As the tears flowed and he braced himself for death, it was clear to him she was some kind of crazed grim reaper machine. A light started to heat up the cooling air about him and a wave of courage and strength filled him with a dash of hope.
“Sweetie, we can’t keep meeting like this, you’re breaking my heart”
It was that girl. That angel. That woman. She. Wait. What?
The boyish woman creature thing retreated and vanished.
“You’re OK. Get on my bus, will you”
Not sure what to think. Bret pulled himself up weakly and sheepishly as he heard the girl giggle and point towards his tighty-whities. Of all days to have those on too.
She twirled herself around to give him a bit of privacy while stealing little peeks over her shoulder. As soon as he had pulled his pants up, she bounced up and twirled back around.
“I would kiss you, but I’ve left a horrible impression on you. I’m really sorry I grabbed you like that. I don’t know what got over me, but you’re one of the good guys and I’m glad I helped you get away”
Just as quickly, she blew a kiss, rotated on her heel, and bounded off gleefully into the darkness of night. All that was left was the distant headlights of Bucking Betty… driving away.
Driving! Away!!!
And the sudden urge to find a men’s room returning
Another set of headlights appeared in the other direction as a diesel motor powered down near him. As he heard the air-brakes engage, Bret stumbled out into the road way hoping to get the driver’s attention. It was one of those luxury stagecoach buses he had heard about.
The door opened. He rushed himself as quickly as he could to get on as the entire student body seemed to be flowing out all loud and way too joyful. After being pushed and bumped about, the bus was finally empty. And it had a bathroom!
Many tears later, Bret was finally relieved and the pain was gone.
Refreshed, he made his way back to the front of the bus to ask the driver what would happen to him, since he was not on the right bus. His mind was still feeling scrambled from the day.
As a car pulled up, the driver told him that once their star students joined them, he’d have to sit wherever he could find a seat.
This was good. He didn’t mind even taking a nap on the floor. This was a comfortable state of the art bus. Nothing would make this ride bad at all. Especially if he could just get away from this nightmare experience.
As the last students got their seat, it was clear that Bret was at risk of actually having to sit on the floor. It was full capacity indeed. Then, he saw that girl again. She was stepping out of the car that had approached and parked in front of it. And out came Zoe too.
Shallows of the Deep 