My car got utterly wrecked. No saving it. Mashed up to bits. My sister had borrowed it and cheated death that day. Even after looking at the heap of scrap metal that was my car, I had no idea how she got out with only a few broken bones. By all right she should have died. But that’s was my sister. She has the best luck. She married a good guy with a decent amount of money for them to live comfortably. The day of the accident, they had taken their car in to get the snow tires switched to all season ones. Her job wanted her to come in for an extra shift. She almost refused but I lent her my car for the day. I was so thankful for having my sister I didn’t even think about I now had to take the bus for work.

Thankfully my boss let me have the weekend off after seeing photos of the crash. He also had no idea how my sister lived. I took care of things while she was in the hospital and soon found out city transportation isn’t reliable. It arrives late. Or too early. Or not at all. Sometimes it’s so packed you need to stand for the entire ride. And it takes forever. A city bus could take over an hour to get to a location that was only a ten-minute drive away. I sometimes could walk faster than the bus. But I couldn't afford getting a taxi to and from work. I thought about borrowing a bike, but it was still cold. During the day it was fine but I worked late into the night. Even just waiting for the last bus nearly froze me to death. Sure, it wasn’t going to snow any more but I’m very sensitive to the cold. I just never adjusted to the climate after we moved further up North. So, no biking home.

Aside from all that, the bus wasn’t all that bad. I could get some reading in. I couldn’t read while driving. And most books I enjoyed didn’t have audio books.

That’s how I found myself on the last bus home after a week of missing my car. My sister was doing fine and I could finally relax a little after a stressful week of being late to work because of my new form of transportation and losing an hour of sleep each night riding home. Because it was so late it was only myself and the driver for most of the ride. I still had half the ride to go when the bus stopped to pick someone up. My nose buried inside my latest trashy romance I didn’t even look up to see who it was. Even with the empty bus they sat in front of me. Odd but I wasn’t complaining. I took a quick glance up and noticed they were short. And had bleach white hair. I glanced at my watch and groaned at how it was so close to midnight. I lived close to the bus depo so that was lucky. Not every route had a bus running so late. I got off the second last stop. The bus normally turned it’s light off once I got off so I knew it was out of service when I was within walking distance of home. In the past week I had never seen anyone get on this late. I shrugged and went back to my book.

Then another person got on. Which was weird. I didn’t think we had actually stopped. Just paused at red light. But I had seen kind bus drivers who picked people up if they tapped on the front door if the bus had stopped somewhere. This time I peeked up but the person who got one was so tall they crossed the bus fast. They were dressed in black and had passed me before I got a good look at them. I started to turn my head for a discreet peek, but a voice in front of me made me stop.

“Don’t look at it.”

The voice was soft and it sounded like it belonged to a child. I stared at the person in front of me instead of the one who just passed behind.

“It?” I asked slowly.

“May I sit beside you?”

It was an odd request, but if I was talking to a child, I didn’t see why not. Without waiting for an answer, the small child in front of me got up from his seat and walked to sit next to me. I was guessing it was a boy but it’s hard to be sure of children. He was wearing gender neutral clothing. Just a big grey sweater, jeans, and I was shocked to see no shoes. Why was he out so late? Where was his parents? Why was he missing his shoes? I had put the other person on the bus out of my mind as I looked over at the child. He finally raised his head to look at me and under his long wavy white hair, pink eyes stared at me. I had never seen someone who was albino before. Aside from some photos. It was off putting for a second. But I focused on the more important questions.

“What are you doing out so late? Do you have a guardian I can call? Are you hurt? And where are your shoes?”

Each question made him looked slightly more annoyed. He had a very neutral look but his eyes narrowed just enough to make me stop and let him answer.

“In the past six months, ten people have disappeared from this bus route. Four have been bus drivers. Are you aware of this?”

