“…from where I was sitting, I couldn’t see anything …”
(Male, 20’s) I didn’t really consider this a nightmare until I kept being haunted by it all day. I was pretty disturbed.
I was in a bus. No let me be more specific, I was DRIVING a bus, something I’ve never actually done. The bus was a Road Warrior special if you can picture what I mean. At least half the windows had been smashed out and replaced with sheet metal that had been riveted into place. The rest of the bus was about the same – a mixed up, cobbled together collection of various parts joined with ugly welds.
It would have been far easier to drive the thing if I had been allowed to sit in the driver’s seat but because I was just a temporary fill in, not the designated driver, I had to sit about half way back in the bus. I had to work the controls at a distance by tugging on baling twine that had been tied to the different wheels and knobs.
But the worst part was that from where I was sitting, I couldn’t see anything out of the right hand side. There was a sheet of metal where there should have been a window. I wasn’t worried too much about running to another vehicle – I figured the bus was bad-ass enough that it would sustain a bit more damage and other drivers would be wise to give it some distance. What disturbed me though was that I couldn’t really see the curb where passengers were waiting to board. I kept thinking that I might have run some one over. Maybe more than one person.
I brought the bus to a halt at one bus stop, then I had to get up and walk to the front to open the doors and take the fares. When I went back to the seat from where I’d been driving, I saw the manager of where I work in real life. He looked right at me and said my name in the most serious voice I’d ever heard from him. “This is really bad. We can’t tolerate this kind of thing. We’re going to have to let you go.” His announcement was a horrible shock. I do a really good job at work and have only gotten positive reviews. Plus I didn’t really see how my driving a bus could get me fired from my office job.
It was all so disturbing and confusing.