only had the one hair tie she was using for her own braid. He looked like a drowned cat at this point, or a more buff version of the girl from the ring. How he could see through the curtain of hair shielding his face was lost on her.
“Do you think Pam would let us stop for a bit? Surely we are more than halfway by this point.” An exasperated Elliott mumbled, barely being audible over the rain. Looking through the rear window, Leah watched Pam yell into the phone again while gesturing around her green bottle.
“I think she’s too busy ripping whoever is on that phone a new one to pay attention to us, lets take a couple of minutes.” She sighed before moving away from where she was pushing the bus. Standing back with Elliott, she watched as Pam took no notice to the bus stopping its movement. She turned to Elliott and gestured to the tree line.
“Want to go stand underneath the trees to avoid some of the rain?”
“That sounds delightful.” He tiredly agreed, already making his way over to the widest patch of grass right under some tall trees. Taking one last glance at the angry looking Pam inside the bus, Leah joined him underneath the trees. Setting both of their now ruined jackets on the ground, they sat down. Finally, a moment of rest from the hell that was the start of her new life.