by Shannon Cook
“That's it?” Jayme asked in disbelief!
Jayme and Robin picked themselves up off the ground and brushed themselves off. Jayme noticed Robin beginning to tear up. “Are you okay?”
“I'll be fine,” Robin replied as she wiped the tears away. “I just miss my parents,” she said.
Jayme embraced her wife tightly in her arms. “I know,” she said. “Just remember, they're always with you now.”
Robin smiled and nodded. “You're right.”
They began walking through the bus lot towards the woods where they had parked. As they got near the dispatch building, Jayme noticed Luke's car parked outside. “What's he doing here?” Jayme asked. She was surprised that her boss, Luke, was still at the bus garage at eleven o'clock at night!
“Who?”
“My boss,” Jayme replied as she began to walk towards the dispatch building. She and Robin walked up to the door and rang the bell that was for after-hours.
Inside, Luke was awakened by the bell. He was sound asleep at his desk. He looked around for a moment. He was groggy and confused. Then he heard the bell ring again. He looked over at the clock on his wall. “Who could that be so late at night?” he asked himself. He got up, walked out of his office, and walked to the main door of the dispatch building.
As he got closer, he noticed Robin and Jayme standing outside the door! He stopped suddenly in amazement! He couldn't believe his eyes! He rushed over to the door and quickly unlocked it, and opened it!
“Where have you two been!?” he panicked! He wasn't angry with them. He was relieved to see that they were not harmed in any way!
“It's a long story, boss,” Jayme stated.
The three of them went back into Luke's office and Luke said he was informed to call the police if there were any updates on the investigation.
His call got transferred to Kate's cell phone. Kate was in bed, snuggled up with her wife, Mandy. “Hello?” Kate answered.
“Sorry to have called you so late,” Luke said. “But, I have Robin and Jayme in my office right now!”
“I'll be right there!” Kate responded as she hung up and quickly jumped out of bed!
Mandy sat up and asked, “What's going on?”
Kate was standing by their closet changing into her officer uniform. “The owner of the missing bus just called me, the two young women who were on that bus are in his office right now! I have to get over there!”
“Alright,” Mandy replied as she laid down and drifted back to sleep.
While Luke was waiting for Kate to arrive, he called Alma, Blake, and his wife, Georgina. All three of them rushed to the bus garage as quickly as they could! All relived that Jayme and Robin were safe!
All four of them arrived at the same time and rushed inside! Alma barged past everyone and ran up to Jayme and Robin who were standing next to each other. She grabbed them both and gave them a tight embrace! “I've missed you both!” she stated.
Jayme laughed. “Thanks,” she said.
“Glad to see you back,” Blake stated as he took a seat. Blake was still in his pajamas. Hot pink with butterflies all over them.
“Nice jammies,” Robin chuckled.
“They're my husband's,” Blake replied.
Kate looked around at everyone and asked them all to take a seat and be quiet. She walked up to Jayme and Robin and smiled. “Well, do you want to explain where you two have been?” she leaned down and whispered to them, “don't worry, I already know, but they don't,” she said with a wink.
Robin and Jayme told everyone in that room the entire story. Beginning on that fateful morning when the bus had left the old mental hospital and ended up rolling down the side of the mountain, killing all seven people on board.
They explained how they were assisting the trapped souls of the victims to complete their unfinished business, so they could move on. They told about the horrific experiences and the wonderful experiences they had while on that bus!
“I don't know how you two did that!” Georgina stated. “You are both very brave!”
“There were moments where we thought we were goners, for sure!” Robin stated. “Some of the tasks were easy, and some were downright terrifying!”
Kate had a serious look on her face as she listened to every word Robin and Jayme were saying. Then, Robin mentioned the confession Irwin made on the bus, and Kate's ears perked up!
During the investigation, Kate changed her focus on looking into why that bus was put back into service after the horrific crash it was involved in. Nobody seemed to know why that bus rolled down the side of that mountain on that fateful morning!
“One of the doctors, Irwin, confessed to us that the crash was no accident!” Robin stated. “He told us he tampered with the brake line because he was angry that my mother, Eva, was married to the bus driver, Casey.” She continued telling everyone how Irwin thought that his tampering with the breaks wouldn't cause any issues until a few days later, at least! However, Casey took the bus through the mountains as a shortcut to the new hospital. “All the breaking going down the mountain, plus the poor visibility during the rainstorm that morning, caused my father to use the breaks excessively.”
