Bus

By Raoul Simon Suarez

The bus was about to leave. They boarded it and got ready for the trip home. It was a silent one. Not the usual chat-until-they-got-home kind. She broke the silence. She said she wanted a timeout. She had things to do and he was getting in the way. He looked at her told her he would wait. He then looked outside the window. They have known each other for years. Whatever went wrong was left unsaid. She did not want to answer.

There was nothing after that. No text messages. No letters. No lunch outs. After a few months or so, his phone rings. It was her. She called him up to make arrangements so they can meet up, talk, and take a stroll.

He sat there. He waited. Under the shade of the old tree. Same place. The usual. He came a little earlier than the time they agreed upon. She was late as always. Nothing new. But he didn’t mind. As long as she arrived and kept her end of the bargain, that was all there was to it.

He lit a cigarette. He waited a little more. He wondered why things were not the same anymore. It used to be cool. They were so good together. But maybe people change. Maybe some priorities needed attention. Maybe. A whole lot of maybes only she can answer.

He saw her in the distance. She waved at him with a smile. He got up and walked right to where she was.

Small drops of rain poured. She let out a small black umbrella and opened it. He held it up for her. For them. It provided them a little shelter from the rain as they started to walk back to the gate where they can take the bus.

He asked her where she wanted to eat. She said she was full. She said she was just passing by to see him like old times. Which made him wonder what she meant by the remark. She pulled out her phone and sent a text message, waited for a reply, and she put it back inside her bag.

At the bus stop, she asked him if he had things to do. He said he wasn’t busy. He told her he had all the time in the world. A young man walked up to them and smiled. She introduced him to this young man and told him that they were now a couple. That they just got together. Just a couple of months together. He did not know what to say. He bade them farewell and wished them all the good things that this world can give.

An empty bus stopped right in front of them, she said goodbye and boarded the bus. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit a stick. That was it. There are just things that are not meant to be. She could have told him earlier that it was quits. But she didn’t. And he promised that he would wait. He stood there and watched as the bus steered away from the gate and into the traffic. He had all the time in the world. And he spent it the way he wanted to. Alone. In solitude.

Maybe it had to be that way. Maybe it was supposed to end like that. It was the sort of goodbye that left someone wondering. The kind that came with a lot of unanswered questions. He walked back to where he was waiting a few hours ago. Where he always used to wait. Whistling. Blowing smoke right up in the air. It was time he moved on. The rain stopped pouring and the sun appeared once more; just in time for it to set. Red skies with dark clouds looming. No promises of a better tomorrow. But there is always today and there is always something that one can do with the now. He had his life to live. She had hers. And so they lived on. Separately. Like night and day. Like sun and moon. Never together but overlapping once in a while.

The bus was about to leave. He boarded it and got ready for the trip. It was a silent one. The rain hit the glass windows and broke the silence. He sat there and watched as the droplets trickled down. It has been over a decade and a half or so. He fixed his black tie and tightly held on to the intricately-woven ribbon wrappings that covered the stems of the flowers he cradled in his lap. White. Pure. Innocent. Just like how love used to be before it became tainted and eventually worn out. It was his turn to say goodbye to her. One last time. It was her turn to wait and she waited quietly in repose. Whatever happened in the past was left unsaid. She could not answer him anymore.