06:33:00
It will come in two minutes. The temperature is -1 degrees Celsius causing the warm air from my lungs to be visible in the air protruding my face. It may not be as cold as it should be this time of year, mid December is usually snowy here. This year the snow hasn't come. During the day it can get up to 10 or fifteen degrees Celsius with the sun burning bright in the sky. It doesn't feel right, many agree.
06:34:11
It rounds the corner down the way, heading towards me now. Both lights and large stature, moving fifty plus kilometres per hour, about as fast as a brown bear hunting it's prey. Red as blood with glowing eyes in the dark. As it nears it pulls closer, letting out a loud screech ready to swallow me whole. It's mouth opens wide in front of me and I step towards the light now shining from the inside of it. 06:35:30
As soon as I'm inside, I take a seat at the empty seat in the middle of the bus. It was about to pull away to pick up it's next victim before halting to a stop again. The doors once again open and a man jumps aboard. He appears rather spritely, pulling out a paper and quickly walking past the driver.
06:36:08
The spritely man takes a seat beside me, looking a little jittery for 6:36 in the morning. He notices me looking at him and mimics my face. His hair stood up, some going each and every which way, the eyebrows making the most expression on his face. Slight wrinkled formed around his mouth and between his eyes. The dull blue iris's seem full of experience and knowledge even beyond the years he already had. "Hello." he nodded to me, surprising me with a Scottish accent. "Morning." I reply, trying to take in everything about this odd person.
06:38:13
He's wearing a somewhat outdated outfit, a long black coat with a white dress shirt under a vest. He notices me looking him over curiously. "Got the time?" He asks me.
06:38:35
"By the time I finish this sentence, it'll be fifteen seconds until 6:39." And I was right too, like always. "Precise." He replied, looking around the bus at the few sleepy people and outside as if he didn't know where he was. "Who are you?" I asked, curious.
06:39:00
Not looking back at me, he pulled out the same paper that he'd shown the driver. All it read was HE IS A LIAR. I frowned, what did that mean. He glanced back at my frown, checked the paper then stuffed it in his pocket. He mumbled something or other about interference.
06:40:21
"Where are you going?" I asked just as he stood and mashed the stop button to get off at the next stop. "All I have is a riddle." He replied. Riddles were my specialty. The bus pull up to a stop and the door opened for the man to leave. I quickly looked around at the others on the bus, then jumped off after him with my bag swinging onto my back.
06:41:54
"What's the riddle?" I asked, running a few steps forward to keep up with his impossibly quick stride. Upon hearing my voice again, he looked back slightly surprised. He let out a little exhale and without slowly, recited the riddle.
06:41:59
"In the March of Memorial, by the Peace of Confederation, confides a Nation in the Cruelest of Times." It didn't sound like much of a riddle. I wasn't sure why he needed the answer to this, but I thought I knew it. "By the Peace of Confederation," I start, he looks back at me again, this time I stride at his side. "In the Cruelest of times..." I look off. "I think I know what it is."
06:45:57
It only took us four minutes to get there, but as we stood in front of the seventy foot tall sculpture I explained my reasoning. "This is the National War Memorial." My eyes were guided from the bottom up to the top. "It was designed by Vernon March, hence the March of Memorial. And that building," I motioned to the right of us. "Is the Peace tower and this is Confederation square." "Confides a Nation in the Cruelest of Times." He finished he riddle, understanding it fully.
06:46:43
He spun around, looking for something. Behind him, his eye caught onto the tall gothic building with a green roof. "Where are we?" He asked, which surprised me. I was starting to wonder how crazy this man was. "The Capitol." I told him, where else? "the capitol of where?" I had to scoff, not in a rude way, but in a surprised way. "Of Canada."