The story of my bus trauma and how it has haunted me to this day

I would like to take a moment to discuss something deeply personal. Something that has changed me as a person. Something that, to this very day, continues to affect my everyday life.

Getting on the wrong bus.

Now, before you laugh, I would like you to understand that this is not a laughing matter. This is a serious account of the events that transpired on what I can only describe as one of the darkest days of my life.

I'll set the scene. It was 12:30pm on a grizzly autumn day. I was due to watch The Odyssey with two of my friends (which was great by the way, highly recommend) and I'd woken up after 13 alarms, dazed and confused.

I got dressed, packed my keys and debit card, and left the house confident. Little did I know what was to happen.

I walked for an hour straight, getting to the furthest possible bus stop from my house because it's the one I feel most comfortable at for some reason.

The bus was delayed numerous times and I thought to myself, when will I ever get to the Vue cinema? 

I was tracking the bus for a while, when it was finally only a minute away. A bus approached my stop.

Now, don't blame me for this stupidity, but it didn't have the right number on it and I got on anyway.

What a mistake this was.

For some reason, I'd remembered getting on a bus with this number a week before, when I definitely probably hadn't, and I trusted my gut and got on.

My real bus was actually just behind this one and out of my vision.

I was the only one on that bus. That should've been my first clue.

I will show real messages from the time:

I may have been overreacting at the time, but trust me when I say this, my anxiety was very real. Palpable, even. (No, literally, I literally have the worst social anxiety, this haunts me to this day.)

That was when I realised. The bus was going the wrong way.

I tentatively approached the driver and asked where the bus was going. He replied. It was the wrong way.

I made the mistake of asking if it went to where I was going and he looked at me bamboozled. "No, you've gotten on the wrong bus."

He then proceeded to berate me. I was terrified for my life.

"They have different numbers. How did you get on the wrong one? It was right behind me."

I don't remember exactly what words were exchanged, but I know that it was the single most desperate I've ever been in my life, and I've come into contact with numerous pedophiles. That's how you know it was bad.

As I was getting off the bus, he directed me to where I could walk to get to my destination. I ignored him. I was racing against time, there was no way I would make it.

I decided to call for my final resort. A family member.

I called said family member and asked them to drive me to the cinema. After a lot of fuss and sighing, they agreed. 

And somehow, they had no idea where I was. Even though they drive past it almost every day.

While they were figuring out my location, the bus driver had finished his route and circled back round. 

We made eye contact.

I saw the bamboozled look on his face. Why was I still stood there? After twenty-five minutes? 

He immediately stopped the bus, and I froze.

Oh no. He shouted from across the road if I was okay. It took 5 thumbs ups to get him to drive away. The most embarrassing moment of my life. I get nightmares about it.

When my family member had finally arrived, after much kerfuffle, I got in the car and we departed.

There was a lot of interrogation, and reprimanding (of me), because I may have been a teensie bit embarrassed and lied and said I'd walked all that way.

I was not admitting my greatest defeat.

I apologised profusely, multiple times. Still, I know I will never live this down.

I got to the cinema 9 minutes before the movie started, in record time. Luck? Or misfortune...

The movie was great and I do not regret going to see it. However, whenever I see a bus, the memories come rushing back and so does that self-deprecating sense of dread. I will never be normal again.

My daily ventures to and from school are a constant reminder of the worst day in my life.

Thank you for listening, and beware of getting on the wrong bus.