A/N:
I came across an urban legend about the bus to nowhere and I decided to make my own spin on the story.
Misha had no idea how much time had passed since she got the horrible news. A few days probably. It felt like she had been in a daze ever since. She couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep, she couldn't function. All she did was breathe for another second and survive for another moment.
"I'm sorry to inform you that Elias has passed away."
Those words kept repeating in her head. She couldn't recall anything about the man showing up at her doorstep to deliver the tragic news. All she remembered was seeing a man in a uniform, and she knew it before he even opened his mouth. Elias was sent away for war. Elias would never come back alive.
Had she screamed? Had she cried? Probably. She didn't know. The next thing she remembered was getting up from the floor. Had she broken down in front of the man, and had he just left her there? Or had she waited until he was gone before her knees hit the floor? She had no idea.
She should reach out to someone and tell them. Reach out and ask for help but she couldn't. She wasn't living anymore. How could she live without Elias? She was only surviving, and soon she would perish in her own misery. No one was there to help her. No one was there to pick her up. No one was there.
She looked in the mirror and didn't recognize the person staring back. Was that really supposed to be her? Her long, light caramel brown hair was a tangled mess from not having showered for days or gone near a hairbrush. Her chocolate brown eyes were like glass eyes on a doll staring at nothing. She was nothing.
She couldn't stay within these walls any longer. This home used to bring joy and happiness. Now it was an empty shell. A cage slowly closing in on her and making her struggle to breathe. There was no more joy left. Only hopelessness and despair.
For the first time since the man in the uniform had been there, she opened the front door and stepped outside. It was cold but she couldn't even think about putting on shoes or a jacket. She just needed to get away. She kept walking until her feet refused to move anymore. She stopped without having the slightest clue where she was, nor did she care.
She stood there for a while, staring straight ahead at nothing. She didn't see, hear or feel anything around her anymore. She just wanted the world to go away. Her view got distracted when a bus pulled up in front of her and stopped. The door opened and for the first time she looked at what was in front of her. A bus driver staring straight ahead as if he didn't see her at all, yet he was expecting her to get on.
She stepped up on the bus and saw several people sitting in different seats. Everyone looked the same. They were staring straight ahead without acknowledging her presence at all. She could feel their misery. They were like her. People lost so deep in depression with nowhere to go.
"Take a seat."
The voice came from behind her but she didn't turn around to see who it belonged to. She walked further down and took an empty seat. She stared ahead like everyone else as the bus began to drive again. This was her place now. Her assigned seat. A place far away from the outside world and everything in it.