The bus driver stands in the middle of a desert. Darkness is all that exists. Sand is swept off the ground, scratching her skin as they are blown up. Blood dribbles down the wounds. The bus driver pulls down her hood, taking a step forward. Her feet sink into the ground. She grunts with each step as if her body filled with the sand and cold. She can’t see mere steps before her. Her fingers are freezing, tips turning blue. The bus driver glances up, the sky is empty there are no stars.
There are more stars in the universe than sand grains surrounding you. Light traveling in an unblocked path through an endless expanse of existence. It could shine forever yet the natural state of the universe is darkness.
Panic fills her, she stumbles backward. The voice is coming from within. Sand whirls off the ground.
Every speck you see when you look up at the dark night is a star that will die one day. The planets which spin around them will be swallowed one day. The universe will cease to exist one day and yet you could have stayed, being the puppet-master in the shadows.
Her hood is blown off. She tries squeezing her eyes only for them to be blown open. Body frozen as the voice vibrating through her gets louder.
And human lives? Human lives are nothing compared to these celestial objects. Their lives are less than a millisecond long, they will make no impact on anyone, they can never break the folds of darkness surrounding them. They are doomed to a life of suffering and pain, born to die. They shouldn’t have existed in the first place, the odds are insurmountable.
She falls to her knees, clutching her head. Pain floods her as the voice tears through her body.
Knowing this, what did you choose? What did you choose, my child? YOU CHOOSE A MORTAL BODY. YOU GAVE YOUR NAME, YOUR IMMORTAL BODY IN EXCHANGE FOR A HUMAN SOUL.
Anything that comes upon you now is your fault. Count your years, you have very few.
She screams. It’s cut short. The ground disappears from beneath her. She sinks into the desert. Arms outreached as her world turns dark.
The bus driver wakes up in her bus. Night has fallen and she can’t see any stars in the sky.