The Idle Bus on 5th Avenue

In my college years, I have always taken the jeepney (popular public transport here in the Philippines) to commute to and from my university. Sure I could take the train because it’s faster but the jeep just cost less and I always leave home early so I don’t really rush. Besides, I love listening to music on my earphones as I feel the wind breeze through my body. It was during my daily travels that I came across the aforementioned bus.

It would just sit there idly at the exact same spot every day at the aforementioned avenue. I first start noticing it when a traffic jam forced the jeep I was riding to stop directly adjacent to that bus. At first, I didn’t really pay much attention to it but as time passed that I keep seeing it at that spot no matter what the time of the day is, I started to feel disturbed. For one, the driver was always the same guy. He was just sitting there at the driver’s seat as if waiting for something while he stared at mindlessly into the road ahead of him. I couldn’t quite notice if the passengers were all the same or not but if there is one similarity is that the passengers aren’t even complaining about the heat or the fact that they’ve been sitting there for hours now. As for myself, I couldn’t actually narrate any first-hand experience with that bus but some of the people I know who traverse that same route have provided their own accounts. I don’t know which one is real so I’ll just list down all of them for some comparison.

My Cousin’s account

He usually takes the train because his university is three or four stations away from mine so there’s a greater chance that he’ll be late. He was coming home after a school project. It was already ten in the evening and the roads were practically deserted when suddenly, an announcement came that a train had broken down a few stations ahead, forcing their train to stop on 5th Avenue and wait for that train to be repaired. He texted his mother if he could hitch a ride with her since she was also coming home from work to which she obliged.

Wanting to kill some time while waiting, he opted to enter a twenty-four seven fastfood restaurant to order some food and play some tunes while he waited for his mom. Normally, only a few people dine at the place at this hour but due to the sudden breakdown, the other passengers have also entered the place while looking out for any passing jeepneys which had become scarce at that time.

From his seat in the restaurant, he has a clear view of that idle bus. He wondered what it might be until he saw some people board the vehicle. He guessed that, some people decided to take their chances in it for it seems that the train lines are going to be repaired soon. Just then he saw a car stop in front of the bus which he immediately recognized as his mom’s. He quickly finished his food and went down to meet her and hitch a ride. As they rode down the highway, he glanced back at the bus and what he found was…

The bus had no destination plates anywhere on its windows. It doesn’t particularly go anywhere or come from anywhere. Yet there were people boarding.

Among the accounts I’ve gathered, he was the only one to actually see people board it.

An Old High School Classmate’s account

I told him that I would probably be posting this story so I wouldn’t reveal his name. According to him, he was also coming home from school when he had his experience with that bus. It was a hot afternoon and he had fallen asleep on the jeep he took when the driver woke him up and informed him that he couldn’t go any further than that avenue. Realizing that he had taken the wrong jeep, he obliging alighted not realizing that he was dropped off at the far left side of the bus, directly below the driver’s window.

He hadn’t heard of this bus before so when he saw it, he immediately thought that it was a normal passenger bus and seeing as that it was on that avenue, he concluded that it would at least pass by the terminal where he usually alights. So he boarded it. Remembering his earlier experience in boarding public transportations, he asks the driver where the bus was headed. The driver didn’t even turn to face him but replied with a cold: “Straight ahead.” He didn’t quite catch what it meant so he asked the driver again and got the same answer. It was when he saw the passengers: they were all children, and they were wearing white. White dresses and shoes for the girls and white shirts and pants for the boys. They were staring at him. He then felt the driver’s hand on his shoulder and heard him whisper something.

“They know that you do not belong with them. Alight while you can.”

Feeling a little scared now, he alighted and was able to board a passing jeepney which he took all the way home. He was a little disturbed when he narrated his experience, wondering what would have happened to him if he didn’t alight.

I wonder about his story though. On some occasions, I could clearly see a bunch of adults inside rather than all the children in white that he saw in his experience.

Elfin’s account

This is my long-time friend’s account. She was the one accompanying me during all my other weird experiences. Not this though. In her account, she was alone.

She was eating at the same restaurant mentioned in my cousin’s story. She had just finished a group project at her other classmate’s house a few kilometres away and was already heading home when she felt hungry. So she decided to eat in at the nearest restaurant she saw: the one on 5th Avenue.

She was busy eating and didn’t notice the bus at all. Afterwards, she just put on her earphones, took a quick glance at the bus and boarded it without thinking. She even took a seat near the far end and preoccupied herself with the music. After what she thinks was twenty minutes (Five four minute songs) and the bus hadn’t moved, she just alighted without much observation and saw that it was already dark even when she had been inside for twenty minutes at most. She looked behind her and was able to see the bus start to move away disappearing into the slowly darkening road.

She thought what might’ve happened inside. She didn’t pay much attention when she boarded so she must’ve skipped some details but as far as she can remember…

The company the bus belonged in had shut down more than a decade ago.

These are all the accounts that I’ve gathered so far. So until the mystery is solved, I’ll allow their accounts to let my imagination run every time I see that bus. It’s still there, waiting.