This is all my fault
Clarissa plugged in her ear pods as she closed her eyes to take a quick nap as usual before getting to the campus.
She was glad the bus had saved her from Gabriel’s running mouth.
“FINAL STOP!” the driver yelled as the horn blared, Clarissa immediately opened her eyes before packing her things.
The drive took longer than she anticipated but she was finally here, she had the bag around her back before getting down and to her greatest surprise this wasn’t school.
It was nowhere near school she turned around before she finally noticed the direction written on the bus. ‘Downtown Sray'
“No… hell no!”
For the first time in all her years of being in school, how could she take the wrong bus, she asked herself.
And the smiling image of Gabriel popped into her head, he was the very reason she had been distracted. He irritated her so much that she didn’t even care to look at the bus, all she wanted was to get away from him.
She felt like rewinding the time to give him a tight slap across the face and watch him suffer the burn of the pepper spray.
She stood not knowing what to do as she hadn’t been to this part of town before, she definitely did not know her way back.
Clarissa finally turned towards the man that drove the bus
“Excuse me sir, I got on the wrong bus” she explained
“Okay?”
“Please how can I find another bus going back?” She said going straight to the point.
“Well I’m sorry about you taking the wrong bus, it happens whenever I leave home early, people often mistake me for the bus going down to the campus”
“Well the next bus?” she asked not ready to hear his life story.
“First I doubt that you’re going to get a bus at this time” he announced
“What? Why not?”
“They all start to move by 8am or 8:30” he replied
“What?” Clarissa looked at her watch and it was 6:25 a.m. Where was she going to stay for the next few hours?This made her wish she had driven to school today of all days and not taken the bus as usual.
If she had, then she wouldn’t have encountered Gabriel, she also wouldn’t have gotten too irritated to take the wrong bus.
“There’s something else you should know, the bus going to town is not at this bus stop, it’s at the other end of the street” he pointed to a poll with his hands from his window.
Clarissa immediately pulled out her phone in order to call a cab but the network coverage was terrible.
“You’re not going to get any reception of network here, that’s why it’s called Downtown Sray, everything here is bad and most of the people who live here are lazy” he added
“Does that include you?” she asked, wanting to know the people he was classifying as lazy. From his dressing, his wife would have dragged him out of bed and he comes here to relax before starting his day.
“Well I came up from my house this early, does that look like someone who’s lazy?”
“You think? Anyways thank you for pointing the directions to me, I hope I find it soon” she said the last part to herself as she put her phone back into her Jean pocket.
“ Missy, be careful out there, the road is dangerous. It’s called Downtown Sray for a reason, just make sure you keep yourself secure” he warned
His warnings made Clarissa more scared than she was but then he was a lazy bump. If he had cared, he would definitely take her there himself.
She gave the man a assuring nod before walking towards the direction he had pointed.
Clarissa followed the pole that he had pointed to earlier and there it was, the bus stop just a few distance from her.
The day was becoming a little bit brighter than before but then the alley was lonely, no one was around.
Although she loved this but not in an unfamiliar environment, she cursed Gabriel a million times in her head as she moved down the alley hoping nothing would creep up, this time it wasn’t going to be a pepper spray she would use, she was definitely going to fight to wound the person.
As she continued her journey, just right before the bus stop there was a gang of guys blocking the entrance.
“They are not here for me” Clarissa said to herself as she summoned the courage to walk by them.
She made sure not to make eyes contract as she walked by.
“Hey hottie, what’s your name?” one of the boy’s asked but Clarissa didn’t pay attention to them as she kept on walking forward with her aim up ahead, the bus stop.
“I was talking to you” the guy spoke again as he stood on his feet walking towards her direction, Clarissa increased her footsteps. If she was able to get to the bus stop she would be definitely saved because there were people standing and waiting for the buses to start moving but she was grabbed by the arm by one of the boys.
“Get your hands off, what’s your problem?” she asked, immediately removing her arm from his grip.
“Don’t you know it’s not nice to touch a lady without her permission” she added as she looked at them.
“Ohhh… this one is feisty” the boy said with a creepy smile on his face while his other friends laughed.
They slowly gathered around Clarissa.
“Don’t come close to me or else you all will regret it”
“And why do you think we would regret it?”
“I am warning you, I can hurt you beyond imagination”
“Do you think we are mere humans that you can hurt” the boy voiced as his eyes glowed.
“He’s a wolf” she said to herself as she watched him closely.
“What makes you think I’m a helpless human girl?” she asked as she looked him in the eyes.
“That even makes it better, humans always scream and run when we meet them, it’s interesting but I feel like watching someone put up a fight this morning, isn’t that right fellas?”
“Yes” they all responded.
“See we need our blood to boil and I’ll really enjoy battling with you” he said with a smile as he touched Clarissa’s face but she quickly slapped his hands away.
“I said do not touch me, what part of that sentence don’t you understand or are you too dumb to even understand that?”
“Feisty just the way I like them, by the time I’m done with you, you wouldn’t be able to talk to me in that way.”
“I don’t have time for your shenanigans, move out of the way I have a bus to catch” she added
“Looks like you don’t know where you are, May I remind you – this is our territory stray wolf and we can do whatever we please to you here and nobody would question us. See those group of people standing at the bus stop, I know you feel they might want to help you if we try to do something to you but bad news, they won’t because they’re as scared as you are now. You choose, either you go with us and we treat you like a princess or you want us to take you by force.” He said biting his lower lip.
“If any of you lay as much as a finger on me, I will make you regret the day you were born” she said with authority not wanting to put her fear first.
“Alright then let’s regret that day.” He said with a smile.