The robotic voice of a woman announces the next stop.
People desperately clamber onto the overcrowded bus overflowing with body odor and body heat. They wiggle their way in, yelling at those in the back to "f****** move". The bus door closes and lurches forward only to stop again at the next station. More people get on then get off; the already limited space decreasing even more.
Snippets of other people's lives, their schools, jobs, friends swirl around in cramped area, the dissonance merging together into a vicious mixture that leaves me both drowsy and annoyed. The indistinct chatter slips in and out of my ear yet sets my teeth on edge. The elbows, backpacks and heads looming around me, stifles the atmosphere and makes my back shiver with heat. In my head, I count, I count the number of stops left before I can step out into the cool fresh air.
Great, another crowd of people is waiting next stop.
How many more people can this bus fit?
Geez, the bus driver should just stop letting people on.
My inner monologue rants on and on.
Finally, the bus approaches my stop, anticipation of getting off the musky, groaning bus urges me to smash my finger against the Stop button. Time ticks ever slower as I curse under my breath, at every car that cuts in front of us, the malicious pedestrians who walk across the street and the bane of my existence, the accursed red light.
I put my hands on the handle of the back door, having already fought my way there and the moment the bus halt, I'm outside, in the fresh breeze, able to breath once again, my annoyance instantly evaporates. The wider space instantly puts a vigor in my step and I bound for home.
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