The bus driver had reacted poorly when voices started sounding in everybody’s heads. For some reason the guy had accelerated, on a winding mountain road. Sya doesn’t have a driving licence, he wasn’t even planning to get one anytime soon, but from his inexperienced opinion, he was supposed to hit the brakes once he noticed he messed up.

He didn’t. Instead, he swerved.

Have you ever watched as a bus turned a ninety-degree corner and in the pit of your stomach, you’re worried it’s going to fall over? It didn’t. Now, have you been in the bus as it did the exact same thing? You’ve been through this hundreds of times in your life, you’ve been fine each time. But each time there was that ‘what if’ running around in your head. It’s one of those times you really wished your brain would shut up.

Now, ‘what if’.

What if strange voices in your head wake you from your sleep. Your bums feel tingly as you sit up straight and check if you didn’t drool. You didn’t, thankfully. The voices in your head continue. You listen carefully. It’s not NF, nor is it Rosendale and it’s not Ed Sheeran. You’re pretty sure those are the only people in the playlist. And they’re supposed to be singing. The bus suddenly jerks forward.

That gets rid of any lingering drowsiness. You open the curtains, and outside the window you see rapidly moving cliff walls. Maybe you’re still drowsy because that didn’t ring any alarm bells. Instead, you calmly check if someone on the other side has their curtains opened while feeling for the airpods in your ears. Both are still there blaring ‘Neighbours’ into your ears, the strange voices continue independently. The woman in the row in front has her curtains opens, you stand up slightly and angle your head so you could see above the seats. You see the slope of a spur on the other side, it’s rather steep.

You’ve taken the journey between KZN and Gauteng dozens of times already, so your brain immediately figures out you’re at the escarpment. Not your favourite part of the journey. You don’t do well with heights, so you sit down, and your hands find the armrests. You don’t grip too tightly, don’t want the guy next to you to look at you strangely. Glancing up you spot the red cord above you, just where it’s supposed to be.

And then the bus swerves.

Bus and swerve are really terrifying when used together. It’s even worse when you know escarpment has a place somewhere in there. Now add the centripetal force and the tilt – was it small or big, you honestly don’t care at this point. Whether by bravery or cowardice you don’t immediately jump to grab the obviously much safer cord, instead your grip on the armrests tightens.

A sound makes you turn your head to see that a guy had pushed the emergency button and was now this close to jumping out the window. An overreaction, right? Do you think this mockingly or hopefully?

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*BANG!

It was hopelessly.

The bus hits something. You don’t care what. The tilt has upgraded to a roll and that cord is looking really irresistible. You don’t know how you reached it, but you did. The backpack attached to the lanyard around your neck is a bit uncomfortable but you’re currently considering way more important things:

Should I close my eyes, or should I look?

***

He had passed out. He remembered the bus rolling; people being thrown around and eventually the sound of trees snapping. That had eventually ended, being replaced by the sound of people in pain. He remembered feeling the cord in his hand, a glance told him he wasn’t the only one who had that idea, but it served those on the right better than those on the left. The last thing he remembers was feeling as if somebody had just dumped a ton of water on his head.

When he woke up, he was on the floor, covered in blood. Although his body hurt here and there, most of the blood wasn’t his. He groggily stood and looked around. Towards the back of the bus were neatly lined up bodies, dead as can be. On and around the emergency exit were some men coordinating with some men walking inside the bus to move everyone outside. The young and elderly seemed to have already been moved out, they were currently moving out the women. As for the guys who hadn’t woken up on their own, they’ll probably get there.

He went to the emergency exit and the guys there helped him up and out. Sya looked around as he jumped down and walked away from the turned over bus. Too many people doing the same work tends to impede the work.

He detached the backpack from the lanyard and opened it to take out his phone before moving the backpack to his back. Looking at the time, it seemed he had passed out for a while. The trip from Joburg to PMB is a bit less than six hours. He left at nine and now it was few minutes to four while he was still at the escarpment, basically the halfway point.

The internet didn’t work, too far for a signal to reach him. He put the phone in ultra-saving mode before returning it to the backpack. He walked to the group gathered a distance away from the group. A plump middle-aged woman who practically radiated a matronly feel seemed to have taken control of things.

A few guys were gathered a bit to the side of the group, so he went to stand about a metre and a half behind and to the side. He never was good at assimilating with new groups. So, he had some experience of being part and yet outside the group. Standing too far would make you stick out. At which point a caring part of the group would assume you don’t want to intrude and kindly invite you. Standing too close would mean you have to actively participate at whatever the group is doing. A good distance is where people immediately assume you’ll participate and yet don’t stick out even when you didn’t. The matron seemed to be reliable, and he didn’t trust himself enough to try and figure out everything by himself especially when a better choice is readily available. So, he had to stay close by.

The thing about good distance is only true when the group doesn’t have that super friendly guy. Sya watched as a coloured dude in his twenties approached him a bit and the group’s attention followed him.

Sya was tempted to back up a bit as he watched him come to stand less than half a metre away, way too close for a bloke you don’t know. That would have gathered unnecessary attention though, so he didn’t.

“Hey bruv, what do you think of this Armageddon thing? The guide system thing is a bit confusing.”