Stranded

I sighed as I threw my luggage into the small compartment above my seat. I sat down and waited for the bus to start. I took my sketch book and my pencil out of my carry on bag, and started drawing a flower I saw earlier.

There were five other kids on the bus. We were all chosen to do a research project for the entire school on saving the environment. We were going to Cannon Beach in northwest Oregon; it was about two hours away from our school.

I felt something hit the back of my head lightly. I looked at the seat with a piece of crumbled up paper.

I sighed and flattened the paper out and read it.

What’s up Nerd Girl?

I looked behind my shoulder and saw Jason smirking. I rolled my eyes and tore the paper into pieces and threw them back at him.

Jason Green was the most popular guy at school, and is the worst jerk I have ever met. He was wearing a white long sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans. He thinks he can woo every girl, just by them looking into his golden eyes.

Well, not me. He has broken almost every girl’s heart at Molalla High School. His current target was Brandie Wood, who was sitting on his lap twirling a lock of her bleach blonde hair while batting her blue eyes. She had a short black skirt on with a hot pink top that was cut too low.

I saw Will Onell sat in the seat across from me. His jet black hair contrasted against his pale skin. He had earphones inserted into his ears, and his blue eyes shut tight, most likely trying to block lout Brandie's obnoxious laughing. He was wearing all black, as usual.

Allison Harris sat in front of Will, and her hazel eyes glaring at the air in front of her. Her long brown hair fell in her face, the strands casted shadows across her skin. She was wearing a grey jacket and a black t-shirt.

Caden Mourner was sitting across from her talking to Mr. Finn, our bus driver. His wavy light brown hair fell into his dark brown eyes. He had a pillow rested against his head and a map was in his hands. He was wearing a royal blue shirt with faded blue jeans.

I let out a breath and pulled my light brown hair up into a high ponytail trying to keep it out of my face while I continued to draw the flower. I looked outside noticing that it started pouring rain and there was the booming sound of thunder in the distance.

I sighed and closed my light brown eyes, trying to relax. I heard the bus’s engine start and we were off to Cannon Beach.

I lied back in my seat, knowing I couldn’t draw with the bus jerking around. The sound of rain was soothing, but it was tuned out by Brandie’s obnoxious snorting.

“Hey Green? Do us all a favor and shut your girlfriend up,” I heard Will hiss.

Brandie gasped and started whining in her annoying fake voice. Why she was picked for this trip, I will probably never know.

I opened my eyes and smiled over at Will, who glanced at me, and I mouthed, ‘Thank you.’

He nodded his head and went back to listening to his iPod.

***

It was about two hours and thirty minutes later when the rain was pouring down and I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. I bit my lip worriedly and heard Caden say, “Mr. Finn, maybe we should stop.”

“Nonsense,” the bus driver said focused on the road, “that would mean we would be late, and we wouldn’t want that.”

I had a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling.

I haven’t seen any houses, buildings; basically no civilization was within four miles of us. I saw large cliffs that wrapped around the narrow road which made me feel even more on the edge.

I saw a large flash of light strike down on the center of the road, and a deafening boom. I felt the bus jerk to the right, and my head smacked against the window. I heard Brandies screech, and the bus went tumbling sending everyone out of their seats and we would hit the top of the bus, the back, the sides, and the front. Some of the windows broke and pieces of glass sliced my skin open.

I winced as the blood oozed out of the lacerations and the bus rocked side to side before coming to a complete stop.

I groaned and noticed that I and everybody else was laying on the ceiling of the old school bus, everyone except Mr. Finn, who was limp and the only thing keeping him in his seat was the worn down seatbelt.

“What happened?” I groaned holding my head, feeling warm liquid seep in between my fingers.

I got no answer but the pained groans from my classmates. I managed to crawl to the front of the bus wincing as the shards that were scattered across the ceiling sunk deeper and deeper into my flesh.

I looked out the broken windshield and saw there was greenery everywhere and it climbed up a slope and I realized that the bus had fallen into a ditch, a very steep ditch.

I looked over to Mr. Finn, he wasn’t moving. There was blood, a lot of blood, gushing out of a wound on his head. I froze when I focused on his chest, trying to indicate that he was breathing. He wasn’t.

“Guys!” I screamed eyes widening, “He’s not breathing!”

“What?” Caden asked blood staining his shirt mostly around his left shoulder.

“Mr. Finn’s not breathing,” I shook afraid, not knowing what to do.

Caden crawled over to where I was and put two fingers against his neck, his face getting more and more frantic as he tried finding a pulse. And when he pulled his hand away with a scared expression on his face and whispered, “He’s dead.”