He was speaking so softly he was hard to hear. But I got the idea. I had actually heard the stories in a way. I’ve over heard people at my job talking about some missing bus drivers on the last bus for the night. I’ve been so busy at work I never stopped to chat. I heard there was a post going around lone about the rules to survive the last bus, but I again, never cared enough to look it up.

“Aren’t you too young to be scary story hunting? Is this for a video? You really should be in bed.”

I let out a sigh and put my book away in my bag. I was reaching for my cell phone to see how to report a missing child when he slouched in his seat.

“Fine. If you do not believe me then look behind us at the figure sitting at the back of the bus. It’s your life after all.”

He sounded a little like he was pouting. And strangely, a little too mature for his face. I gave him a confused look. What on Earth did the other passenger on the bus have anything to do with this weird conversation? The bus stopped for a red light again. The driver looked in a mirror mounted at the front so he could see most of the bus. Since we were on an empty street, he felt safe enough to take his eyes off the road and look behind at us.

“Hey missy, who is your friend? And when did he get on? I don’t remember him at all.”

The driver said back to me looking genuinely confused over the boy’s presence. That made me look from the driver to the boy a few times. He was still sulking. I gave his arm a very light poke to make sure he was really there and the both of us weren’t sharing a hallucination.

“I don’t know who he is. He got on a few stops ago. Like a few minutes before midnight.”

The driver looked even more confused. The light had turned green so he started the bus back up just to pull off to the side of the street and out of the way in case any cars came past. He then got out of his seat and started to walk towards us. I mean, he honestly looked like he had no memory of letting the albino boy on. And he was a child out in the middle of the night. It was a good idea to stop and try and figure out where he was going and why he was alone.

“Hey champ, what’s your name?”

The man asked when he was a step or two away from us. The boy didn’t look up at him though. He only flickered his eyes over towards me.

“You can scream as much as you want, but do not look behind us.”

The boy’s statement was so weird no one answered him. The driver raised his head and finally seemed to look around the rest of the bus. Out of my sight he spotted the other passenger. The tall figured dressed in black I hadn’t paid any attention.

“When did you get on? Do you-”

The driver’s words were cut short. In a blur of motion, he was grabbed by long black arms and pulled back towards the rear of the bus so quickly my brain didn’t even realize what had happened. What I saw was impossible. The arms just had been far too long. Long black tubes with great clawed hands attached. On reflex I almost looked behind me. Then I remembered how the boy had warned me about looking. I forced my head forwards as I heard it. The kind bus driver who had just been worried about a small child was screaming and begging for his life. Screaming that stopped suddenly with a wet crunch I wish I had never heard.

Once I smelled a metallic odor, I was certain was blood I started to scream as well. I clutched the side of my head and hunched down in my seat hoping it would keep me safe from those hands. I screamed and had to force myself to stop fearing they would make whatever just happened to the driver happen to myself.

“You can keep screaming. Once it’s out of your system I can tell you how to stay alive.”

The boy’s voice had changed. I still knew it was his but it sounded much more confident and much more like an adult. Far different than moments ago. I blinked away tears and looked at him. My body shaking but I had to trust him.

“What is going on?” I pleaded praying to get an answer.

“If the last bust stops at a crossroad at midnight, a dark figure may enter the bus and sit at the back. Until it sits, you may look. But once it sits down, do not look at it. Do not turn your head. No matter what you hear. No matter anything else you experience. The moment you look, you become its target. The figure shall not leave until the bus finishes the route and is inside the depo.”

My entire body was screaming to just make a run for it. Even after the boy explained the situation, I just couldn’t believe him. I wanted to just leave but I could still smell the blood at the back of the bus. Still hunched over I tried to think of a different way out.

“What are you talking about, and who even are you?”

I finally asked that question. I hadn’t asked for his name yet. Odd as it should have been one of my first questions. Better late than never.

“You may call me Elly. I am here to find out of this figure was the reason for the disappearances. I am not here to save you. I can only give you information. You must act and get yourself safely home.”

“Now how am I going to do that?! That thing killed the driver!”

