Curse of the Possessed Bus

by Shannon Cook

  “I didn't do anything to the breaks,” Irwin lied as he tried tightening up his seat belt more. He grabbed on to whatever he could and so did everyone else.

  The wiper blades were struggling to keep up with the intense storm. Casey knew that if he could still see where he was going, they should, hopefully, be just fine. He had been a bus driver for over twenty years and had been exposed to many difficult situations. He was tense, but he was determined to get his passengers to their destination!

  Out of nowhere, the storm intensified and the wipers abruptly stopped working! “Oh fuck!” Casey said under his breath.

  “Hey!” shouted Frank from the back of the bus, “Turn those wipers back on! I can't see where I'm going!”

  “They're not working!” Casey panicked.

  Eva leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

  Casey frantically kept turning the wiper blade switch on and off in an attempt to get them working again. He knew it was a lost cause, but he kept trying.

  “All you need to do is hit that switch on the left of the steering wheel!” Frank instructed.

  Casey rolled his eyes. “I've been doing that! They are not working!”

  “You're not doing it right!” Frank shouted back.

  This entire time, Casey was playing around with the wiper blade switch. “It is not - ” Casey began to say when the wipers abruptly began working again. “That's strange,” he said to himself. “OH CRAP! - HOLD ON!”

  Casey was relieved that the wipers suddenly began working again, but it came too late. The moment he gained a visual of the road, the bus was feet from a hairpin turn in the road and had zero chance of making it! Casey tried as best as he could to get that bus safely around the tight curve, but he ended up busting through the guard rail!

  The bus rolled multiple times down the side of the mountain. When it landed, it landed upright.

  … There were no survivors.

  II

  Moments after the crash occurred, the spirits of every victim emerged from their mangled bodies! The seven spirits glanced down at their lifeless bodies, then around at each other. They were all confused and at a loss!

  “What happened?!” Eva asked her husband.

  Casey's spirit was standing alongside his headless body. During the crash, his head was knocked right off of his shoulders and landed in the rear of the bus! He looked at all his passengers in disbelief! “I, I don't know,” He responded. “I'm going to go out and check on the damages." Casey didn't have to try to open the passenger door because it had been torn off and was laying five hundred feet away from the bus! Casey casually tried to walk down the steps of his bus, when an unseen force forcefully pushed him back onto the bus! ”What was that?!" Casey panicked!

  A man, dressed in an American Colonist revolutionary war uniform manifested on the steps of the bus. Nobody seemed to know who he was, but the ghostly man knew who one of them was!

  The mysterious man was Irwin's six-time great grandfather! He looked around the bus at the spirits, the bodies, and the mangled-up bus! He knew his descendant had significantly contributed to the cause of that horrific crash! “An evil thing has been done here,” the man stated.

  “What do you mean?” Casey asked. “The brakes failed on this thing!” Little did Casey realize, since he was still in a state of shock, that the brakes were tampered with!

  The man laughed at Casey. “I may not know anything about these new modernized, motorized carriages, but I do know a young cart-horse don't just die after pulling a carriage for only a couple of hours! No matter what the conditions! Unless someone sabotaged the horse!” The man stated as he glared around the bus, looking all the victim's in their eyes in an accusing way!

  The seven crash victims looked around at each other. Then back at that man. “With all due respect sir,” Casey began, “what?!” Casey, along with everyone else was quite confused by what the man just said!

  “Just think about it," the man replied. He proceeded to tell everyone that the bus was now cursed due to the evilness that caused the crash! He informed them that none of them would be able to step foot off this bus until they completed their unfinished business!

  “I know a lot of you can't complete your unfinished business without leaving this bus,” the man informed the victims. “You will need to find a living soul to help you!” The man laughed a little. “Yeah, good luck with that!” The man walked off the bus and vanished!

  “Who's going to help us?” Veronica asked Casey.

  Casey put his head down and sighed. “I don't know,” he replied.

