Rain splattered diagonally across the large clear window on her right. Some horizontally.

Against the speeding wind of the North South highway, new water droplets connected with the existing ones, forming a line; a river. It ran the opposite direction of the flowing traffic.

As if they were following the people on the other side of the road, back to where she came from.

The remaining droplets that didn’t run away stayed.

They shivered on the spot. Seemingly indecisive about the river.

To go or not to go.

They say whenever you get lost, just follow the river.

If only I could follow this river.

And the only thing that kept her moving forward was the local bus.

The bus she didn’t choose.

~

“Faster la, we’re going to be late!”

She went into a flurry of actions. Her lithe arms swiftly grabbed her basic necessities from her bed. Trousers, shirts, undergarments, towels, and toiletries all shoved and grunted as they made way into the main compartment of her black luggage bag. Her zip threatened to burst. Its teeth creaked noisily, telling her to just remove something unnecessary already. It was at the bottom, by the way.

But she didn’t care. Good stories must be hidden. They were her life buoy for this voyage she dreaded.

“Oi, the bus leaves in 30 minutes la!”

She slung the bag onto her shoulder and sprinted out of her room. She hoped that her slammed door had shut her brother up.

~