I hissed and tears started to come back. I forced them down not wanting to look weak in front of the boy. I was the adult and he was the calm one. But after what I had just seen, I couldn’t be blamed for losing my cool for a few seconds.

“I know how to drive a bus however... You need to be the one to do it. I'm... I’m too short to reach the pedals.”

Under his white hair I saw a flash of red on his cheeks. It faded as he straighten up and stood. Completely fearless he walked towards the front of the bus not looking back at me. He just stood right next to the driver seat and waited for me to join him. It took everything I had to finally stand up. I walked over on shaking legs, clutching my bag. Every step I was certain I was going to be grabbed and ripped apart by those dark hands. Somehow though, I made it to the front. I closed my eyes so I didn’t look in any of the mirrors and blindly stumbled around until I found my way into the driver seat.

“I don’t know if I can do this. Those mirrors... I might accidentally look at them.”

After I spoke, I heard a sound that could only be described as those worrisome mirrors being ripped down and tossed aside. I opened my eyes just enough to confirm that the mirrors were in fact, torn off and gone from sight.

“I did not remove them to save you. They also bothered me. Understand?”

Elly sounded suddenly very serious. I risked a dumbfounded side glance at him. He couldn’t even reach the mirrors. How in the hell did he rip them off? He had no plan to explain it to me.

“Can’t I just leave?” I asked shaking staring forwards into the empty and dark road.

“No. You’ll be unable to open the doors or windows. Until this bus finishes its route, you cannot leave.”

That was not at all good new. I had no choice but to learn how to drive a bus.

After a crash course of how to start up the bus, and how to drive one we were off. Very, very slowly off. There were no cars around so we should be fine at a snail's pace until I got use to the hulking thing. Elly was true to his word about knowing how to drive a city bus. With him beside me, I thought I was going to make it out alive. Only for a few minutes.

Soon it started to get cold. Elly didn’t look like he noticed. With his stone face it was hard to tell if anything that was happening bothered him in the slightest. In a few seconds the temperature dropped so low I could see puffs of my breath. With one arm I pulled my work clothing from my bag and placed them over my lap trying to use them as a makeshift blanket. We slowly followed the route back to the bus depo. I had taken this route enough over the week I knew the way. I wanted to drive faster but I was still not confident enough.

My hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. I shook in fear and from the cold. I almost couldn't take the cold. I wanted to give up even before the whispers came. Horrible whispers floating around accusing me of being jealous of my sister. Of wishing she had died. Whispers telling me to just look behind me. Saying everything would be easier if I did. Tears started to flow down my face. If I wasn’t going so slow and steady, I might have put us at risk of serving and crashing. I jerked a little but corrected it before hitting the curb. I was so glad for the road being empty. But after a few minutes I couldn’t take it and almost just stopped when Elly's voice came from beside me.

“What are they saying?”

His voice was still as neutral as ever. Instead of sounding he was asking about ghostly whispers tormenting me, he sounded like he was asking for the weather report.

“They’re saying I'm jealous of my sister.”

My teeth were chattering from the cold I couldn’t say much more.

“So? You can be jealous of her. And you can still love her, right? Say it back to the voices. That you can have both emotions. That you are only human. Weak, and yet very strong.”

His words held some truth in them. A warmth came back to me. It was still cold but I could bear it. I found I could suddenly push through the voices around me. I could focus on the road and follow the route. We were so close to the depo. If I just pushed through for a few more minutes, I would be fine. I could go home.

I repeated those words in my head. I would be fine. I could go home. I would be fine. I still loved my sister. I would be fine.

Even though I was driving faster, those last few minutes felt like an eternity. But we finally arrived to the depo. I panicked for a few seconds but Elly’s told me where to go. Oddly enough everything was unlocked. The large garage door for the buses was open and dark. No one was around. I wondered if Elly had anything to do with this. He was so clearly not human at that point. Child or not, he had to have something to do with the fact no one being ready to receive the last late bus.