“So, you're saying that the crash was a murder attempt?” Kate inquired.
Robin and Jayme nodded. “Precisely,” Jayme stated.
Kate looked at Luke and demanded that he'd get rid of bus 340 immediately! Luke nodded in agreement.
“First thing in the morning,” Luke agreed.
Everyone got up and left the bus garage, including Luke. He had not left that place since the search began for his missing bus and Jayme and Robin. “It's going to feel good to lay in my bed again,” Luke stated to his wife, Georgina.
Georgina reached over and placed her arm around her husband's shoulder. “It'll be nice to have you back home again,” she said.
Kate got back into her car and turned her headlights on to light Robin and Jayme's way back to their vehicle. As she sat there, she couldn't help but wonder what her brother meant by she would encounter a much more difficult task. Wasn't this one difficult enough? She wondered.
Jayme and Robin cut through the trees, got to Jayme's car, and got in. Jayme started it up. She carefully turned her car around, pulled out of the long dirt driveway, and started heading back home.
Once Kate knew Robin and Jayme were safely back to their vehicle, she headed back home.
While Robin and Jayme were driving home, they noticed a horrific gaging smell coming from the backseat! A rotten meat sort of smell, which caused their eyes to water! Robin quickly rolled down her window! “Oh damn!” she snapped as she pulled her shirt up over her nose! “I think an animal got into your car while we were gone and died!”
Jayme opened up her window as well. “I'll take a look in the morning, and try to figure out what is causing that stench!”
Both of them were trying not to vomit from the gagging stench!
Little did they know, Irwin's corpse had been following them the entire time and managed to lay on the floor of the backseat of Jayme's car and was following them home!
to be continued…
Conclusion
By the end of their journey, Robin and Jayme were relieved that they were able to help all the victim's spirits move on and get off the bus that was keeping them imprisoned!
They stayed brave and survived even the most daunting tasks they've encountered! Everything from a demon chasing them through a run-down home to a corpse trying to pull them into its grave, to a cryptid trying to make them into its supper! There were many moments where Robin and Jayme were ready to give up!
However, this mission held a special meaning to them. Robin's parents were two of the seven victims and they were not going to quit until they at least helped them! No matter what it took!
Casey had a difficult time himself, especially when it came to helping Veronica, one of the patients. He knew he would have to bring the bus to Kate, the lead detective trying to find them, fo
r Veronica to move on. He feared that if Kate caught sight of them, she'd surely put an end to the task at hand and prevent the remaining spirits from being able to move on!
While they were at Kate's home, Jayme and Robin explained to Kate what was really going on. Kate was understanding and decided to change the focus of her investigation to figuring out why that bus was placed back into service after being involved in such a devastating crash!
Kate manages to receive the accident scene photos from the township the crash occurred in from the leading crash investigator, Hugo. She examines the photos from the crash and then travels a few hours to investigate Dick's auto shop and junkyard. She discovers that he undoubtedly make some shady repairs to that bus! She gets all the evidence she needed and an arrest warrant was made to arrest Dick!
During Dick's trial, the judge is appalled when she looks through the compelling evidence against Dick!
Dick ends up making a fool of himself in the courtroom and gets charged with insanity and illegally selling a vehicle that was, or should've been ruled as a total loss!
Jayme ends up having a major surprise during this journey! She finds out that her biological father, Frank, was one of the victims too! However, she doesn't discover that until she is helping him!
Frank's unfinished business was he wanted to make things right with his ex-wife so he could meet his child! Once he found out that Jayme was his daughter, and Irwin knew it the entire time and never told him, he was a little furious! Furious because he realized that he could have gotten off that bus much sooner!
Once all the victim's spirits, aside from Robin's parents were off the bus, Robin and Jayme thought it would be smooth and easy! They didn't think that helping Robin's parents would be one of the most difficult tasks, but it was.
Nothing was more painful than the heartbreak Robin endured when she discovered her mother had cheated on her father and kept her a secret! Deep down, Robin believed her mother was ashamed of her! In reality, Eva's affair was the main cause of the crash!
If Eva would've told Irwin that she was married and had a family, then the affair might not have occurred in the first place. Nor would have the crash because Irwin wouldn't have had anything to be jealous about!