Meet Jesse:
Jesse is a 24 year old Caucasian male. He has a girlfriend named Christina. Jesse lives in Syracuse with his girlfriend and his 2 dogs. He works as an architect and takes the 30 bus every week day to get to his job.
Meet Kenneth:
Kenneth is a 15 year old Caucasian male. He lives with his mother, his estranged father and his two sisters in Syracuse. His girlfriend name is Isabelle. Kenneth takes the 30 bus every week day to get to his school.
Meet Joan:
Joan is a 38 year old African American woman. She has 4 kids named Leon age 13, Jeffery age 10, William age 8 and Thomas age 8. Joan is divorced and handles all four children on her own. Joan works as a nurse in a local hospital and rides the 30 bus with her kids in the morning. They live in Syracuse.
Meet Rebecca and Cassandra:
Rebecca and Cassandra are best friends. They are in sync. Rebecca has a boyfriend named Evan and Cassandra has a boyfriend named Robert. Rebecca has just recently found out she is pregnant. Rebecca is a 17 year old Italian and Cassandra is a 17 year old Hispanic, they both go to the same school and ride the 30 bus to school. They both live in Syracuse.
CHAPTER 1: JESSE.
When I awoke that day, it felt the same as any other day, Christina breathing on my neck and the two dogs biting each other. I climbed out of my bed and walked to the bathroom. Christina rolled over at looked at me. She smiled her beautiful smile and said "hey babe I love you have a good day and bring me back a turkey and cheese sandwich" I laughed. "Okay sweetness. But I gotta go right now, I love you."
"Love you more."
I laughed again blew her a kiss and grabbed my keys off the table and went to my normal bus stop…
Chapter 2: Kenneth.
I woke up to my mom yelling at my dad. My little sister was screaming for dad to stop yelling. My other little sister was screaming and crying.
"You see this is why I can't be with you Percy!" mom was yelling.
"You're no saint either and shut those kids up before I do." Dad yelled back.
"I dare you touch my kids."
That's when the hitting began. First mom struck and dad pushed her into the wall. Katharina, my 7 year old sister, ran into my room.
"He's hitting her!" she cried. "Stop him Kenneth!"
I quickly got up and got between them. "STOP!" I yelled. Mom and dad parted.
"Shut up Kenneth and go to school. Take your little sister with you!" dad yelled at me. I didn't feel like arguing so I just did what I needed to do. "Come on Katharina, we have to catch the 30 bus."
Katharina started crying as I took her to my normal bus stop…
CHAPTER 3: JOAN.
Getting the kids up in the morning is a hassle. The youngest ones take about 10 minutes. I always threaten them with the belt. However, today they didn't give my any grief. None of them were fighting. It was a very peaceful morning.
"Come on kids, the bus just left downtown" I called out to them.
They all came down the stairs one behind the other.
"Ready?" I asked. They all nodded simultaneously. They grabbed their coats and were out the door in a matter of minutes. I started wondering why they were acting so dull and soulless when I remembered: Their father didn't pick them out this weekend. It was a hard thing to think about, but it was reality. I sighed as I grabbed my keys and went toward the 30 bus stop….
CHAPTER 4: CASSANDRA AND REBECCA.
Rebecca usually stays the night when her parents fight. They often pick on her because they don't like her boyfriend, Evan. They expect so much from her that it is overwhelming me sometimes. I rolled over to see Rebecca's hair covering her eyes and all I can hear is her soft breathing. I heard my mother coming out of her room, most likely coming to wake me up.
"Parents arguing again?" Mom asked me as she stood in my doorway. I nodded and got out of bed
"Well the bus is about to come so make sure you guys are ready" She said and then left. I woke up Rebecca who wearily got herself ready just minutes before we had to leave to catch the 30 bus…
JESSE POV:
The walk to the bus stop seemed increasingly longer than I remembered. It felt like I had been walking an eternity before I finally reached the bus stop. It was a couple others there too; a girl and her mother and an old man. They were the regulars. However, they never did take the 30. I felt a slight drizzle on my head and sighed. I thought about going back to the house and get an umbrella but I didn't want to miss my bus. I looked at my watch; the bus was a bit late this morning. I was getting ready to jolt across the street, when I saw the bus turn the corner. I was relieved but also annoyed that the rain had picked up its pace. When the bus came to the stop, I noticed that it wasn't the same bus driver. I boarded the bus and asked "Hey what happened to John today?" The man looked at me "He won't be back" He said with a certain tone to his voice that I didn't like. I took my seat; the one across from the back door. The bus chugged along and the driver kept looking at me in his mirror. I started to feel uncomfortable, so I busied myself with a Sudoku book. Suddenly the bus jerked forward, and two girls got on. They looked around 18 or 19 and very tired. They sat down two seats behind me. The bus chugged forward once again. I looked out the window; there were many people walking the streets with the umbrella tipped to the side. The bus jerked forward suddenly, which made one of the girls bag roll forward.
"Shoot! I'm really sorry!" She cried out. "This bus driver is reckless." She sighed as she got out her seat and walked toward me. I smiled and bent down to pick up the bag.
"It's cool, I think this bus driver has a bit of an attitude problem anyways." I said as I handed her the bag.
"Yeah I know, I said good morning to him and he looked at me as if I was speaking another language and had two heads"
I chuckled. "If you don't like people don't be a bus driver. That's the number one rule."
She laughed. "Yeah, but thanks for the bag."
I nodded and looked at her; she had tan skin and dark green eyes, her hair was done into a neat ponytail and her bangs fell gracefully above her eyes. She wore a long sleeve black Aeropostale hoodie, slightly revealing her light blue shirt. Her boot cut jean fit perfectly with her black sneakers. She was dressed very nicely.