The moment I parked and shut the bus off I let out the biggest sight of relief. I was ready to leave. Beyond ready.

“Don’t move yet. Let me look first.”

I was a little annoyed at Elly. But he was right. He had said that the dark figure would leave after the bus was in the depo but It's best not to take risks. I looked sideways at him as he turned his head to look behind us. He stared and I couldn’t read the expression on his face. He was about to look back at me to give the all clear, but those long dark claws came shooting out.

In utter horror I watched the claws rip through his shirt and into his stomach so hard they slammed his small body against the toll collector so hard it bent the metal. Elly had a look of confusion. He didn’t shout or cry out in pain. I reached out my hand to grab him, but was too slow. He was dragged out at sight and to the back of the bus.

And I wasn’t having any of it. I had seen a photo the driver had put up of his family. This man had people waiting for him and that creature took him away. And now it broke the rules and snatched Elly. In my rage all my fear disappeared and I closed my eyes and stumbled off of the driver seat. I fumbled around and found one of the mirrors that had been ripped off. I gripped it by the pole it had been attached to the bus. I was surprised by its weight but I still lifted it off the ground and made my way to the back of the bus, eyes still closed.

I bumped into a lot of the seats and tripped over the two steps that lead to the upper part of the bus. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with a broken mirror. The driver had been killed seconds after he was grabbed. I had wasted so much time and feared Elly was already gone. If that was the case, I would beat the dark figure with the heft mirror I picked up. It was a dumb idea, but I was so pissed off I wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Leave him alone you piece of-”

I was screaming but stopped short when I heard a calm voice.

“What are you doing?”

It was Elly’s voice but I still didn’t dare open my eyes. It could be a trick. I debated on if I should just start swinging away but my brave assault was stopped before it even started when the mirror was ripped from my hand.

“You can open your eyes now. It’s fine.”

I shouldn't have trusted it. But I had to see if Elly was alright. Slowly I cracked open my eyes just enough to see the boy sitting on the back seat with an empty black trench-coated beside him. His sweater had been torn but I saw no blood. None of him, or even the drivers blood I had smelled before.

“What the hell?!”

I snapped at him feeling pretty angry and confused. When something moved and fluttered around under the trench coat I moved back.

“I can’t go into too many details. You know those rules I told you earlier? The figure broke them. Not only did it take bus drivers making it impossible give riders a chance, it tried to kill me after we pulled in. I assume it would have killed you if I didn’t demote it first.”

“I need a whole lot of information. Like what that thing is and what you mean by demote? Are you it’s... boss?”

“You actually don’t deserve any information. You should just be leaving but... I shall tell you a little. I am not it’s boss. I am its king.”

I stifled a snicker. Elly went on.

“This figure is a type of creature that must go by certain rules to take humans. The more humans it takes, the stronger it gets. The stronger it is, the rules it goes by changes. If it finally gets strong enough, the final rule is just a human looking at it. But none really make it to that rank. They cheat trying to get stronger faster. It’s my job to find these trouble makers and knock them down a few ranks.”

“I guess that makes sense. So, I guess I'm lucky you came by to save me huh.”

“I did not save you. I gave you information. You drove the bus. You didn’t look behind you. If you looked before I did, you would have been killed. You followed the rules this creature has been bound too.”

Elly was giving me a hard look. But I could tell he was trying to act tough in front of the creature hiding under the trench coat. He was the one who offered to look first, but he was trying to act it as if I was the one who had made the choice. I didn’t know what the big deal was. So, what if he helped me out? But he was so adamant I decided to drop it. I heard a noise behind me before I could really answer him and looked over to see that the bus back door had opened. When I looked back only Elly sat but the black trench coat gone.

“You should go home now and forget this entire thing.”

Elly got up and started to leave the bus and I followed behind him. The bus depo was within walking distance of my place. I could easily get back home, but it would be impossible to forget what had happened. A man