The heavy exhaust dancing from the back of the bus furled the autumn leaves in a whirlwind of gases and amber nature. And in a blip of lost time, a rumbling diesel engine took off down the winding, trail. Music blaring, Jeremy didn’t bother to take notice of the vivid fall landscape built around him. Like a barrier from reality, he was trapped on this droning bus ride for the rest of his sanity, while life continued about its ways without him. He looked around at his fellow passengers: a strange, middle-aged man lost in thought, staring into the endless aisles in front of him; a younger woman giggling and laughing, sharing jokes with what appeared to be her daughter, and finally an average looking man, completing some sort of tasks on his laptop. Although he was sure there were many more people in the rows towards the front, Jeremy was too lost in his music and laziness to bother studying his surroundings. The thought of trekking all the way across the Rockies from Denver to Grand Junction with the only incentive being a chance to get yelled at by his condescending aunt for a weekend was altogether one of the worst experiences of Jeremy’s life. And yet, his mother would always go off on a rant, claiming that “we have to keep the family together, this is your only opportunity to see her, she misses you,” and all of the associated business that he couldn’t stand to listen to. In fact, this trip is the main reason why Jeremy had a tendency to hate all of his relatives. Loudly sighing, he turned the volume up and clunked his head against the shimmering window.
Up ahead, miles and miles down the road, lay a fragment of dusted, cragged metal, jutting out softly into the crisp mountain air. It rose from the broken pavement in a breeze, skittered along past the faded yellow line, and rested once more. And then, a distant rumbling broke out, vibrating with a lull over the rocky crest of the incline. It was coming, and fast. Running, flying, engines roaring, it finally struck into the foreground with a burst of unexpected energy. And the very next moment, the sound of a tire ripping and hissing, lost in the mayhem of sound. A creak, a bend, and a buildup, until finally the breaking point. It had all happened in a matter of seconds, and Jeremy had not even realized until the bus was lying wounded, tilted and mangled on the side of the mountain pass.