“Name and occupation…?”

“Maria Reyes. First-year university student.”

At the bus stop, a police officer was checking my belongings before allowing me to board the bus. This had become routine every time I boarded a bus. There have been several bomb attacks targeting political representatives in recent weeks, which have also affected other people, so this light security measure was necessary.

From one moment to the next, the country's relatively peaceful streets had become a minefield that threatened to take our lives at any time and place. A continuous danger that constricted the chains of misery that strangled our lives, forged by an incompetent government, whose miserable politicians were not even capable of protecting themselves.

The police officer finished inspecting my bag and handed it to me.

“All in order. Next!”

After retrieving my bag, I got on the bus. My classmates, Tamara and Lucas, were waiting for me inside, sitting next to each other.

“Maria, over here!” Lucas said when he saw me, waving to me with his hands.

I took the seat right behind them.

“You know, one of these days I'm thinking of bringing a naughty magazine in my backpack to see the cops' reaction,” Lucas said when I sat down.

“Ha-ha, you say weird things.” Tamara found it funny, but to me Lucas is like a brat.

While Lucas was talking nonsense, I watched through the window at the remaining passengers, whose belongings were being searched outside the bus. Before long, it was the last passenger’s turn, and just when his huge bag was about to be opened for inspection, a new police officer arrived. He placed his hand on the shoulder of the police officer in charge of the inspection and said something to him that I couldn’t hear. They had a brief exchange, and eventually the passenger entered the bus without his bag being searched. Because of this unusual chain of events, I couldn’t help but follow him with my eyes. My attention was locked to the large black bag hanging over his left shoulder. I was sitting in the aisle seat, and the man sat in the neighboring row of seats, right next to me on the left, leaving his bag on the seat next to him on his left.

“So what do you think, Maria?” Suddenly Lucas spoke to me, asking my opinion on something unknown to me. Perhaps seeing my confusion, he explained himself. “About who is responsible for the attacks. I say it is the workers, because the salaries are no longer enough to live on. Everything is expensive and more and more people are poor.”

“No, it must be the students. Young people these days are becoming more and more daring”, Tamara said, expressing her opinion.

Both Lucas' and Tamara's opinions were valid, but there was no way to determine it. Despite the multiple attacks that have occurred, it has not been possible to identify the perpetrators. Since the targeted locations did not follow a pattern, it was impossible to predict the next attacks, much less those responsible.

“That's right, we have to listen to the opinion of our elders, right, Grandma Tamara?” Lucas responded to Tamara's opinion.

Ignoring Lucas' joke, I decided to share my own theory.

“Hmm… There is no way to determine this until the culprits are found. It could be the workers or the students, but it could also be a political strategy, either by the opposition or by the government itself.”

They both looked at each other as if they didn't understand what I meant, so I continued.

“Since the targets of the attacks are political figures, it is obvious to assume that this is an attack against the government. Based on that, one could say that the opposition is seeking to overthrow the government, but it may also be possible that the government itself is seeking to impose some authoritarian policy, using the attacks as an excuse to do so. Although, well, considering that it is our rulers who are being assassinated, that last part does not seem very plausible.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Ah, it never occurred to me that it might be a political issue. As expected of the number one student in the class,” Lucas praised.

If you would stop thinking stupid things, you might come to a better conclusion than mine.

Although I was tempted to give him that answer, I decided to say something else.

“But considering the attack of the other day at the mall, it's obvious that it's just a group of crazy terrorists,” I said, crossing my arms and looking toward the window to my right.

A week ago, a bomb was planted in a shopping mall and 17 people were killed. Among them was the Minister of Labor. If one simply wanted to eliminate a political target of the current miserable government, one could achieve this in an infinite number of possible ways, methods in which other human lives would not be affected. With that attack, it became clear to me that this was all inhuman terrorism that sought to destroy social peace and plunge the country into greater chaos than that caused by this government.

"I don't know, I think those attacks are fine. Politicians have to pay," Lucas said casually, shrugging his shoulders.

“What…?” Lucas' indolent words made me respond with hostility almost automatically.

“Huh…?” Lucas was stunned by my change of mood.

“You say it’s a good thing that, by some twist of fate, my grandmother didn’t become one of the victims of that attack? Or rather, instead of that useless parasite of the government, don’t you think of the other 16 innocent people who died during the explosion?” My voice elevated. “Those responsible may have ideals of freedom, but that doesn’t free them from the fact that they are insane psychopaths who should pay with their own lives for the monstrosities they’ve done. No cause, no matter how just, justifies the sacrifice of innocent lives.”

The mere thought of this idiot accepting the possible death of my grandmother, who was there during the attack, made anger take control of me.

“… Uh… Sorry… I…” Lucas responded with a muffled voice and a guilty expression.

I let out a sigh to calm myself and shifted my gaze slightly to my left. In my peripheral vision, I could detect the piercing gaze that gave me the man sitting in the neighboring row, a short distance away from me. At that moment, a wave of terrifying possibilities shook my mind. I decided to look to my right, towards the window, to extinguish the fear that was ignited by my imagination.

My classmates didn't say anything more after that and after a few minutes the bus stopped at the next stop. A couple of passengers got off and since I was looking out the window, I saw the man who had sat in the neighboring row, but…

I quickly looked to my left. Obviously, the man wasn't sitting, but that huge black bag was still on the seat next to him. My heart gave a painful jump and, as fear stirred in my mind, I spoke to my classmates, pointing to the bag.

“Hey guys… the gentleman who was sitting there just got off without his bag.”

“What? Oh... Don't tell me that...” Lucas, seeing my alarmingly worried expression, thought the same thing as me. He stood up and walked towards the bag.

The bus was still stopped. The world seemed to lose its sound during the brief space of time it took Lucas to get up from his seat.

“Hey, what are you going to do? Wait!” Seeing his intention, I tried to stop him as the people nearby looked at us while holding their breath. But Lucas simply ignored me. Although, he still answered me without looking at me.

“We have to make sure, just…” He opened the bag as he spoke. Just to confirm our suspicions. “There’s a bomb…” He muttered slowly. Then he shouted. “There’s a bomb on the bus!” With that warning, the bus started to move. “Hey, no, stop, there’s a bomb!” Even though he shouted louder for the second time, the bus didn’t stop.

After moving forward a few meters, the bus stopped only because at the corner of this street, there was a traffic light that now was red. I quickly opened the window next to my seat and shouted to the police officers at the nearby bus stop.

“There’s a bomb on the bus! That man… he planted a bomb on the bus!” I pointed desperately at the man who was walking away from the bus stop. When he saw me, the man pulled a radio out of his jacket and said something I couldn’t hear.

As they approached the man, the police officers held their guns strapped to their waists, but did not draw them. After putting the radio in his jacket, the man pulled out a revolver hidden in his pants and pointed it in my direction while glaring at me with hatred.

“Hiii…!?” I quickly threw myself to the ground. A second later, the sound of the window glass fragments hitting the ground resounded along with the police shots that ended the man's life.

For a brief moment, I went into shock, as I covered my head with my hands and hunched over on the ground. Feeling the adrenaline rush through my body, I slowly knelt down, my gaze unfocused as I processed what had just happened, knowing full well that just a few feet away from me was the corpse of the man who, in a different present, would have been my killer.

“I think I was a bit harsh with my words…” Even though my life could have ended a few seconds ago, I couldn’t stop such ironic words from escaping my mouth. I was sure that the man had heard my opinion about terrorists, but I never expected that he could respond so radically. Since he knew that my accusation had revealed him, he decided to end my life before he was caught. The bitter thought that a couple of words could have cost me my life intensified my shivers.