"I'm Cassandra" she said abruptly, extending her hand. "And back there is my best friend Rebecca." She turned around and pointed to her. Rebecca waved wearily and smiled.
"Jesse Knight" I said taking her hand and waving back at Rebecca.
"I've seen you before, you work at um Johnson's and Henry's right?"
"Yeah I do, I design buildings, you know."
"Oh wow, you're an architect. I want to do that too."
"Really? Well it's no walk in the park I can tell you that, takes hard work-"I started but was cut off by the bus coming to a stop. A lady and her four kids boarded the bus. Two of them went straight to the back and the other two sat across from me. The lady looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. I recognized her from the hospital across the street. I redirected my attention back to Cassandra who was leaning against the seat next to me.
"So like I was saying, it takes a lot of your time and that's pretty much it, I have some books if you want to read them I'll bring them to you tomorrow." I said relaxing in my seat.
"That'll be good thanks Mr. Knight" She said smiling brightly.
"No problem, but call me Jesse, I'm only 24 not that old yet." I laughed. Cassandra chuckled. "Well, I will see you later then."
"That you will."
Cassandra chuckled and went back to her seat where she quietly whispered to Rebecca. I picked up my Sudoku book and the bus chugged to the next stop…
Kenneth Pov:
The bus was later than usual today. I looked around to see if the bus was coming. I didn't see it. As I was beginning to walk back toward my house, I heard the faint chug of the bus. Katharina held onto my hand tightly. "Do you think baby Kaitlin will be alright?" She asked me in a soft whisper.
"Yes Kathy, Mom wouldn't let anything happen to her. Okay? And remember; if you want Kaitlin to live with us you can't say anything to anyone okay."
"But wouldn't Katie be better if she was with a better family?" She asked as the bus pulled up. We boarded the bus and Katharine went straight to the back to sit next to some friends she knew. I waved at two girls that go to my school.
"Hey Cassie, Hi Becca" I said to them as a walked passed them. They smiled and waved at me. When I sat down, I felt my phone vibrate. My girlfriend, Isabelle, texted me. I clicked open and read it:
We need 2 tlk txt me back ASAP!
I quickly responded because I didn't know what was up. Before I could hit send I got another message; it read: Call me, this wont b easy thru txt.
I didn't know what that meant, so I dialed her number, she answered on the second ring.
"Hey" She said. It sounded as if she was going into the bathroom, due to the echo in the background. "We need to talk" She added.
"What about Izzy? Did I do something wrong?"
She sighed heavily "No, it's not you it's me."
I've heard this countless times, I knew what was coming next. Before I could let her finish I said "Why Izzy? I trusted you with so many things that I don't even tell my own best friends! What did I do? Why are you doing this to me? Don't you know I love you? I cannot believe you are doing this to me!" I didn't realize I had been yelling until the girls looked at me. I stood up and went next to the back door.
"This is why I didn't want to tell you." She said calmly like she wasn't even sad. She said it with no emotion in her voice.
"I don't care actually, break up with me. Good riddance. I was tired of this relationship anyways!" I hung up. I knew that the last part was a lie and was unneeded, but I was furious. I was thinking about all the times we had together. How happy we were and what could I have possibly done to deserve this. I was mad that I accidently punched the backdoor window. A guy right across looked at me with a concerned face.
"What man? Can't a guy be angry?"
The man shrugged and went back to his Sudoku book. I put my hands on my face and leaned back. I looked around the bus. A lady was reading a newspaper, that man was playing Sudoku, some kids in front of me were playing with these toy cars. Cassie and Becca were laughing and reading and magazine and Kathie and two other boys were playing hand clap games. I looked out the window; which seemed awfully tinted. It would be really hard to look in from the outside and even from inside, outside. I took a deep breath and sat back down in my seat.
JOAN POV:
The regulars were on the bus, so I didn't expect anything to change today. My kids were playing with their friends and the bus wasn't crowded. However, we had a mystery bus driver that I had never seen before. He seemed to have a bit of an attitude with my kids and I. I just brushed it off and went about my business. I thought about my job and my kids as I read the newspaper. I was deep in thought when I noticed that we were not on the regular route. I was concerned so I turned to the man who was closest to me. "Hey. Mr." I said trying to get his attention. He looked up and smiled "Yes?" I moved my seat over so he can hear me better
"Do you know about a new route change on this bus?"
He shook his head and looked outside. "Wait, where are we? We've never went this way before." He said confused.
"I know, I'm going to ask the bus driver what's up." I got out the seat and went toward the bus driver. "Excuse me, but where are you going? I don't believe that this is –"I was cut off by the bus sudden jerk forward. The action made me lose my balance and fall down. "Mom, are you okay?" Leon, Jeffery, William and Thomas all ran to her.
"Yes, I am fine, but this-"She started but was cut off by Rebecca screaming.
Rebecca's POV:
We had all been consumed in our own activities that we filed to notice where we were at. I looked out the window to find that we were in the middle of an abandoned field. It was muddy and rainy from all the rain; which had subsided. I screamed because I was so shocked from where we were. Everyone else was taken aback also. Jesse, the guy in front of me, got up and walked toward the bus driver. A lady who had just fallen, was straightening out you blouse and was about the talk to the bus driver when he got up out the seat. He was a middle aged man around late 40's early 50's. He stood at about 5'9 and was very scrawny. His face consisted of subtle that was very hard to see. He had dark eyes and his face had a lot of markings. He turned his direction at me and started walking. He finally got next to Cassandra and I.
"Hello Ladies, Fine day isn't it?" He said in a creepy tone that wasn't really identifiable. I mustered out a soft yes but Cassandra didn't say anything. The bus driver got in her face.
"Cat got your tongue?" He said and then laughed.
"Who are you?"
He straightened his position