Gone by Natalie W. (learn to read books txt) 📕

Walking to the bus stop was a drag. It was freezing cold. And it was long. I had just arrived there alone when other people started to show up, their shoes dragging and there skinny jeans squeezing the life out the girl’s and the guys leg’s. I shuddered and looked at my shorts. I was used to the cold. It never bothered me. Florida had never gotten this cold, and we all laughed when one of the kids showed up in a big coat and baggy jeans. I sat on one of the electric boxes and waited for the bus to come. After I had slipped on my headphones and was blasting out my eardrums with metal, one of the guys came over and slid onto the box with me. He was tall, had long hair, and was tan and muscular. I scowled and moved over more. He threw his arm over my shoulder. Despite myself I blushed and I shook his arm off roughly. He growled and put it back on. The bus rounded the corner at full speed that moment, and I breathed a sigh of relief. As I climbed the steps the bus driver looked at me. She was new. This was the third one this month. She had a flawless face and a small body, with long blond hair. I gawked at her as she whisked the small pass out of my hand and glanced at it.
“Moring Jennifer. You got the front seat. Congrats.” Despite the boredom in her voice she gave a warm smile and pointed to the first seat in the opposite isle of her. I slumped into it and threw my pack on the floor and pulled out my iPod. As I started to slip on the bulky headphones again, she confronted the guy that was on the box with me.
“William.” She read off the paper. “You also have the first seat here with Jennifer. Good luck.”
She gestured again and went on to the next student. William slid into the seat, trying to display some grace, but tripped over my bag. I snickered and picked it up, dropping it on my other side. He slid as close as possible to me and slinked his arm around my waist. I shuddered but sat there, secretly liking the way it felt. I felt his hand reach slightly down past my panty line and I gasped, grasped his hand and shoved him away. He muttered something and looked away. All of a sudden his hand shot out and gripped my ass tightly. I screamed and jerked up. The bus driver turned around and shouted at William, letting go of the wheel. The bus swerved. Then all time slowed down. I was flipped, slowly, onto William’s lap, then onto the floor. The bus rolled over and I was on top, falling to the roof. I felt a sharp pain in stomach, then on my left leg and then, finally, my chest. The window had broken, and three huge, jagged shards had pierced my stomach, my chest, and my left calf. I gasped quietly as I fell. The bus finally swerved and hit a tree. I landed on the roof, on my back. Blood spurted up like a geyser, falling on my face and onto William, who was sprawled out in the seat, not a scratch on him. His knuckles were white from gripping the seat so tightly. My pale face was now draining of the color it had left, and the shard in my leg was pierced through the other side. I heard someone shout, and then more shouting as people had noticed what had happened to me. My vision clouded, and then faded to black. All of a sudden I was floating. That’s what it felt like. I knew what was happening to me. I was dying. I opened my eyes for one last moment and looked at the bus driver’s face, who was right above me. I raised my hand weakly and she stared at it as if it were a ghost. I pointed at William and gulped for air. My chest gave one big heave before I completely blacked out.
There was shouting. I was moving, my hands swinging on the side of whatever I was on. Then I slid out of consciousness again. I had stopped breathing at some point. I don’t think people had noticed until they saw that my chest had stopped moving. I was already dead. More than that, I could see everyone. I knew I was dead at that point. I was floating above my body, and it was terrifying. I saw the shard that had pierced my chest and the one in my stomach already taken out. It was huge. I saw William sitting in the waiting room, talking to the police officers. I knew he wouldn’t tell them. He excused himself to go to the bathroom, and I grabbed the shard from the table and, surprisingly, it stayed in my hand. I think it turned transparent with me as I made my way into the bathroom. I slid through the door and into his stall, where he wasn’t peeing, but crying. I willed him to see me, but nothing happened. I whispered into his ear.
“William…”
He jerked his head up and looked around confused. I grabbed his hair and yanked back, relishing in the look of pure terror on his face. He screamed and squirmed to try and get out of my grasp. But I held on as position the shard right above his throat, my blood still dripping off of it. He screamed again and started sobbing and begging to let go. But he didn’t know it was me. So I whispered in his ear.
“You didn’t tell the cops did you?”
He shook with fear, but answered. “Jennifer?”
“Maybe. Did you tell the cops? What you did to make this al happen? I’m dead, William. All because of you.”
He sobbed and begged again, but I wouldn’t listen. I pushed the glass into his throat slowly, listening to the sound it made, and watching the blood that poured down his neck. His screams became struggled and silenced as his blood mingled with mine and flowed into his open throat. I took it out and watched him heave for breath. I plunged it into his rib cage and into his lung. Then leaving it there, I left the bathroom and wandered back to my body. They were still trying to revive me, but I felt nothing. No tug. No urge to go back. So I just. Left. I disappeared. Away from this world.
And I never came back.

Publication Date: 10-09-2010

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