Steven was happy. He’d never been happier in his life. He was on his honeymoon with the woman he loved. Sure, it was the cheapest they could find, and it meant travelling on the economy bus. But neither him nor his new wife cared about any of that. He glanced over at her while she watched the scenery pass by the window and laughed a little.

Emma turned towards her husband. “What is it?”

“Nothing really, I just can’t believe we finally going.” He replied.

“Right? Me either! It almost seemed like it was never going to happen.”

“But here we are.” He said smiling from side to side.

The pair leant in as if to kiss, most of the other passengers were asleep so it wasn’t as if they were going to make anyone feel uncomfortable. They were mere centimetres apart when there was a loud clank from the front of the bus that interrupted the couple. They both looked forward. There was a scream from one of the passengers at the front, then, nothing.

The next thing that Steven knew he was floating in an empty dark space, and he was alone. He desperately looked around him for his new wife, but she was nowhere to be seen. Then in a mad panic he shouted out her name into the void.

“Emma!!”

The shout faded into the nothingness that surrounded him. There wasn’t even an echo. Then some way off in the distance he noticed a light and he was being pulled towards it. Eventually as he drew closer, he realised the light source was coming from a giant doorway. Once he reached it, he was presented a strange message that hung in the air for a moment whilst he read it. Then the message disappeared, the door opened, and he was pulled through. He hit the ground, below? He wasn’t sure, with a bump. He found himself laying on the grass in what appeared to be a clearing within a forest. The hot midday sun was beaming down on him. It was then he realised he wasn’t alone. People around him were sitting up in semi dazed states from the long grass. Finally, he saw her.

Steven struggled to get to his feet as quickly as he could and called out her name. “Emma!”

Once on his feet again, he ran as fast as he could across the field, his lungs burning by the time he reached her.

Emma was still dazed from waking suddenly in an unfamiliar place, but heard the familiar voice and sound of someone approaching. She turned to face him. “Steven!”

He dropped to his knees and threw his arms around her.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay.” He said letting go for a moment to check to see that she was ok.

There were no signs of any injury on her, just pieces of grass hanging from her clothes here and there from where she had just been laid.

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“Where are we?” Emma was looking at their surroundings, searching for something, anything she recognised. “How did we get here? We were on the bus, then, then…”

Steven pulled Emma closer and held her tightly. “I-I’ve got no idea. There was a bright flash, then I woke up here. Other than that, the only other thing I remember is having some weird dream. It must have been a dream.” He said remembering the void and the doorway.

A look of surprise crept across Emma’s face. “You mean, you saw that too? The dark place and that doorway?”

Steven nodded. “It wasn’t just me then… There was a strange message that hung in the air, did you see it?”

“Yes… Some nonsensical sentences… I thought I was just dreaming too, but how could we have a dreamt the same thing?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we were drugged or something?”

“That might explain how we got here… But a drug that gives you the same dream, is there such a thing?”

“Drugs and hypnosis?”

“But why? And look everyone from the bus seems to be here. That’s the guide and the travel rep over there isn’t it?” Emma said pointing at two men in the middle of the field.

Steven looked in the direct that Emma had pointed. “I think so.”

“Maybe they know what’s going on.”

“Well, maybe…” He wasn’t convinced.

The two men looked just as confused and panicked as everyone else that found themselves waking up in the meadow. In fact, they were both seemingly already arguing about what was going on. Steven was just about to tell Emma to give them a moment before asking them, but when he turned back, she was already on her feet and walking towards them. She was always a little headstrong like that and no matter the situation, she never seemed to be phased. She just tried to do something.

As she got close, she called out to the pair. “Excuse me…” Both men turned to face her. “You’re the driver and our travel rep, aren’t you?” She asked.

The driver was the one to answer her. “Yes. Did you need something? We’re both a little busy at the moment.” He spoke gruffly.

“I was wondering if you knew what was going on here… I don’t seem to remember what happened.”

“There was a crash and we brought here by the emergency services…” He started before being cut off by the rep.

“Don’t start that again. There was no crash. I don’t remember anything like that, and no one seems to be injured or hurt. The paramedics wouldn’t just leave us here like this if there had been!” The rep said hurriedly.

Emma nodded in agreement with the rep. She turned to the driver. “He does have a point… Do you remember crashing? You were the one driving.”

“Well, no…” The driver scratched his head. “But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

“Surely you would have remembered something?”

“Maybe…”

“She’s right, it couldn’t have been that! We must have been hijacked and drugged.” The rep spoke confidently now.

“There you go with that rubbish again!”

“It must have been. How else do you explain the hallucinations?”

It looked as neither of them wanted to consider the incident in the void was real. Both were clinging to the explanations they had come up with to explain the situation. Their discussion was quickly descending into a heated argument.

Just as things looked like they were going to get ugly Emma interjected. “This isn’t helping!” She spoke loudly and authoritatively.

Both men stopped arguing and looked at her.

“Shouldn’t we be checking that everyone on the bus is here and that they’re okay?” Her voice switched back to her usual calm and quiet demeanour.

The driver looked as if he just remembered something important that he had forgotten. “You’re right, we need to check the passengers.”

“Right, me and Steven will help. Won’t we darling?” She said turning to Steven as he quietly walked up to join them.

“Yes, anything we can do to help.” He answered politely.