Linton Street Stop

It was long ago. The night was young. I was under the supervision of my older brother Rick. It started to rain. Heavier. Heavier. Everlasting, so it seemed. We took refuge in the bus shelter. The bus drove up. We had no money but the driver let us on. That was strange. Most bus drivers are horrible but this one seemed to be nice. As we boarded the bus, I was surprised to see that there weren’t any other riders, except Rick and I.

"Where do you want to be dropped off?" the bus driver asked.

"Uh… Linton Street if you don’t mind," Rick replied.

"No problem for me," the bus driver said.

"Thanks a lot," I said with a smile. "That's really kind of you."

"What’s your name, sir?" Rick asked.

The bus driver closed his eyes and then rubbed them. "The name is Bryan," he answered back with an angry voice.

I sat down beside my brother, feeling uncomfortable.

Most of the ride, Bryan didn't say a word. He stayed silent. Finally, he spoke. "Do you guys want to hear something? It’s a story."

"Sure," I replied. "We’d love to."

"Once there was a filthy rich boy. His family had everything but, one day, the boy’s father passed away. Then, a year later, his mother died. His parents left the boy some money but the money was gone in a short time. The boy was lost. He didn’t know what to do. He was forced to work."

"What was his work?"

"The boy was a bus driver," Bryan said. "And, do you know something? That little boy was me."

"Oh my god! Really?" Rick exclaimed.

"Yes."

"Didn’t you have any relatives or friends?" I asked.

"I did," he said. "I had a girlfriend. She was kind, beautiful and brilliant."

"What’s her name?" Rick exclaimed.

"Her name's Claire."

"That’s a nice name," I said.

He nodded. "Boys, can you do me a favour?" Bryan asked.

"Yeah. What?"

He placed his hands inside his pocket and took out a beautiful looking locket. "Can you guys give this to Claire?"

I held the locket in my hands and said, "Sure, but why don't you give it to her?"

"Cause we broke up."

"Okay, Bryan. We'll take it," Rick said.

"Thank you."

Bryan grabbed a small paper from his pocket. "This is her address. She lives on Linton Street."

Rick took the note from Bryan’s hands and placed it in his pocket. "Okay."

Soon, I noticed we were near home. "Stop here please, Bryan," I said. Bryan pushed the brake with his feet and the bus suddenly stopped. Rick and I made our way out of the bus. "Thank- you," I said.

"Alright, see you guys."

The next morning after having a small breakfast, Rick and I decided to go to Claire’s house to give her the locket Bryan gave us. We left and started walking towards Claire's. Later, we arrived in front of her house. I sighed. "Knock on the door, Rick."

"Okay."

Rick walked up to the door, placed his hands on the doorbell, and pressed it twice.

"What are we going to tell her?" I whispered.

I don't know," he said.

We waited until the door opened. A beautiful lady answered the door.

"Can I help you?" she smiled..

"Ah…we're looking for Claire," Rick replied.

"I’m Claire," she said. "How can I help you?"

As I stared at her, I noticed that she was really beautiful. Her hair was shiny yellow, like the color of the sun and her lips were dark red.

"We have something for you," I replied. "Can we come in?"

"Sure."

When we got inside her house, Claire walked us to the living room and told us to have a seat. "What would you guys like to drink? Coke? Tea? Coffee? Juice?" she asked.

"No, that's okay Claire… We don’t have that much time," I replied. "We just wanted to give you this locket." I took the locket from my pocket and handed it to Claire.

She gasped. "Who gave you this?"

"Bryan did," Rick answered back. "He said to give the locket to you."

Tears filled Claire’s eyes as she concentrated on the locket.

"Why are you crying?" I asked.

"Bryan was my boyfriend once," she said, "but not anymore. You know why? Because something seperated us."

"What's that?" I wondered.

Claire wiped her tears and put the locket on. "Death," she whispered.