Fill The Silence

  “Joey, can you hear me?” Bella spoke into her phone but heard no response. She pulled the phone from her ear checking the screen and attempted to call him back. Realizing she had no signal she turned to her surroundings. 

  The streets that she walked every evening on her way home from work were suddenly empty and quiet. She had never noticed the silence before, usually distracted by her conversations with her best friend Joseph. She participated in the silence as she continued to walk occasionally looking down at her phone to check the signal strength. She looked down as the screen vibrated in her hands just as she turned the corner walking directly into something. 

  She dropped her phone but was too scared to pick it up. She had walked into what felt like a brick wall and felt fear when she saw boots across from hers. She looked up slowly looking into his eyes and her heart fell. A man stood in front of her not looking back at her. He gazed in the distance beyond her and Bella noticed something dripping down the side of his face. 

  She took a step back slowly grabbing her phone off the ground and walked around him as he remained still and quiet gazing into the distance. She found him strange but it only made her walk faster. She walked to the end of the block and waited as a car drove through the red light. She took that time to look back to where the man stood but he was gone. She shook her head in skepticism and continued on her way to the bus stop. 

  She sat there waiting for her signal to return and waiting for her bus to arrive. She tapped her foot against the sidewalk humming a song in her head. She grew silent as she searched for the sound of the approaching bus. She saw its lights first. She rose to her feet, preparing to board. She gazed briefly across the street and froze when she saw something glowing between two trees. Two purple dots faced her, they resembled eyes but Bella didn’t believe it. Just as she caught her breath her the sound of the bus grew louder. Bella clutched her chest and looked back between the trees and the two dots were gone. 

   “You have to get out of the Halloween spirit it’s making you crazy Bella.” She said to herself as she got on the bus. 

  The bus driver smiled at her, presumably surprised to not see her on the phone. She wondered if she would have seen so much out of the ordinary had she been on the phone. She didn’t give it much thought as she gazed out the window waiting for Joseph to call her back. She knew he’d be freaking out, not being able to reach her. She that by now he created an exaggerated idea of what happened to her and was calling every hospital he could find to see where she was. 

   She counted the stops as the driver drove past them. She knew she had three more stops before she was home and checked at her phone once again. Before she could unlock it the bus stopped. Bella figured it was for an oncoming patron and lifted her head to greet the newcomer but the bus hadn't made it to the stop yet. It was halfway up the street. Bella could see the bus stop several feet ahead and looked to the driver. She wasn’t moving, just gazing out the window. 

   “Are you ok?” Bella asked. 

   “Can you see him?” The driver asked pointing toward the coming stop. 

   Bella looked closely out the window trying to make out what she saw. It was the man from before, the one she had walked into, the one that remained completely still. He stood there waiting, gazing across the street from him and not in the direction of the bus. 

   “Can’t you keep going? Just deny him?” Bella asked. 

   “ No, what if he’s harmless?” The driver took a deep breath and continued, stopping at the next stop. She smiled at the man but he didn’t get on the bus. He stood there still, his eyes never leaving where they were before the bus arrived. The driver awkwardly waited an appropriate amount of time and closed the doors. Before she pulled off he slammed his hands against the window where Bella sat and pressed his head against the glass. Bella could see now, it was blood dripping from his head a concern, not on the top of his priorities she thought. 

   “We feed on the silence.” He said smiling at her creepily, before standing back where he stood and looking back in the direction of what had his attention.

    “Go!” Bella said to the bus driver who was busy startled by the large man against the glass. She just stared at Bella. 

    “Shhhh he’s waiting for something.” She said looking at the man. 

    Bella looked at her confused. She looked from the driver to the man and gazed down at her phone, still with no signal. She began to panic wondering what was about to happen next. She didn’t know what to do but his words echoed in her head. She didn’t know what that meant but she knew she didn’t want to find out or to see what he was waiting for. With a deep inhale she closed her eyes and let out a scream. 

   Taking her breath away, she opened her eyes to find the bus moving once again. The man was gone and the driver was gazing ahead to the road. The streets outside the window looked different, more familiar. She recognized where she was and she began to feel settled. Her phone rang in her hands, scaring her slightly. She answered with a sigh of relief. 

   “Hey Joey I’m fine but guess what, I’m quitting my job immediately. Like right now.” She said to him as she got off the bus as soon as she could, almost falling off. She didn’t look back but she should have. On the back of the bus sat a man his eyes glowed purple and a smile grew upon his face as he directed the driver to let her go before he vanished back into the silence.