On an odyssey over an apple — Part 2

A travelers short story inspired by his journeys

The interior of the bus left a lot to be desired. The floor under my feet creaked suspiciously, as did the ceiling, which had some larger dents due to the loads pressing on the roof. The air stung under a mixture of the old diesel engine and the dust from the road.

I struggled forward with difficulty in the roughly starting bus, tripped over luggage that was cluttering the already narrow aisle and tried not to bump or wake anyone with my backpack. While some passengers looked out of the window and slipped slowly to sleep, others studied their fingernails in depth.

I wondered how they were able to sleep at all with this noise. In the back third of the bus, I finally found a free seat. There were no more cushions. Only worn cloth patches stretched over the wooden benches awakened memories of better times for passengers. Every bump, no matter how slight, was clearly felt. Nevertheless, sitting and parking the loads was liberating.

Just as I was about to eat an apple with pleasure, I noticed a strange rattle in my neck. A pale-looking man, who had already left his best days behind, stared at me greedily. He began to whisper something incomprehensible. “They. These apples. How they shine!” He began to get louder and pushier.

“That glorious red.” I replied, “Yes, and they taste as good as they look.

They’re so good to eat.” You could feel the mouth waters.

“I don’t know what I’d give right now for an apple like that. “ I tried to ignore him at first, but he wouldn’t let up.

“Wow, they look great!” Now I tried to focus his attention on something else. “Just look at the beautiful mountains, this majestic splendour, and the fiery red light of the fading sun, have you ever seen anything like it? I could watch it for hours. How the rivulets of the eternal ice slowly form a deep blue-turquoise lake. The steep dark granite walls, which only a talented mountaineer can conquer.” “Don’t you find that so fascinating?” He didn’t dedicate even a second to the mountain range. His attention was completely focused on the bag of my apples, in the free space next to me.

The fixed gaze, coupled with the permanently loud breath, made me doubt his mental state. He seemed to appear more and more strange.

Then he spoke again: “These apples… “You must want to give me some!”

Normally I would share, but not under these circumstances. I tried to calm him. The fact that I was starving myself and that my energy reserves were at the lower end impressed him little. But I suspected that he understood that he would not eat an apple today.

At that moment the bus suddenly stopped abruptly. Apparently, there was a breakdown, a broken tire. The perfect moment to escape the situation, to stretch my legs a bit and later find a place far away from the old one. Cold air refreshed my lungs. It was already dark outside, while the driver was screwing on one of the wheels, I enjoyed the twinkling of the stars. So clear I knew the Milky Way so far only from photos.

In an inattentive moment, the bus started again. The driver did not notice my absence and I could not draw his attention on me. I still saw how the man sitting behind me was staring at me with his eyes wide open. With his sneering grin and his face pressed against the window. In one hand he was holding something, I couldn’t see what it was, but schadenfreude was clearly written on his face.

This is the second part of a short story I started to write 3 years ago. I recently found it on a flash drive and decided to adapt it on work on it again. 23th post for the ILLUMINATION 30-day writing challenge by Dr Mehmet Yildiz described in this article.