Up ahead, the shiny new bus was pulling on a yellow safety strap that seemed to be connected to the front of Bucking Betty. They were making progress up a very steep winding set of ultra narrow pavement. It didn’t take much to quickly realize that the roadway was too narrow and too twisted to keep all the wheels on the pavement. Bucking Betty was struggling for grip every time it dropped a wheel off the asphalt. Sadly, it also didn’t have the power of the Diesels either.
Great.
Just great.
More horrors to endure on this trip.
Soon, that chapter was over. The looks of relief from everyone showed the stress they all felt about the bus’ ability to make it to the top. That was sadly short lived. Once Bucking Betty was set free, the downhill part seemed just as scary to take. Unlike the new buses with amazing braking technology, Bucking Betty relied a lot on engine braking to assist the aging and tired non-pneumatic hydraulic brakes. The backfiring loud rattling pops as the bus gained a bit too much speed sent chills down the spine of the occupants who worried about the edges of the road.
Betty was worried about rear-ending the good new bus that was taking it’s sweet time descending. She worked the pedals frantically and gave it her best shot to whoa the bucking hissing spitting bus. At one point, she engaged the emergency brakes to lock up the rear tires in a desperate effort to avoid hitting the leading bus. The rears slid in the famous movie sideways drift and slipped off the embankment into the ditch on the side.
The bus nearly tipped over but, after hanging precariously on the tip of the wheels, gravity won out in their favor and landed the bus back upright on all four corners.
Gravity also helped get them out of the ditch as the principle of rolling downhill helped them tremendously. Had they been on level ground, heavy duty towing would be required as Bucking Betty did not have enough power to extricate itself from such a ditch. That is assuming there was even enough traction to drive out of such.
By the time the adventurous drive was over, the only team excited about meeting the other school was the ones in the fancy new shiny smooth powerful bus. Bret was in no mood to mingle with any other humans. He did note however, Betty seemed to have that look of someone who needed a cigarette after a night of wild passion. She refused to leave her seat, let alone stand from it. And she found every possible excuse to give as to why she needed to stay with the bus. Mind you, the day was hot and humid one with Bucking Betty not having any air conditioning at all.
The day was filled with meetings and greetings of strangers. Many too eager to share their latest and greatest what-have-you. Bret moved from social circle to social circle to appear very involved. His mind was constantly slipping away to other more exciting places. The various displays of subjects and use of farm themes to draw in crowds did nothing to enthuse Bret.
His mind was listlessly moving towards the return to see Zoe. What was her day like? How was her meeting with power brokers going? Was she doing her usual coquettish giggle she did that just drew men in? Why did he care?
Bret shook himself from his reveries. There was a buzz about the place. Something had changed. Asking about, acting disinterested and all, he found out that a celebrity was coming for a photo opportunity with the school kids. This could be promising.
Finding ways to distance himself from the humdrum, Bret found the only lavatory at the edges of the campus to freshen up. It was more like a port-o-potty that had a small mirror hanging on the back wall with a makeshift sink from a bucket that was fed by a small hose coming from the top.
Given the campus was technically a farm that served as an educational center, Bret was just happy the box called a lavatory was not extremely offensive to his olfactory senses.
On returning to the center of the activities, he was let down by the sight of all manners of farm animals mingling about with the students. It appeared that someone thought it would make for better photos if the animals were brought in and set free. Turns out, it convinced the celebrity not to get out of their limo. The shoot was canceled.
With a heavy heart, Bret resigned himself to accept that the day was a total loss. Might as well go exploring some of the older structures about the campus. The ones that were corded off so that students didn’t get lost in them.
To Be Continued
Below are links to all the chapters… will auto populate the full story as it unfolds
Introducing When Ladders Traumatize - Introductions - Part 1
Zoe is a fierce competitive scholar.
Bret is happy go lucky smart guy
Somehow, their paths cross. Romance seem ready to bloom, but something goes horribly wrong.
Will Karma play a role? Will their competitive ways destroy romance before it even gets a chance?
When Ladders Traumatize Intro Part 2 - Introductions - Part 2
The school board and the principal have some tough choices to make for the coming year.
Betty seems to be the only one not stressed about what will be the fate of the principal's choices
When Ladders Traumatize Part 1 - Part 1 - The Story
Bret discovers that his top performance does not get him the top earned reward.
Zoe gets the gig he was after. Sure, he likes her and thinks she's pretty and all... but...
For now, he must get used to the fact he's going on a trip to a mud pit on a farm as a thank you for his hard work.
What was up with Bucking Betty though?
When Ladders Traumatize Part 2 - Part 2- The Story
Bret, looking for a cool place to escape the drudgery of the mud pit field trip.. finds a cool building with a sweet looking white ladder.
As friendly as the staff is, something is really bothering Bret.
His tummy rumbles, his thoughts grow weary. Something is off. But what...
The weird feeling is proving very distracting. There are so many beautiful women around... he nearly forgets he's attracted to Zoe
If only he could figure out what that weird feeling was...
When Ladders Traumatize Part 3 - Part 3 - The Story
The gals are teasing him. Bret is sure of this. Why would such beautiful women find him hot while he's in pain?
But man were they beautiful. And boy was he in pain.
Yet, that white ladder was messing with his head... drawing him... punishing him.
Bret felt he was going crazy in a sci-fi vortext.
Eventually Bret finds himself inside that mysterious loft.
There was a boy in there. The poor fella was scared to death. Also was helpful in getting him away from these overly sexed gals that were all over him on the ladder...
When Ladders Traumatize Part 4 - Part 4 - The Story
Something is really wrong. Badly wrong. That boy is not who he appears to be at all. Who is this boy?
Why are all the girls only after that mysterious teen in the loft?
Bret now needs to figure how to get out of that crawl space. Things are just getting too weird.
The pain though. The gals giggling. The boy talking.
That S.O.S message . Was it for him? Bret needed answers but he needed to escape more than anything.
Especially with this massive amount of pain wrecking his body, survival depended on his ability to escape. But how?
When Ladders Traumatize Part 5 - Part 5 - The Story
Just when Bret thinks his nightmare is over, it is not.
The boy-ish thing is following him everywhere. Popping up in the worse places.
Bret feels like he's fighting for his life while the girl is flirting mercilessly with him.
Is he losing his mind? And will he ever get out of this mess?
Will he ever get a chance to hold Zoe close again?
The reach of that boy-ish thing is hellbent on keeping him in agony, no matter how much Bret fights.
Worse, it's night time and everything seems a threat.
Epilogue of Ladders - Epilogue - When Ladders Traumatize
Bret, now older, discovers that Zoe has feelings...
But, what do these feelings mean?
Where does this White Ladder really fit into this story?
Will these questions get answered? More importantly, will Bret have his way with Zoe the way he's always fantasized?
Is this the end??
Shallows of the Deep 