Danny, 20, On A Bus

Danny sat at the back of the bus observing the other passengers around him. All of them with unique life stories, all of them going somewhere. Perhaps they were going home, he wondered, or perhaps they were going on some sort of adventure, either way it fascinated him. He often observed the world and the people in it as he quietly wandered past, whether it was walking, or on the bus.

He often felt like there was something else however, and he couldn't quiet figure it out, no one else seemed to have the same feeling, in fact, everyone seemed to not notice anything at all, they just continued with what he assumed was their everyday lives. And this bugged him. Why was it only him? What was it? Was he just overthinking? Or was there really something else? He'd often feel like this, and usually he'd brush it off, but as his 18th Birthday approached he'd started to feel it more often. As if something was trying to get his attention. And then, for a mere millisecond, he thought he saw the reflection of an old man in the window. Danny quickly looked around to see if there was an old man sitting near him, but everyone on the bus appeared to be pretty young, sure there were some people in at least their 30's, but no old men. Was he seeing things? Surely not. His train of thought was suddenly interrupted as his second glance out of the window revealed the church whooshing by,

"SHIT!" Danny shouted, he had missed his stop.

On Danny's now extended walk home from the bus stop he couldn't stop thinking about the reflection he'd seen in the window. Who was it? Was he seeing things? If so why? he questioned himself. Perhaps he just needed a lay down, it had been a long day after all. He was in his final year of School, or at least 6th Form, and had just Finished his final Exams.

"Welcome home, how were Exams", his dad, Andy, shouted to him as he walked through the door.

"Hi Dad," Danny replied, "I think I did ok"

"You sure, you don't sound so certain ," Andy asked concerninly,

"Yeah, I'm just, thinking", Danny mumbled as he threw his bag onto the bottom of the banister,

"Well, don't think too much, your brain might explode, and we can't have that the day before your birthday", Andy laughed,

"I'll try not to" Danny sighed, as he climbed the stairs, his dad was always saying things like that.

Danny's room was small and peaceful, just how he liked it. His bed was neatly made, and his clothes were folded up on top of them. "Mum must have done this while I was out" he thought to himself, as his attention caught the Mirror. There stood the Old Man he had seen in the window of the bus. Danny couldn't believe what he was seeing, surely he wasn't crazy. He blinked, and when his eyes reopened the man was gone. On his desk however was something new, something he'd never seen before. He walked over to his desk, and to his surprise he found a notepad, "Odd," he thought, "It must be an early birthday present, a little shitty though." He grabbed it and picked it up, it didn't look very new, but it also didn't look very old, he opened it to see if there was a message at least, but all that was written in it, were the words "This Notepad belongs to."

"I guess it's for me," Danny said to himself as he picked up the pen that was laying besides it. And where it said "This Notepad belongs to", he added his name, "Danny Taylor.

The Words Vanished...