Marie's head tilted side to side as the bus entered several gallops, but she still didn't wake from the nap she was having till she felt tiny fingers on her face.
She opened her eyes to see a little baby in front of her. "Acha ta" the baby giggled.
"I'm so sorry she woke you up" a young woman who was sitting on the seat in front of Marie said as she scolded her baby. Even though the baby couldn't understand what she was saying and kept giggling.
"Oh, its fine. I hate to be asleep on transit anyway" Marie replied
The woman smiled "where are you headed"
"My grandma's at Richmond city" Marie said
"Oh, that's about 6hours away, I'm headed there too"
"6 hours?" Marie asked. She had only been to her grandma's when she was 8 with her mum and she can't remember the journey being that long.
"How many hours have we spent please?" She added
"2. There's usually a stopover at a chill spot so everyone could eat and stay refreshed"
"Hmm, seems like this isn't your first time" Marie asked
"Yeah, I have work and I hate to leave my baby to just anyone so when I have to travel I leave her at her Grandma's. Her pa is always very busy too and isn't even in the country presently"
"Ohh, that's good. She's such a cute baby" Marie said as she held the baby's tiny fingers in her hand
"Thank you. I'm Kaisha by the way, you?"
"I'm Marie, Nice to meet you"
"Likewise"
The rest of the journey was a silent one, except from the few giggles the baby made as Marie made fuzzy faces at her.
"Step down! If you want to ease yourself, or eat, now is the time for that" the bus driver shouted as he parked the bus in a corner at an available parking spot.
Few passengers stepped down, and few still remained in the bus including Marie. She hated eating while she was on transit and as for being pressed, she made sure she didn't have too much water because she hated peeing in the bush or using public toilets.
"Aren't you stepping down" Kaisha asked
"Oh, no I'm fine" Marie replied as Kaisha made her out of the bus with her baby.
Marie felt her phone vibrate and checked to see a message from her friend Ana.
It read
'Hey, Happy Birthday! How are you holding up?'
Just then it clicked that it was her birthday. She always forgets her birthday after her mum passed but a call from her dad was what reminded her. Now she didn't even get a text talk more of a call. And asides being disowned she also got kicked out of college when it was only a year left for graduation, she thought her life was ruined and there really isn't any hope for her, she just wanted to get to her grandma's and cry out her eyes in the little room that was reserved for her.
She typed back a thanks message and replied her friend.
-----------------------------
"He's a thief don't let him escape catch him"
A thick masculine voice shouted with a figure who couldn't be seen clearly running, chasing a rugged old man towards the chill spot where the passengers were gathered.
The passengers and few people who were around all stared watching both men run towards them from a distance and wondered what was happening. Some passengers made their way back to the bus quickly and some stood waiting to see what was going to happen and brought out their phones to record. Marie heard voices outside but didn't bother stepping down from the bus to see what was happening. She already spent few minutes stretching her legs outside and wasn't interested in whatever movie or games they were playing.
The Men finally approached the chill spot and the alleged thief made this way to a woman who was with a baby and wrapped his hands around her neck with the little pocket knife he was holding.
"If you take one more step, I will kill her and the baby" the old man said with a weird accent like he was talking through his nose.
"Let her go" the young man who was chasing him uttered as he pointed his hands towards the old man trying to calm him down
"I will, if you let me go"
"You know that's not possible, that's not how it works"
"Well then, I guess you gonna watch her and her baby die" the old man replied, with the crowd that had now gathered finding it hard to understand him because his accent sounded like he had a peck clipped with his nose
"Guys get down fast they are about to kill one of our passengers and her baby" a young lady shouted as she ran to the bus, now calling the attention of Marie.
Marie knew there was only one person who had a baby in the bus and that was Kaisha so what was happening, how can whoever wanted to kill her be so cruel. She didn't think things through and stormed down from the bus.
She made her way towards the thief who had her friend as a hostage.
"What do you think you are doing?" a voice said, as she felt a strong grip on her hand. She felt something strange happen in her body that made her shiver but didn't pay any attention to it.
