'It's on' he says to me, 'thirty minutes from now.'

'Okay' I say hesitantly while looking around at the bus stop.

'Shush ... don't tell anyone ... it's a secret. Soon it will be your secret to pass on.'

A secret? What? First of all, it is only the two of us standing there at a bus stop so why is he shushing? There is no one near to hear anything we might say. Who is this guy? He must obviously be talking to me too. As I said, we are the only ones there though he doesn't look at me as he speaks. Why is he talking to me at all? And really, who the hell is he? I don't know him. I don't recognize him in the slightest.

And what is it that is on in thirty minutes from now? He must be someone who is a picnic short of a picnic and I had only replied to him to appease him. I do not want an argument, a disagreement or anything of the likes. The guy is nuts. This must be it. I've come in contact with someone who has a few screws loose. No point dwelling on anything, right? That may be easier said ...

The bus comes, I get on and he doesn't. I pay my fare and watch him simply cross the street. I take my seat and it is only when the bus begins to move that I notice a digital display on the bus, visible from where I sit. It displays a timer, a digital clock counting down.

29:09, 29:08, 29:07 ...

Yeah, it is coming up to about a minute since that guy spoke to me and what he did speak was of something being on in thirty minutes. I got on a bus and now there is a digital display counting down from twenty-nine minutes. What the hell is going on here? I don't even know where I am going.

To be honest and now that I think of it, I do not know how I got to be at a bus stop to begin with. Getting on the bus just seemed to be the natural thing to do. Maybe it is I who is somewhat nuts, I must be losing it.

I sit looking out at a bright day, not knowing what is happening, not knowing where I am, not knowing where I am going and not knowing what the hell I am supposed to do once the digital timer reaches zero.

Holy cow, is it me or is that timer moving very quickly? It reads just under twenty-eight minutes now. That was a quick two minutes a little over a minute since I got on the bus. Right so, am I in danger? Are the people on this bus in danger? I do not have any answers. Should I get off the bus or stay on and keep going? What is it that is supposed to happen when the timer reaches zero?

That guy at the bus stop, he looked to me as if he were in his mid to late twenties. His hair is long, thin, and dark, and his clothing is quite dull. It is possible that he hasn't showered in a few days. That might all be well and good, but I still have no idea as to what the hell is going on. He is gone now so there is no point focusing on him, or is there? But if he is any way crazy then I could possibly ask, am I crazy too? I kinda have already asked myself that.

Hell, I don't know. I am panicked and flustered here. Having mentioned hell a couple of times, is that where I happen to be, hell? Maybe I am in some kind of purgatory? Alright back it up a bit here. Before the bus stop, what is the last thing I remember? I don't know. Lights maybe, I can't quite remember. Alright, relax, take it easy. Where was I before I came to be at the bus stop? .... Think God damn it.

Others on the bus must be noticing by now how agitated I am but as it seems, no one is taking any notice of me. They do not appear to be taking notice of the timer either. 27:21 ... 27:20 ... 27:19. Right, I have time to figure all this out, not much time at that but there is an amount of time, counting itself down.

Is there a bomb on the bus? I seriously hope not. There better not be. Should I be looking for one? I am not the guy to be around a bomb at a time of need or danger. My head has seriously been messed with here. Is that what is going on here? Some sort of experiment to mess with my head?

'It is on' he told me and like the biggest of idiots I just responded 'Okay'. He obviously wanted me to get on the bus for once I was on it; he appeared calm as if I had done the right thing, as if he had done the right thing. It's almost as if he is some sort of escort making sure I got on this bus. Damn, what the hell is happening?

There is that word again ... hell ... 26:40... 26:39 ... 26:38 ...

I continue to observe my surroundings and no answers are coming. Other passengers look calm. Do any of them have an agenda? I do not know, and I cannot tell. None of them are paying any attention to me, neither do any of them look out of place. Are they even aware that I am on this bus? I am not invisible, am I? If I am dead and on my way to hell, then perhaps I am invisible.

