Vibrating handrail

Chapter Thirteen

I GOT up and stepped onto the platform. Only the bitter cold kept me from falling into unconsciousness. Bile rose in my throat.

I swallowed hard. I could hear the tyres rushing over the road, but I could not see the road, only the swirling mist. The platform bounced and trembled and the mist danced around me like spirits.

With one hand I held the vibrating handrail and thrust my other hand into the rushing blanket of mist. It as if I had put my hand into a freezer. As the onrush of air forced back my arm I chanced a look forward into the mist.

All I could see was the glow from the upper deck lights. Suddenly something sprang out of the mist!

The object struck the side of the bus and span towards me. I snapped back my head as the book, its pages fanning wildly, flew past me and hit the back handrail. The force of the wind kept it propped against the handrail for a moment. The pages flapped.

Then the book snapped shut with a loud clap and flew off into the mist. I was shocked not only by the sudden impact of the book, but also by what I had seen on its cover.

The book had hung suspended for no longer than two seconds, but that was time enough for me to read its title.

"Transmutations"!

I staggered back, my head spinning. It was the book about reincarnation that my boss's wife had given me.

'How had it...?' I did not want to think. My mind felt terrible tired. Fatigue swept through me and I felt deeply weary. I did not care anymore. I did not care what happened to me.

I just wanted to sleep. I twisted away from the mist and found the conductor standing behind me!

After my initial shock I thought how easily he could have pushed me off the bus. I realised that even he was not stupid enough to commit murder. Yet, I still had to be careful.

He was volatile. I had to humour him, Despite my fatigue I also realised that I wanted to survive. If only my head would stop throbbing perhaps I could handle things a bit better.

"You haven't got an aspirin have you?" I spoke without thinking.

He smiled, looking almost friendly. His nostrils flared eagerly. If I had not been so tired I would have been suspicious of that eagerness. He indicated to the stairs. He wanted me to go up.

"No, no thank you. I'll rest on the seat here for a while thank you", I said.

"Warm.", he said pointing up.

I wondered if he was being friendly at last. 'Perhaps that was what all that the banging was about. He was arranging the seat cushions so that I could lie down'. I knew that was stupid, but I was so tired that I wanted it to be true. What if it was warm up there?

I wanted so much to be warm. His smile grew broader and he gestured to the stairs again. I thought that it could do no harm to go up. If he started anything I would be better able to defend myself in the light.

He gestured again. 'What about the moaning I had heard? Was there another passenger up there; someone else he had bullied? Two of us would stand a better chance against him'.

He took my arm and I let him steer me to the stairs. I did not resist. The hook of hope was embedded in my heart. I started to climb.

I was just over half way up when I noticed that the temperature, instead of getting warmer, got colder. I stopped, my heart alert.

Something was more than wrong! I sensed it like a deer might sense the hunter. I could see just over the top step. I did not want to go on. I wanted to go back.

Something horrible lay ahead - something hideous!