She paused and turned to see a green colored blouse. He was very tall and as such her gaze only saw his broad chest, she raised her gaze hastily to see his face. And got more annoyed when she saw his furrowed brows. She was mad that he dared to make furrowed brows at her, after using a firm grip on her hand what right did he have to stop her from saving her friend.
"Who are you? Let go of my hand" she tried dragging her hand of his grip but he held on to her hand tightly
Marie couldn't control the rage she was feeling now and tried hitting him hard with her other hand but he caught her fist as it came towards him. He now had both hands in a tight grip, making Marie powerless.
"You're such a jerk, let me go" she uttered
He smirked and held on to both hands, locking his eyes with Marie's as her rage increased and her heart raced with so much annoyance.
"He's escaping with the lady and her baby, we need to save her" a voice shouted from the crowd calling Marie's attention and the young man out of their little act.
"This is all your fault" Gabe threw Marie's hands down as he tried going after the old man who was only a few feet apart.
"I will kill her stay right there" the old man said now pressing the knife on the woman's throat with a pinch of blood staining the knife. He took more steps backwards and threatened the helpless crowd as they watched in anxiety.
"Old man how 'bout you leave her and we'll let you go please" Marie said
"There's no way I will let him leave, he has an information I need to get first" Gabe uttered
"Wait, so the old man isn't even a thief, you only chase him because you want to get an info?" Marie said angrily. So he was putting her friend's life at risk all because of a useless information.
"Please let her and her baby go and we'll let you leave, we now know you aren't a thief and this man only wants to kill you" Marie said, hoping the old man would understand
"No, I don't believe you let Gabe tell me that first" the old man shouted back
Marie immediately figured the rude young man was Gabe. She was now angry and couldn't control whatever she was feeling, all she wanted to was rip the old man apart and save Kaisha and her baby before they got killed.
"Oh, shit" Gabe muttered as he angrily waved his hands towards the old man trying to tell him to let go, as his hands pointed towards the man a very strong force came from the direction of Gabe's hand sending the old man to fly few meters over, till he landed on a strong metal and passed out.
The crowd was confused, and Gabe was even more confused, he couldn't understand what happened and didn't care about that at that moment. He ran to the old man to get a few documents from the wallet he had in his pocket.
Marie was panicking at the sight of Kaisha on the floor gasping for breath with her baby crying and ran towards her immediately.
"Kaisha are you alright?" she asked anxiously as she ran towards Kaisha and her baby.
"I don't know, I almost got killed and my baby too" Kaisha cried, as she gasped
"I'm so sorry thank God you're both safe" Marie said
She noticed the blood on Marie's neck and the bruises and placed her hand on it to see the severity when suddenly the wounds starting to clean and the blood stain disappeared.
"What! It…it's gone" she muttered
"What's gone?" Kaisha asked
But Marie didn't want her to panic or worry as she was already in a dire state.
"Uhm, nothing. Come on, let's get you to the bus" Marie said.
The crowd that had gathered had now dispersed and the passengers already made their way back to the bus. Nobody could understand what happened and everybody decided to move on with their lives, for all they know it could have even been a prank, because these days once a phone was up making a video it was a prank or some skit for the internet.
Gabe already disappeared from the venue where the incident occurred and the old man was left lying unconscious on the metal where he passed out. Some of the residents who lived around the chill spot already made a call to the police and informed them about the incident.
The bus continued the journey and the passengers all made their way to their sits after talking about what happened and asking if Kaisha and her baby were okay.
Kaisha didn't know what happened but was grateful to God she didn't get killed and her baby was also safe. She thanked the passengers for showing care towards her and slept right after putting her baby to sleep.
Marie couldn't stop thinking about what happened, how the strange guy sent the old man flying over on some metal and Kaisha's wounds miraculously got healed. She thought maybe the old man had some kind of powers or maybe it was Kaisha who had some weird powers.
After hours the bus finally got to the park, everybody got down from the bus and found their way to their various destinations. Marie and Kaisha exchanged numbers and made their way to their houses.