  Hours had passed since the accident and nobody had heard anything about it yet. Robin was becoming frantic. She was sitting in the old hospital's parking lot where she had dropped her mother off that morning. “What is taking so long?” she thought to herself. She picked up her phone and called her mother's phone. It went straight to voicemail. She tried calling her parent's house to ask her father if he's heard anything from her mother.

  Robin wasn't aware that her father got called in to cover that trip. Her parent's phone rang and rang. Finally, Robin just gave up. “I'm going home,” she sighed. It was now more than three hours after the time her mother was scheduled to return.

  When she arrived home, Jayme was sound asleep. Robin crawled in bed next to her and kept checking her phone.

  The bright light awoke Jayme. “Oh, hi Hun," Jayme said as she rolled over and put her arm around Robin. “Get your mother home alright?”

  “No,” Robin replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The bus never arrived," Robin said. “I can only assume and hope that they just decided to get a hotel room for the night.”

  Jayme could sense something was wrong. “Why don't you call your father and ask if he knows anything?”

  “Tried, he didn't answer his phone."

  Then a light went off in Robin's head! “I'll call my grandpa! It was one of his bus company's buses the hospital chartered!” She dialed her grandpa's number and thankfully he picked up.

  “Hey, gramps! Sorry for calling you so late, but do you know when that bus doing the hospital transfer is scheduled to return?”

  “It hasn't returned yet!?” Burke's voice sounded surprised. “Robin, my dear, meet me at the bus garage. Pronto!”

  “Will do,” Robin replied as she ended the call. She quickly hopped out of bed and rushed out of the bedroom.

  Jayme got up and followed Robin. “What is going on?” she asked franticly.

  “I don't know, but my grandpa seemed very surprised that the bus hasn't returned yet,” Robin replied. “I'm going to go meet my grandpa at his bus garage now.”

  “I'll come with you,”

  “No,” Robin softly said. “Instead can you just go to the old hospital and wait to see if the bus ever shows up?”

  Jayme smiled and nodded. “No problem.”

  They both put their jackets and shoes on and went out the door. They got into their vehicles and headed off to their destinations.

  When Robin arrived at the bus garage, her grandfather was already there unlocking the door. She got out and met him. “Hi, Grandpa!” she greeted him.

  “Hi, darling,” he replied somberly as he opened up the door and they walked inside. “Have you tried calling both your parent's cell phones?” he asked.

  “No,” Robin told him. “Well, I tried my mother's, but it went straight to voicemail.”

  “Why haven't you tried your fathers?” he asked.

  “He keeps it off when he's at home.”

  Burke looked at his granddaughter. It was evident in her eyes that she had no idea her father was the driver for that trip. “I had to call your father in to drive for that trip. The other driver never showed up,” he informed her.

  Robin's eyes got wide as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and called her father's cell phone. His phone went straight to voicemail as well. She hung up and let out a deep sigh. “Nothing,” she said. “It went to voicemail,”
/>
  Meanwhile, a few hours away, a police officer was traveling through the mountains to check for any down trees that the massive storm may have knocked down across the roadway. He noticed a severely damaged guard rail ahead of him. He slowed his patrol car down and stopped just before the spot where the bus had left the roadway. The officer picked up his CB mic and radioed dispatched. “This is squad car 684, I'm on route A42 East mile marker 496. Were there any reports of an accident here in the past 24 hours?” he asked.

  “I'll check into that,” the dispatcher responded. After a few minutes, the dispatcher got back to the officer. “Negative, no accidents reported.”

  “10-4," the officer replied. “I'm stepping out to investigate a damaged guard rail. Get the highway crew up here. We need to get this rail repaired before we can get this road opened again.”

  “10-4” the dispatcher answered.

  The officer got out of his patrol car and grabbed his flashlight. He walked over the huge gap in the guard rail and peered down. He noticed something big and white that seemed out of place and a path of destruction from the road down to the wreckage.

