As Elaine sat on the bus, waiting out the journey to her next destination, she stared forward silently and intently. She wanted no one to speak to her, keeping her wired headphones in to drown out the noises around. She liked her headphones with the wire that still connected to her iPhone. Unlike many people who have Bluetooth headphones now and tend to confuse others of beginning conversations, teasing those who cannot see the tiny piece of plastic in their ear. She preferred the image of others knowing she was busy listening to something other than them. First, to allow them to not want to even begin a conversation. Second, so that she had an excuse to ignore those bold enough to do the opposite.             The bus ride was long and tedious. Every now and then the driver would stop at the next station to drop off those who would begin their next phase and pick up those ready to begin. Even though Elaine wanted nothing to do with those around her, curiosity got the best of her, and she found herself dreaming of each person’s story. The Bus driver, the man with the mohawk sitting diagonal to her, the woman holding a small child sleeping up against her breasts. They all had some story and imagining it helped passed the time anyway.             Elaine first imagined the bus drivers’ story. She imagined he came from a home with a wife and kids, yet kids who have outgrown their parents’ home by the look of his age. He had lots of wrinkles, but not too many that she would be nervous of him driving the bus. His wife loved him dearly, but they have been through their fair share of challenges and torment over the years. He struggled to find work that was satisfying enough to his wife for a while, but this bus driving job kept him away from home for days at a time. Maybe, he needed the space to save his marriage. The wife, being home alone for days, found the time for another to satisfy her, perhaps keeping the arguments at bay, and in turn their marriage works. They know each other has secrets, but they choose to ignore them for they are older now and there is no point in dumb chaos. Smart choice. I’m sure the bus driver has had a few flings with his days on the road anyway.             The man with the mohawk. His mohawk wasn’t as crazy as some she had seen, but still out of the norm. She pictured his life to be the closest to hers. A family who didn’t agree with your mind, who saw your difference to them as rebellion. Well, if they want a rebel then they will get a rebel. His mom was the kinder of the parents, yet still difficult. His dad on the other hand, he was cruel and a drunk. He would ask forgiveness the next day for the beatings he gave at night from indulging in too much beer. But he always had a beer in hand. Over the years of repetitive behavior and hiding in his room, he began to find ways to express himself without bringing about the punishment he never really deserved. He used music to drown out the noise of his parents’ arguments, and of course it had to be loud enough to cover the screams. In turn, he found his love for rock and roll. Now that he is older, his dad kicked him out and he is here to go start his budding music career.             Elaine found the woman with the child’s story to be the saddest that she imagined. No dad, clearly. He left a while ago when they found out their son was sick. He couldn’t handle the pain of going through watching him slowly die. She, on the other hand, would do anything it took for her son to get better. He is so tiny and young in his years after all. How tragic to just let that be taken away from him. They never fought in front of their son and before he was born, they never really fought at all. The father was just too weak to be selfless. She had to deal with the doctors alone, while trying to juggle work to pay all the medical bills. The bills that kept rolling in faster than she could pay the last three. She asked her mom for help, but her mom could only do so much as to babysit while she worked. Then one day, she got the news that was worse than the pain of her husband leaving and worse than the pain of infinite debt. Her son was getting worse, and the doctors didn’t know how long he had. The only doctor that could help was an 18-hour bus ride away. So of course, she hopped on, only to get there so that she could beg the doctors to help with the possibility of them saying no.             As Elaine imagined each of their stories, she thought of her own. Why she got on that bus. Did she have as good a reason as the rest of them or was she just running away from her problems and used this as an excuse? “A new adventure.” She would tell her friends. “I need to leave this small town, before I am trapped like the rest of you.” Harsh, but true. No, she had just as good a reason as all the rest.