Statement of Hallory Taller, regarding a person she met at a bus stop. Statement taken June 28th.
I want to preface I’ve never had hallucinations before this. I’m not on any medications, and I have a pretty clean medical history in terms of anything mental. I don’t know if what I saw was real, I only know that your.. institution is the only place that’ll somewhat believe me. I don’t know what she- it- they- what that person was, but I-
Right. From the beginning. Hold on.
I worked for a small company as a graphic designer when this took place. It was January 4, and I’d just been freed from a particularly unpleasant shift that day. There’d been a fight with my supervisor, I don’t want to get into details here..
Anyways, I usually take the bus home. I don’t live too far from the office, but it’s a quicker method than walking. The bus stop’s never crowded, and I’ve come to recognize the few people that take it. I couldn’t relay any of their names, of course, but I most of their faces are familiar to me. That day, the bus was- annoyingly- late, since it’s usually scheduled to show up at 19:05. So I waited, alone. None of the people I’ve come to recognize showed up that day, but it was none of my business to fret over it. I frankly didn’t care. I checked the time a couple times off my phone. It was about 19:15.
After not-too-long, a person walked up beside me. I’ve never seen her around the area, but the most likely assumption was that she was just new in town. I assumed she was here waiting for the bus. O-of course she was, that’s the point of a bus stop, but- I don’t know, something about her seemed.. wrong. She had orange hair, bright orange and the bottom half of her hair was very dark brown, and put up in a bun. Her clothes were casual, maybe a hawaiian shirt, I don’t remember. And I never really got a good look at her face, but oddly enough I do remember that she had long curly eyelashes, I can only describe as looking like a bug’s antenna.
I didn’t say anything to her when she first arrived, miffed as I was. But she turned to me, in an odd swift motion that made me feel dizzy, and asked where the bus was going. I didn’t hear her the first time, and she asked again. “Where is the bus going?”
I answered after the second time, Devon Street , and she looked.. no. No, I can’t.. I don’t think it was a smile. A butterfly landed on her face, even though I didn’t see it appear.
It was back to silence after that, thankfully. I just wanted the bus to get here quicker. Something about that stranger made me deeply uncomfortable, and the butterfly did. not. leave. I checked my phone again. A blurry, fluttering 19:15. Not a minute had passed. I felt dizzy. I stared at that screen for more than a minute, I know I did.. and it didn’t change.
"Is it late?” She asked me another question, which made me realize I was zoning out. I mumbled a half-assed response, and she shrugged. The motion was uncanny, like as she moved from one position to another, parts of her moved independently and rearranged to form the next. 19:15.
I think another 5 minutes of silence passed, as I compulsively checked my phone every 20 or so seconds. She didn’t talk or move- not in a way I recognized- standing beside me idly with an umbrella in her hand. I don’t remember her having that before, but I probably just didn’t realize until then. It was completely sunny out. Another butterfly landed on her shoulder. 19:15.
"Are you lost?” She asked after.. I don’t know how long, I lost track. It was still 19:15. No, of course not, I wanted to say, since I didn’t think I was. I’d always taken that bus. I’ve always used that bus stop. But it felt.. wrong, unfamiliar, now. A few butterflies landed on the sign beside me. She moved again, tilting her head in this taunting smile, with the same unnerving motion that nearly made me vomit. “Yes,” I told her.
She reached out a hand to me, and a butterfly landed on it. “Come with me?” Was her last question.
I reached.. to take her hand, but mine.. slipped through it. It wasn’t solid, no, a mass of butterflies mimicking the shape of a human hand. It fell apart in front of my eyes, into a dizzy swirl of confused insects, and I am not ashamed to admit that I screamed. She laughed, her mouth splitting open as the lepidoptera that made up her face fluttered to form a smile.
I abandoned that stupid bus stop, turning on my heel and booking it down the road. I didn’t care, I just wanted to get home. Away from that. That.. thing. Things. By the time I’d made it to my front door, tired, sweaty, a little nauseous, I checked my phone again. It was 19:16.
I don’t take the bus stop anymore. I’ve just been saying that it’s easier to walk home, that I need more exercise, but.. I’m worried I’ll meet that person again. I still see butterflies on the sign when I walk past it.