Where am I going? To be honest I could not tell you. Will the bus reach a destination before the timer reaches zero? I cannot answer that either. I can't just get off the bus. My conscience won't let me. If something happens to the people on this bus, then I cannot forgive myself. I have to figure things out before the timer reaches zero.

Time continues to tick away ... 23.23 ... 23.22 ... 23.21 ... oh it is passing so quickly though this is where I get something I need. I see her. A woman wearing white, she looks like death itself, a grey entity void of all colour. She stands on a side path, her hair is jet black, long and unkempt, her clothing indeed is white, and it is as thin and flimsy as she is. Her skin is an odd pale grey

She stares right at me as the bus passes her by. It appears that no one else on the bus has seen her at all; if they had then they did not send much, if any, attention her way. It is at this point I know I must exit the bus. I know I have already thought that I can't exit the bus but now I know I must do just that. How do I know? It's just a feeling, one I need to trust.

I get off at the next stop and begin heading back to where I saw this white lady, or grey lady I should say. I see her standing in that spot, the spot where she was when the bus passed her by. Oh my, all this cannot be happening.

As soon as she sees me this second time she turns, head only, towards me and this stops me in my tracks. That head move, it's freakily scary, she is freakily scary. Strange, her stare seems to pass right though me and stranger yet after a moment or so passes she takes of running, not towards me but off to one side.

'Hey ... wait' I call out after her.

She doesn't wait. If there are answers to this madness, then I feel they must lay with her, so I have no choice but to chase after this very strange looking person. She is fast, hell she is really fast, unnaturally so. Time is everywhere, how odd is that? Odd that I can see that not so far from me stands yet another timer, a large digital display standing upon a silver pole and counting down ... 20.19 ... 20.18 ... 20.17.

One third the way through these thirty minutes I have been informed of. I guess answers, any answers will come soon enough but I can't just stick around and do nothing. I continue on after this strange looking lady.

Yeah, ten minutes have passed since I first found myself standing at a bus stop. For no apparent reason I got on a bus going who knows where only to get off a few minutes later to go chase to some strange person I have never seen before. You know, another odd thing when I was at that bus stop it had been fairly bright, it's not all so bright now, if anything it is getting dark quite quickly.

The darkening surroundings distract me somewhat from the chase, not that this matters for fairly soon the distance I am covering certainly is not matching the speed I am moving at. I am only covering half the ground I should be and the odd lady I had noticed is moving further and further away until I can no longer see her.

17.42 ... 17.41 ... 17.40 ... I'm so tired. The run that was going nowhere and moving at half the speed despite a full effort has really drained me. I need a moment to catch up with myself, but I don't have a minute to spare. The clock is ticking, and I still have no idea as to what is going on.

Indeed, there is no moment to spare for before I can catch my breath there are people surrounding me, a lot of people. There are maybe twenty or twenty-five of them, all forming a circle right around me, all about fifty feet away and closing in on me.

Like the lady I got off the bus for, these twenty or so people look ... off. They are not right but not in the same exact way as the earlier lady, she was colourless apart from a distinct white, black, and grey. These people are a chalky grey and dull white and are oddly transparent too. I can almost see through them. So, I guess if the need arises, I could just pass right through them? Hell, I don't know. There is that word again ... hell.

They are getting oh so close. What do I do? Do I stay when I am, or move, try to pass through these visitors? Are they ... visitors? Am I some sort of visitor to some sort of nightmare? Looks like my heightened sense of panic can relax a little as these visitors are vanishing, disappearing one by one as they come towards me until the moment, I am reached there is just one left.

A man, a ghost of a man, someone whose life saw many more years than mine, if we so happen to be dead and in some sort of afterlife, he has something to say, he has something to tell me. He stops, stands five feet in front of me, this dull white and chalky grey man.

'You dead son ...' he says, his voice sounding far away, eerily echoing.

'Excuse me?'

'You didn't know? No one told you? Tell me what do you remember before getting on that bus?'

