A Nightmare For You, On Me

It’s 9:45pm and you are on the bus. It’s fairly packed for a bus during covid, but you were lucky to get a seat. You have your headphones in, you’re minding your own business. Should be a simple ride!

A man across the bus from you is packing up his stuff, he’s pulled that little yellow string and will be exiting soon. As he stands up, he takes a good look at his seat and surrounding area to make sure he’s got everything. You think, “how responsible”. Maybe this man had taken things out of his bags, but he’s made a good effort to make sure he’s got everything.

As he heads for the front door you glance under his seat, as one does, and see a sandwich in a ziplock bag! 

“Oh! Did you forget your sandwich?”, you yell as he approaches the front of the bus. He didn’t hear you. 

The sandwich looks like it is in good condition, it’s on wonder bread so safe to assume it's peanut butter and jam.  

A dark cloud seems to fall over the bus as you decide to hop up and jog to the front door. 

You’re fast, the man has just climbed over some snow and made it to the sidewalk. It’s not too late.

You ask again, trying to seem calm, “Sorry, did you forget your sandwich?” 

No response. Yikes, that’s not good.

You try again. “Um, sorry, did you forget your sandwich?”

He’s not hearing you. This was supposed to be a simple sandwich handoff, now you’re the woman yelling something about sandwiches at the front of the bus.

You glance back at the bus driver, since you are currently stopping the bus from proceeding by half-hanging out the front door. The bus driver has a blank Zombie-like expression, but not an expression of “get back in and shut-up”, so you continue. 

You ask a little louder this time, but only a little though, because you sense everyone on the bus is watching (they are), and I guess you don’t want them to hear you?

“Sorry, did you forget your sandwich?” 

Nothing. Luckily the man is still standing there, zipping up his jacket. You take a quick glance at the zombie bus driver who still doesn’t care.. 

A little louder, “Sir! Sorry! Did you forget your sandwich?”

He turns around! He sees you! 

“Did you forget your sandwich?” You ask, relieved to finally have his attention. 

He removes his headphones.

“What?” He asks. 

“Hey, did you forget your sandwich?” You ask, as if it were your first time asking. As if you’ve never wondered if he forgot his sandwich before, it’s just something you thought of asking him just now. As if that will erase the six other times you yelled it at him. 

He shakes his head. He doesn’t know what you’re talking about. 

“Oh, okay! Have a good night!”

He turns around, and walks away. 

You are still on the bus. You step back from the door. Another glance at the zombie who has moved on to continuing driving the bus as per their job description. 

You look up at the bus full of people who look on with expectation. 

You smile, and give a little wave, unsure if that’s what they wanted from you. It’s probably not.  

It’s impossible to know if anyone smiled back because of the masks (you aren’t anti-mask in this nightmare, but you can admit they make it hard to connect with each other sometimes!) 

You take your seat and look back at the sandwich. It seems to be making a strange beeping noise. It’s a noise you know well, why is the sandwich making it though?

It’s your alarm clock!

You wake up. It was just a nightmare! This did happen to me in January, but for you it was just a nightmare.