  The officer sat down and carefully slid down the steep embankment. When he got partway down, he discovered that the mysterious thing he noticed from the roadway was the top of a severely damaged bus! Once he was at the wreckage, he carefully stepped on board, trying not to cut himself on the broken steps. When he got inside, he was horrified by what he saw!

  Seven deceased people. Blood was splattered all over. The driver's body was still strapped into the driver's seat, but his head was way in the back of the bus. The handrail was pierced into the chest of a male passenger, it was horrifying!

  The officer gaged and rushed out of the bus. The moment he exited the bus, he vomited. He got on his CB that was attached to his chest and radioed for assistance, explaining the situation, and requested a tow truck.

  He took a seat on the ground and waited for help to arrive. He had experienced a lot as an officer, this, by far, was the worse! As he waited for help, he heard a faint female voice coming from the bus. “Help us,” the voice pleaded.

  The officer sprung to his feet and rushed inside the bus. Was there a survivor he missed? He was hopeful. When he got back on the bus, he checked everywhere. To his dismay, he couldn't find the woman he just heard. He got out of the bus. He stood staring at it. As he was staring, A handprint appeared on one of the windows. “That's strange,” he said to himself.

  He entered the bus one last time. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and the deceased male passenger with the handrail through his chest was standing behind him. Irwin let out a deep gut-wrenching snarl at the officer.

  The officer screamed, got out of that bus as quickly as he could, and rushed back up the mountainside, back to his patrol car. The moment he returned to his car, help arrived.

  “It's all you now!” The officer told everyone. “I'm out of here!” He got into his patrol car and sped off!

  The other officers, paramedics, firefighters, and tow truck drivers were appalled! “That's not like him,” one of the officers commented.

  The paramedics and firefighters grabbed seven stretchers and eased down the mountainside. One of the firefighters had to use a crowbar to get the back emergency door open. They too were horrified by what they saw inside that bus. They managed to get all of the victim's bodies up the side of the mountain and into the ambulances to transport them to the morgue.

  One of the officers got in contact with dispatch and had the dispatcher try to get in contact with the police station of the town the bus was from, while the tow truck driver and the other officers proceeded to try to get the wrecked bus up the mountainside.

  Back at the bus garage, Burke called the new hospital. His heart sank when they informed him that the bus never arrived. “Thank you,” he softly said over the phone as he hung up. He looked at his granddaughter. “The bus never arrived at the hospital,” he informed her.

  “Why not?” she asked.

  “I don't know,”

  Burke got onto his computer and checked the GPS of the bus. The GPS kept pinging the bus's location to the bus garage. He sat back in his chair and glanced over to a box sitting on the floor of his office. “Darling, can you open that box?” he asked, pointing to the small box on the floor.

  “Sure,” Robin replied as she walked over to the small box. She opened the box and looked inside.

  “What is that?” Burke asked.

  “It says Fleet Tracking GPS System,"

  Burke smacked his forehead. “What an idiot!” he said to himself. He turned to his granddaughter. “I forgot to install that onto the bus before it left!”

  Robin's phone rang, it was Jayme. “Anything yet?” Jayme asked Robin.

  “The bus hasn't arrived at the new hospital as of yet,” Robin informed her wife. “You can go home,”

  “Alright, my dear,” Jayme replied. “See you when you get home, I love you,”

  “I love you too,” Robin replied as they hung up.

  An hour passed by and they heard a knock at the door of the bus garage. “Who could that be?” Burke got up and walked to the door, Robin followed.

  When they got to the glass entry door to the building, they noticed a couple of officers standing there. Both Burke and Robin's hearts dropped to their feet. “I don't like this,” Burke softly said. They both had an ill feeling something happened.

  Burke opened up the door. Both of the officers took off their hats and looked Burke and Robin in the eyes. “Are you the owner of this company?”

  “Yes,” Burke replied. “What's happened?”

  “We weren't expecting anyone to be here this time of night,” one of the officers explained. “But we noticed two vehicles in the parking lot as we passed by."