I have already thought about that, and I have no idea. I was just there, at the bus stop, all of a sudden. I have however briefly considered this as some sort of afterlife.

'I – I – I ...'

'You better get someone else on that bus or you are going to hell. If someone else gets on then they have thirty minutes to get someone else on the bus, if no one else gets on then ... well no point dwelling on that now is there? A new bus leaves every thirty minutes, a little less actually. New arrivals clock begins when they meet you.'

'You are messing with me, right? This is a bad dream or something.'

'No dream son, better hurry. Go back to the beginning ... and remember ... it's a secret.'

A secret? The timer ... 15.00 ... 14.59 ... 14.58 ...

'Hey what happens to me if someone else does get on the bus?'

My visitor friend is gone without having offered me a reply, he has vanished into nothingness. Did he once have a thirty-minute timer of his own? Has he failed to get someone else onto that bus? Hell, it is getting dark. I must stop with that word, time is slipping away too, must get back to that bus stop. How do I get back there? And in less than half the amount of time I started out with?

'Over here' a voice echoes, two voices echo, three ...

Voices of lost souls perhaps ... possible willing to aid me back to where I need to be? All those voices, did they all fail? The heck do I know. See that? A change in wording, heck instead of ... well you know. Maybe I am on a right track here. Follow the voices, get another onto a bus and take things from there.

I follow the echoing voices, slowly at first. Running out of time though ... 12.00 ... soon 11.30 ... then 11.00, what happened to me a little while earlier is reversing. My surroundings move quicker than what my legs are taking me.

I remember now ... where I was before I first got to the bus stop. I was out with Maria, my fiancée. We were out celebrating at a posh restaurant ... yeah, it was something I was eating. I couldn't breathe all of a sudden, choking, panicking. I can't believe I choked to death. I see it all now as if I am an observer watching it happen as it happens.

As I see it, I also see the timer, it wasn't there at the time. Sure, it only came I guess with my time of death. 8.55 ... 8.54 ... 8.53 ... I see Maria. She is in tears, on her knees over my lifeless body. How I wish I could tell her I am alright; I will be alright; at least I hope I will. Heck, I was one lucky guy ... there is that change of word again.

How did I manage to convince someone like her to agree to marry me? One of life's nicer mysteries, I guess. But we didn't get to marry, there was the engagement and more had yet to come. The future we could have had together, gone, done, cut short. If only I could have a do over.

'Over here' the voices call out again, echoing a little louder than before.

I don't want to leave Maria, but I must, my soul, if I actually have one and I guess I do, depends on following the voices. 7.31 ... 7.30 ... 7.29 ... they say when your life is at risk or at the moment you die your whole life flashes before your eyes but for me in this moment, the very moment I am in right now, I see the future I could have had. The children Maria and I could have had together, the birthday parties, the holiday seasons, the years passing by ... the weddings and the circles of life.

5.00 ... 4.59 ... 4.58 ... must go, I need to go and go I do, following those helping voices. And I'm back where I started at that bus stop with some time left. 1.09 ... 1.08 ... 1.07 ... there is a problem. I am alone at that bus stop. How do I get someone onto a soon to arrive bus if there is no one here with me ... relief, someone arrives, another guy. He appears out of nowhere, just in time too ... 1.00 ...

'It's on' I say to him 'thirty minutes from now.'

'Okay' he says hesitantly while looking around at the bus stop probably thinking that I am a little crazy.

'Shush ... don't tell anyone ... it's a secret. Soon it will be your secret to pass on.'

The bus comes and he gets on and then I cross the street feeling calm as if a weight has been lifted from me. 0.09 ... 0.08 ... 0.07 ...

A white light surrounds me. ... Heaven here I come, I guess but wait. I can't stop coughing ... there is someone kneeling over me ... Maria? Wait ... I'm alive? ... Yes ... I'm alive ... how odd.

Soon enough I am over my choking incident. You know despite having my life back and my future to live over for real I can't help but think that there is a guy right now on a bus completely lost as to what the heck is going on.

Heck ... you know I think that may be my new favourite word.