The Little Lost Girl

It was December in NYC. There’d been a 7” snowstorm, just 2 days ago. The streets were deserted as it is and by the time our movie finished, it was well past midnight. My best friend - Tina and I had just come out of the last show of the day for “The Ring”. It had been an astonishingly spine chilling movie, and both of us, needless to say, were, to a certain extent, pretty daunted. We’d gone to watch the movie at the Pavilion Theater, right outside of Prospect Park. Anyone who’s been to that neighborhood knows how quiet it can get there even on a normal evening. And there we were, way past midnight, two young girls, waiting at the bus stop, for our ride home. Both of us were silent, holding hands, and praying that the bus would show up soon.

Tina nudged me and whispered, “How much longer do we have to wait you think?”

I looked at her and replied, “Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know. I just feel like there’s someone staring at us, and can hear!”

I laughed “I guess that shows how good the movie was!”

“Oh shut up!” she grumbled.

“Well, I remember you being as enthusiastic as me about it!”

“Yes, but I didn’t really think it would creep me quite this much. I think that’s the scariest movie I’ve seen since the Exorcist!”

“Hmmm. I agree………Anyways, let’s not talk about it anymore until we get home. This atmosphere is perfect for a horror movie!”

Both of us looked at each other and laughed uneasily. After a few more minutes of waiting, we finally saw our bus arriving.

When we got on the bus, it was nearly empty. There were 4 other people on it – a middle aged couple, a weird looking old man, and the bus driver himself. Just like many NYC buses, the lights in the back of the bus were slightly flickering. Tina and I grabbed the seats near the exit, so that we could hurry out as soon as our stop arrived. It was a good half hour before that would happen, so we settled down as comfortably as we could, hoping no one else would get out before us.

Unfortunately, as expected, one by one - everyone got off, until it was just me, Tina, and the bus driver. Tina and I were busy conversing, when suddenly we heard some snuffled sobs… At first I thought I was imagining things. Then, on listening carefully, I realized it was coming from the back of the bus. I quickly drew Tina’s attention, and asked her to listen. Strangely, the driver seemed completely unaware.

After confirming my suspicion, both of us looked back at the same time. At first, we couldn’t see anything. The back of the bus was filled with shadows because of the flickering lights. But after careful observation, I saw her! A strangely dressed little girl, around 7-8 years of age, sobbing desperately. She was sitting all the way in the back of the bus, in the shadows.

At first we were suspicious. It was just too absurd, that such a young girl would be on the bus, all by herself, this late at night. Then, her heart wrenching sobs got to us, and we decided to go up to her and ask her what was going on.

“What’s your name little girl?” Tina asked “and what are you doing on this bus all alone, so late at night? Where’s your mom?”

The little girl, slowly looked up, and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know!” her voice trembled.

“You don’t know? What do you mean?” I asked incredulously.

“I’m lost.” She replied. “I fell asleep on the bus, and when I woke up, my mommy was gone!!” she sobbed. “Will you p..pp..l..ea..se… help me find my mommy?”

She looked at us with the strangest dark black watery eyes. I don’t think I’d ever seen eyes like hers! I felt like I couldn’t look away.

“Will you take me to my mo..mmyy…..pplease…..?”

What could we say? She was a little girl after all. The least we could do was call the 911, and hope that somehow she would find her way home!

Just then the bus stopped.

“Your stop’s here!” the driver yelled. “Please hurry up! It's late, and I want to go home!”

I walked up to the driver, and calmly told him “We have a situation. There appears to be a little girl lost on your bus. We think you should notify the authorities.”

The driver looked at me like as if I was out of my mind. “Lady, are you drunk? There’s no one on the bus except the three of us.”

“Come take a look in the back. There’s a little girl with dark black eyes in the back of your bus. She says she fell asleep, and woke up to find her mother gone!”

The driver seemed taken aback for a second, and then walked with me to the back of the bus.

“So, where is she?“ He asked.

“What do you mean? She’s right here!” I replied, and turned towards Tina and the little girl. To our amazement, there was no one there, except for Tina. It’s like the little girl had vanished into thin air! Tina and I looked at each other dumbfounded. It was as if we were frozen.

“It’s late ladies. From the likes of it, we’re all exhausted. Let’s just call it a day, shall we?”

Without a second thought, Tina grabbed my hand, and dragged me out of the bus. To this day, we don’t talk about that night. And if I ever do get on the bus, I make sure I look in the back seat, just in case, you know? Had we really seen that girl there that night? If we had, where’d she go? It cannot be that both of us had imagined the same exact thing, at the same exact time? And those eyes!! I just can’t forget those deep dark eyes……….