Will Shuster exited the convenience store with his bag in hand and a cell phone in the other placed against his ear. He rubbed his forehead in exhaustion due to the voice coming from the other side.
"Did you get everything on the list?" his wife, Emma, asked quickly. Her tendency to call frequently to make sure her husband was safe and sound grated on the husbands nerves.
"Yes" Will responded through a sigh.
"Do you have your pass? Your money?"
"Yes, yes don't worry I have everything."
"Okay….. Okay. I just don't…." she paused. When she answered, it sounded as she was on the verge of tears. "I don't want anything to happen."
Ever since Will left for Pittsburgh to visit his family, Emma has been calling frantically to make sure he was okay. No car crashes, no robberies, no fires, nothing. It was sweet whenever you heard about it; the loving wife never wanting anything to hurt her precious husband. But to Will, it was repetitive and annoying. "I can take care of myself for god sakes! I'm a grown man." He needed to somehow reassure her without her having to call back in twenty minutes and without him soundly like a complete jackass.
"Don't worry Em, I'm fine, and I'll stay that way." It probably wasn't the best way, but at least he was honest with her without sounding too horrible. He was able to take the bus to Pittsburgh from Ohio without any problems, and it will be the same to take it vice versa. His words did seem to calm her down to an extent.
"Okay. I need to go now. I have to finish vacuuming the house. I love you," she rushed out.
"I love you too Em" and he promptly hung up his cell phone. He loved Emma with all of his heart, but sometimes she could get clingy and annoying. And, from what Will can guess, she probably already vacuumed the house about twenty times since he's been gone. Not a speck of dirt will be in the house.
Time passed and his Greyhound bus arrived. He got on, and luckily for him, an empty seat was available near the front of the bus. He trekked over and sat down by the window, placing his bag on the seat beside him. He rubbed his shoulders from the weight of it. Grabbing a granola bar out of his bag, he started leisurely eating it waiting for the bus to depart. After an hour, the doors to the bus closed. "Time to be heading home" Will thought, laying his head back and closing his eyes.
A sudden loud bang erupted through the air, destroying the silence that was before it, with many more of the same bang coming after it. The bus driver opened to the doors and who came on was a man. He was tall, certainly tan, and well built. He wore raggedy jeans that look like they haven't been washed in months, and a long tan trench coat covering up his body. In short, he looked homeless. The weirdest thing about him though, Will saw, was he had a silver colored Mohawk on top of his head. The need for a man of his age or around that to have that colored hair was baffling to him.
Looking around he saw that the only other seat available was the one his bag was occupying, and he really, REALLY, did not want to sit next to this man. He was very intimidating, and even that was a huge understatement. Sadly, it was not his choice as the man noticed the seat and started walking over.
Will sighed and moved his bag to the compartment above the seats to allow the man to sit, and he stared out the window, not wanting to even make eye contact with him.
He hadn't felt the seat beside him shift or dip at all, so he looked up to see the man staring at him, his eyes set in a glare.
"I believe, you're in my seat" he said, his voice low and sounding more like a growl than anything else. Wondering what he meant, Will found out he probably wanted the window seat. He knew when to fight back and when to let a crazy ass man have what he wants. So he gingerly got up and let the man take the seat by the window, before sitting back down in the outside seat.
The bus roared to life, they were heading off to Ohio.
"This is going to be a long ride after all" Will thought, forlornly. And now he couldn't even look out the window without seeming as though he's staring at this man. But, why should it have to be a tense ride? Hasn't he always told his students to never judge a book by its cover? To accept everyone equally no matter what? So what if this guy looks like a raggedy old hobo. Maybe in reality he really is one of the smartest men alive? "Worth a shot to try and talk to him."
Sticking his hand out, Will said with a grin "Hey, the names Will Schuster."
The man looked over with a skeptical eye, but returned the handshake with great force. "Name's Noah Puckerman. But call me Puck".
"Puck? Strange name. Fitting for his look." Will mentally punched himself. "No! You're supposed to be trying to make friends to make the bus ride quicker. Not insulting his name!"
After a while, the two men started talking like good friends, sharing secrets, talking about the latest sports, and telling about each other's lives. All was well and it seemed like a nice ride, until Will asked the one question he should have left unasked.
"Hey I kind of wanted to ask you something. I don't want to sound rude though."
Puck smiled. "Naw man, you probably know more bout me than my own Mum. What you wanna ask?"
Will grinned, thinking all was well. "Well, I was just wondering why your hair was Silvery or whitish. It seems weird for a man your age."
At that question, Puck froze, his eyes wide as saucers but staring at nothing. Like he was staring at things no one else could see. Nervously, Will started trying to shake Puck out of this trance.
"Puck? Hey, I'm sorry you don't have to answer." Will said trying to get a response, any response from the male. He grasped the man's shoulder and started to shake him. It seems to have worked, as Puck shook his head and seem to return to normal. Puck then went to stare out the window, like nothing happened in the past hour or so.
Will was nervous. All that was in the air was an awkward silence, and it seemed to only get stranger from there. Pucks arms crossed over his chest, and he rocked his torso back and forth. All he could hear from the man next to him was…
"It's my fault…. I could have….. I could have stopped it."
That caught Will's attention. It seemed the man had something on his mind that was eating away at him. Will was always the kind of man who if he saw a student depressed or being bullied or even looking sad, he'd have to help them. It was in his nature. So why should that change for this man? He seemed like a good person. And besides, he didn't want to spend the rest of the bus ride listening to a man mumbling and rocking back and forth like a psycho.
"Um, listen," Will started scratching the back of his neck, hoping Puck heard him and is listening, "You know, if you need someone to talk to, I'm right here. If something's wrong maybe I could help."
Puck looked over at him, his eyes staring at him like he grew a second head. His mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish, as though he was trying but failing to make any words. He then licked his lips for a moment before asking, "Have you ever seen the movie Stand by Me?"
Will's never seen it but he's heard about it from his friends. It was about a group of boys in the woods whenever they went in search of a dead bod…. "Oh dear God". Will thought, trying to keep an emotionless face on, while on the inside he was freaking out. "I'm talking to a man whose seen murder, or worse. What if he's a psycho himself? What if he is a murderer?"
"Ye…. Yes I have." Curse his stuttering. He didn't want to anger this guy. Even though they are on a packed bus, he bets this man wouldn't hesitate to shove a knife in his gut if he really was a murderer. He didn't even know what possessed him to lie about seeing the movie. Maybe to please the man?
"Really? Well as you know the kids in that movie had a clubhouse. My friends and I had that when we were younger." Puck said, his face cast downwards, in remembrance.
"Okay, so no dead bodies. The only reason for the reference was for the clubhouse. Weird movie to choose for that reference." For that, Will felt calmer.
"Yeah, well, it all really started with me and my friends at that clubhouse. We had a pretty normal life for teenage boys. That was until the new kid came."