Asher never understood the point of waking up extremely early to catch the bus and head to school. It made no sense to him to get to school 2 hours before the actual class started. Either way, he was going to go sleep.

That morning, he was the only one at the bus stop. He liked that. He could break into a dance move, and no one would know.

Only one bus arrived at 5:00 a.m. at his stop: the yellow bus that drove to the nearest city to his school. Around this time, only a few people were riding the bus, and he knew their faces by heart, especially a small boy called Harvey. As much as Asher liked to sleep throughout the bus ride, he did enjoy talking about toy airplanes and fictional monsters with Harvey.

Being sleep-deprived, Asher did not notice the pale-yellow bus halting at his bus stop. The first rays of sunlight shimmered over the trees, giving them an autumn look in the middle of summer. The morning wind was picking up the fallen leaves and twirled them around, collecting them in the corners. He wished he was less tired so that he could appreciate the view.

Without thinking, he climbed onto the bus and sat in his usual seat. Not bothering to check whether Harvey was present or not, he slept, hugging his bag.

Minutes passed. Hours passed. Asher woke up but kept his eyes closed, knowing that once he’d reached, he would hear the door open for him; he could rest for a little longer. As time went on, an unsettling feeling began to creep upon him. It felt longer than usual. He should’ve reached by now.

He looked outside and blinked in confusion. This was not the usual route. He didn’t even know which part of the city this was. He scanned around the bus, and a pool of uneasiness spread through his stomach: there was no one on the bus. Even the bus looked different- where did the red seats come from? Why were they torn?

Before he could do anything, Asher felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and saw that his friend, Alice, had messaged him ‘where are you?’ several times.

Alice: Dude, it’s the 2nd period already! You said you’d come today for the project, remember?

Being even more confused, Asher hurriedly texted back: 2nd period? I’m still on the bus!

He got a text back: Wdym in the bus? Have you checked the time?

He looked at the top of his phone screen, and his eyes widened. It was past 9 already. He had been sleeping for four hours.

A wave of panic crashed on him as he stood up and headed to the driver, trying not to fall. “Driver! Just…drop me wherever. I’ll find my way.”

The driver didn’t look at him, his dull eyes on the road.

Asher suddenly felt exasperated and scared at the same time. “DRIVER! DROP ME OFF RIGHT NOW.”

The moment he said it, he immediately felt bad; this man was just doing his job. He shouldn’t be yelling at him like that. Then again, he needed to get out of…wherever this place was. He shouldn’t be sweating in fear. He needed to head to school.

Asher was so lost in thought that he didn’t see the fist approaching his face with extreme speed, knocking him over. He landed on the floor with a thud, and the phone fell from his pocket and cracked. Pain erupted on the side of his face and his lower back, spreading across his entire upper body.

He was still in shock. Had this man just punched him? For what? For yelling at him? Was that the case?

The bus had stopped. There was nothing visible outside the windows except a few tall trees. His heart began to pick pace, his breaths growing heavier. This was bad. He didn’t know where he was; he was alone with a stranger who had just punched him, and his phone cracked. 

Before the second blow approached him, without giving him the time to react, he thought about Harvey and his toys. It would be nice to play with him before anything goes wrong.

***

Shivering, Alice glanced at the principal’s office window. She could see the principal frantically talking with Asher’s mom on the phone, gesturing wildly. Asher’s parents were important people. If anything happened to Asher, they would take strict action and bring the school down.

She looked at her phone and felt her heart crushing; Asher still hadn’t texted. She tried calling him several times after classes but got no response. She knew she was late to notify his mom about this, who claimed that Asher had eaten breakfast and had clearly left the house. His mom had wanted to drop him off herself, but Asher insisted on taking the bus because he wanted to play with a kid. Being stubborn, he had headed to the bus stop a few minutes before 5.

“Alice!” she heard her teammate from their project, Angeline, call out. Along with her, her other teammate, Arlo, and a few of Asher’s friends headed towards her. They all asked whether they had gotten any update, to which Alice shook her head.

Arlo sighed. “Did he run off somewhere or something? Do you think he had personal problems?”

Just then, the principal and couple of other teachers rushed out of the office and started to bolt downstairs, all speaking over each other. Alice blinked, not understanding what happened, but Arlo suggested following them outside.

When the group of students finally caught up to the teachers, they had reached the school's entrance gate. Gasps of horror from the teachers echoed through the area, taking a step back. Being short, Alice couldn’t see what they were looking at and why they were having such exaggerated reactions.

Siren wailed as the police cars parked near the entrance, and the police began to separate the crowd, trying to get them away from whatever was on the ground. Finally getting a chance to look properly, they stared. Gaped into whatever laid before them.

Angeline covered her agape mouth with her hand, astonished and frightened. Alarms began to ring in Alice’s head. 

In front of them laid the unconscious body of Asher, drenched in his own blood and tears.