Name: Becca
URL: A Million Contradictions
Favorite Christmas Movie: White Christmas

The Journey

Starring: Zac
Rating: G

With hands shoved deep into his pockets, Zac trudged through the snow to the bus station.  With no car and not enough money for a plane ticket, he was stuck on the bus for the sixteen hour trip from his current home of Chicago, Illinois to his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  He had packed just enough for his week long stay in his grandma’s old army bag.  The walk to the bus station was two miles from the apartment he shared with five other guys and the combination of the weight of his bag and the snow on the ground had slowed him down so it had taken him twice as long to get there.

Arriving at the bus station 11:55, just minutes before departure, he handed the driver his ticket then threw his bag in the bag compartment.  He climbed onto the metal beast that would be his warm place until tomorrow afternoon and selected a row near the back of the bus.  Noting the bus was surprisingly empty, he settled into a seat.  He put his head phones on and pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, blocking out the world.

The round trip bus ticket home had been a “gift” from his brothers.  He got that they were trying to make sure everyone was home for Christmas, but if they had asked him, he would have told them to save their money and buy him a video game or something to avoid the sixteen hour journey.

He woke up several hours later as the bus rolled into a stop and one glance at his watch told him he’d slept through the first seven hours of his journey.  The driver announced that they had thirty minutes before the bus would leave again.

Hungry, Zac followed more people than he remembered being on the bus off and went into the all night quick market that was at the bus station.  He grabbed a soda, some jerky and a couple donuts before reboarding the bus.  As he walked back to his seat, he noticed more of the seats were filled and when he got to his row he noticed a red haired girl dressed in all black sitting in the seat next to his.

“Excuse me,” he said, gesturing to his seat.

She pulled her legs up on her seat then twisted so he could get by.

“Thanks.”  He squeezed past her then sat back down in his seat.  He pulled his iPod out of his pocket to pick a new playlist and cursed under his breath when he saw it was nearly dead.

“I brought my charger,” she told him.  “You’re welcome to use it.”

“Uh, thanks,” he replied.

She pulled a bag out from under her seat and dug through it for her charger.  Finding it, she pulled it out and handed it to him. “I’m Adele, by the way,” she said.

“Zac.”

“So where are you headed, Zac?”

Oh God, he thought as he leaned back in his seat.  It was about four in the morning and he really didn’t want to talk, but at the same time he felt pressure to tell her after her nice gesture.

“Tulsa,” he finally answered.  “You?”

“Fort Worth,” she smiled.  “I’m spending Christmas with my older sister and her in-laws.”

“I’ll be with my parents and siblings,” he said, recognizing her unasked question.  “And my niece and nephews.”

“Sounds like you’re from a big family.”

“Yeah, there are seven of us and between my older brothers there are six grandkids.”

She pulled more information out of him, more than he had given any of his roommates—though none of them had ever been interested—in the year he’d known them, in the short period of time before the bus left the station. 

Once the bus started rolling again, their conversation died down in respect of the other people trying to sleep. But as he listened to his charging iPod, he almost wished he could talk to Adele some more. 

She was more of a simplistic girl than a beautiful one in appearance, but her true beauty was in her voice.  It almost sounded angelic.  Her words spoke in harmony with each other.  Just listening to her shook away some of his bah humbug attitude.

The noise level on the bus rose as the bus crossed into Missouri and the sun started to rise outside the metal caravan.  Once again, Zac was propelled into a conversation with Adele, telling her things he had never told another person in his entire life.  He told her his wildest dream of traveling the world just painting what he saw and his biggest fear of dying without exploring the unknown.

Time seemed to pass by at lightening speed and his attitude about the bus ride home became more and more positive as the bus neared Tulsa.  At the last stop before Tulsa, he and Adele climbed off the bus and went into a store.  He got some food to snack on while she picked up a bouquet of roses.

Instead of talking, Zac looked out the window on the last hour of his journey home, taking in everything—some reminding him of his childhood and others brand new to him.  With each mile that passed he felt himself overcome with an excitement that hadn’t been there when he had left Chicago at midnight.  He appreciated that his brothers, who both had several mouths to feed on tight paychecks, had pooled their money together to make sure he was able to be home for Christmas.

As the bus pulled into the Tulsa bus station, Zac looked out the window and saw his whole family gathered in the cold waiting for him.

“That’s my family,” he told Adele with more pride than ever before.

“They’re beautiful,” she smiled.  She pulled a few roses out of her bouquet handed them to him.  “Give these to your mom.”

“Thanks.”  He pulled on his coat and with the rose in hand he followed the others off the bus then made his way to his family.  Before reaching them, he looked back to his row on the bus to wave at Adele but she wasn’t there.  He looked around the platform and didn’t see her anywhere.  She had disappeared.

Shaking his head, Zac grabbed his bag then headed to his family.  “Merry Christmas.”

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