Part I
She was staring through the bus window, ignoring the miserable expression on her reflection, at the train station. With each train arrival, she kept craning her neck, hoping to see her friend’s curly, fiery hair surging from the crowd of people busy going places. She was late, and Allie was going to kill her.
She left Grace about 15 messages since she got on the bus, hoping from the bottom of her shoelaces, that either Grace’s phone battery was out or she had no signal. Either way, Grace had to be here on time.
The phone chirped in her hand, the screen lighting up at the incoming message. Grace was finally texting back. A short lived sigh of relief blew past her lips.
„Allie-cat can’t make it!”
Grace wasn’t coming. Allie shifted in her seat, a bubble of hysterical laughter caught in her throat. Heart thumping faster in her chest, she stared at the three dots on the screen, silently praying that Grace was pulling her leg when another message popped up.
„Got stuck at work. We had an impromptu visit from a client this morning, and the meeting is not over yet. Please don’t be mad at me. Please don’t get off that bus. You need this.”
Allie, shook her head in disbelief, anxiety creeping down her spine. She definitely needed to get off this bus. No way in hell, will she be trapped on this trip for a full day with a bus full of spanish-speaking strangers. She grabbed her backpack, stuffed her hoodie inside, and jumped on her feet. The phone she set between her legs to gather her things, slipped between her tights on the floor. She froze as heads turned in her direction. People starring confused, some concerned. A deep blush crept along her neck, and she slowly crouched to recover the blasted phone. By the time she stood up again, on shaky legs that is, the bus doors closed and the vehicle began to move.
„Hola amigos! Mi nombre es Irai, hoy soy su guía y juntos vamos a disfrutar de este hermoso día en nuestro viaje al Caminito del Rey.”
Their guide’s voice boomed inside the bus, announcing their departure.
Oh no, no, no! As he went along describing what their day would look like, panic flooded Allie’s chest, and she froze mid-stance. She urged her legs to move, to shout the bus to stop, but none of these intentions left her mouth. She would cause a commotion and people would stare at her, would get annoyed by her interruption.
She surely could just go ahead, and have a private conversation with her guide and all would be clarified and they would let her off at the next stop. She will figure out how to get back to the train station after that, get on the train, home, in bed, to safety.
But she did not know enough spanish to form a coherent sentence for the life of her. And because there weren’t any more available bookings for the english trip, Grace just shrugged her shoulders and booked the spanish one. Grace knew enough spanish for the both of them. But Allie did not. The only spanish words in her vocabulary were „Holla” and „Gracias”.
She only made the trip to Spain because her friend got the opportunity to work a full paid month in Malaga. And Grace asked her to come along. With a broken heart to be nursed, out of a job, she agreed half-hearted, with the promise that a scenery change would be good for her. This did not feel good.
She closed her eyes, slowly inhaling through her mouth. Surely someone on this bus knew enough english to help her clarify all this out, then she would be on her merry way with enough time on her hands to dwell on how terrified she’d been. Maybe she would even laugh it of by the time Grace return home.
The mere thought of being put in another situation where she would have to explain her inability to know the basics of „Hei, excuse me, can you help me figure this out?” raised goosebumps on her skin and made her stomach churn in despair. So she did the only logical thing she was capable off. Sat back in her chair, drew her legs up her chest, hugged her knees, closed her eyes, and prayed that this day would be over soon.
Another message from Grace lighted up the screen.
„Allie-cat … please text back. I need to know you’re ok.”
But she didn’t. Not for a while.
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