3:30. The time I've been so anxiously waiting for all day. So mentally exhausted from a long day of pointless algorithms and discussions about why we should buckle down on learning the theme of the book we'd been assigned that week. I had been so eager to burst out of the school building and smell that oh so splendid smell of diesel that would carry me home. When I saw the three numbers that meant freedom I bolted into the crowded lot. I searched up and down the rows trying to find the big yellow contraption.
"Hey Erin!" My friend Darla called out, running to catch up with me. "Hey D" I replied. "Any fun plans for this weekend?" She questioned. "No just working" I shrugged. Where was my bus? I scanned each of the rows and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw something very unusual and very out of place. As a junior in high school the sight of this was rare. A tiny child... A tiny girl who I assumed was only six or seven stood at the bus's steps. Something about her held my attention and wouldn't let it go. It was as if she'd glued my eyes to her and made everything else in the world disappear. Her hair was an orange red color and tied neatly into two pigtails, she held her purple flower dress neatly in place, and she held what looked like an old bag someone would've carried perhaps in the 1940s era. I couldn't look away on my own. I also noticed how a yellow glow, perhaps the sun, surrounded her. "Erin? Is everything okay?" Darla asked. "Y...yea" I stammered. "I'm going to... Go over here. See ya later" I began taking steps to the bus this little girl was standing at. When I'd turned my attention back to the spot after bidding Darla goodbye I couldn't help but let jaw fall agape. She was gone. The little girl had vanished. Surely I wasn't seeing things I thought to myself.
I walked to the bus and looked at the bus driver. "Um excuse me" I said. "Have you seen a little girl? Red hair? Dress. Six years old I think?". "Mm sorry darlin" she shook her head. "Don't no one under 14 ride my bus". I looked out into the distance and thought surely I hadn't seen a ghost? A spirit of some sort? I'd only seen that in movies. I shook my head and hopped down back onto the asphalt and made my way to my bus.
I knew better than to tell the delinquent children on my bus what had happened. The whole bus ride had been filled with my thoughts. Who was she? What was she? Was she in fact... A she? A person? From that day forward I'd forever be asking myself have you seen her?...this is my ghost story. Maybe you'll find her too...
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