  Burke nodded. “Yes, It's abnormal for anyone to be here at this hour, but officers, one of my buses went missing and my granddaughter and I are trying to locate it.”

  The officers glanced at Burke and Robin. “I'm sorry, sir, madam, there has been an accident,” one of the officers informed them.

  “Oh no,” Burke stated.

  “All seven occupants of the bus were deceased by the time help arrived,” the other officer told them. “We are deeply sorry for your loss,” the officers put on their hats and left.

  Burke and Robin looked at each other, speechless. They were both in shock! They walked back into Burke's office, closed the door, embraced each other, and began sobbing. They sobbed for a solid hour until their eyes had no tears left to cry.

  Robin texted Jayme to come to the bus garage to drive her and her grandfather back home. They were in no condition to drive themselves. She didn't tell Jayme the reason over the text message. She told her she'd tell her when she saw her.

  When Jayme read the message, seconds after receiving it, she rushed as quickly as she could to the bus garage. When she arrived, Robin and Burke met her outside. it was evident to Jayme that they had both been crying. Their eyes were red and puffy. “What's happened?” Jayme asked as she gave her wife a tight embrace.

  “My parents were killed,” Robin informed Jayme. “The bus was involved in an accident.”

  “What?!” Jayme replied in shock! “How? What happened?"

  Robin choked back tears, “We don't know the nature of the accident, all we know is nobody survived it,”

  Jayme's eyes began tearing up as well. “Darling,” she didn't know what to say. She just held her wife tightly in her arms, trying to comfort her. After a while, they all got into Jayme's car and left.

  Jayme dropped Burke off back at his house and continued back to her and Robin's house. When they arrived home, Robin went straight to bed. She was exhausted, but couldn't sleep. She just sobbed into her pillow.

  The next day, Burke called into the bus garage and informed the dispatcher that he would not be in that week. He didn't tell her why at that moment. He just said, “I have a family emergency." Burke had a neighbor take him to
the bus garage to pick up his vehicle. He drove down to the police station and inquired more about the accident that killed his son and daughter-in-law. They let him know where it happened and gave him the number to that town's police station.

  When Burke got back to his car, still in the parking lot of the police station, he called the police station of the town where the accident had occurred. When the dispatcher answered, Burke, explained who he was and was transferred to a detective who was in the process of investigating the crash. The detective instructed Burke to come to the station as soon as possible.

  That station was a little over three hours away. Burke agreed and hung up. He didn't want to make that drive by himself. Not in the emotional state he was in. He drove to his granddaughter's house to see if she'd be willing to ride along or drive.

  He arrived at Robin's house and rang the doorbell. Jayme answered. “Oh, hi Grandpa!” she greeted him.

  “Morning, dear,” Burke replied. “Is Robin awake yet?”

  Jayme shook her head. “No, not yet,” she said. “How are you doing this morning?”

  Burke shrugged. “Not so good, as you may imagine,” he sighed. “I need to take a three-hour drive, the detective investigating the crash wants me to come into the station. It's about three hours away, I was wondering if Robin could come along."

  Jayme nodded. “Give me a moment, I'll go get her.” She had Burke step inside as she went to her and Robin's bedroom. When she entered, Robin was sound asleep. “Hun,” Jayme softy said as she tried to gently shake her wife awake.

  Robin opened her eyes and glared at Jayme. “What?”

  “Your grandfather is here,” Jayme softly said. “He wants to know if you will go with him to the police station in the town where the accident occurred. It's three hours from here.”

  Robin rolled over, looked at the clock, and let out a deep sigh. “Yes, just give me a few minutes.” She got out of bed, grabbed some clothes, and went into their bedroom's on-suite to get ready.

  After a good half hour, Robin went into the kitchen where Jayme had already made her a thermos of coffee to take along with her. “Thank you, my dear,” Robin said as she kissed Jayme on the lips. Robin hugged Jayme, picked up her thermos of coffee, and walked out with her grandfather.