THE DAY I SLEPT IN THE BUS

Hello amazing friends. Trust you are all doing great. Welcome to this weeks' prompt .Happy reading .

While at the office that day, things did not go well. I was committing errors in my official correspondence. I was restless. The next thing, I got a call from my niece saying that my sister had an accident.

I reached out to my mentor and Pastor and informed them of the development, and also called a few friends and family to check on her. I arrived home and began planning a visit to the eastern part of Nigeria. At least to have a check on her and assess the situation for further consultation.

Within that week, my pastor called back to inform me of their scheduled journey to the East and inquired if I wouldn’t mind joining them. I declined because I have yet to obtain clearance from my office. Arriving at the office the next day, I received the necessary clearance and scheduled my journey with one of the popular business-class transporters. The bus was scheduled to leave at 6:45 am.

Arriving at the terminal that fateful day, I was informed that the bus had left and none was going to the East again from their terminal. They also told me that they are willing to refund if I am unable to postpone my journey. At that point, I opted for the refund and zoomed off to check other terminals. This is because I wanted to follow my itinerary.

Fortunately, I got another bus, paid for and waited for other passengers to arrive from different pickup points to embark on the journey. That was where the challenge started. Initially, they claimed they had 3 seats available, but as passengers were booking, they kept repeating “It is remaining just 2 seats to go” 1. 2.. 3 hours passed, and we were still waiting. I became worried.

I reached out to the terminal receptionist, and she assured me that they will soon close the ticket. By then, it was around 10 am. At that point, I started making calls to know if there were other available options. Boom, the driver showed up, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

Within a short interval, we boarded and hit the road. I started observing the driver from that moment. He mentioned that there is a speed limit; therefore, he will not exceed 120 miles per hour. I was already tense and, as a result, I didn’t listen to his utterances. One thing became obvious and disturbing: he stopped at intervals to deliver items, thus delaying and making bad situation worse. This continued until we arrived in Anambra at around 8:30 pm; however, I was going to Abia.

Take note, he continued with his delivery hustle, making the journey frustrating. Passengers began to engage him on that, but he was adamant.
On reaching Ihiala at about 9 pm, he announced that he would terminate the journey at Owerri terminal. Hell let loose, there was serious turmoil, yet amid the concern, he remained unmoved. We got to Owerri around 11 pm that day. I was already tired and fagged out. While my siblings were closely monitoring my journey, my friends blamed me for travelling by road.
Alas, people, about 8 of us slept inside the bus at the transporters' Owerri terminal and were transferred to a luxurious bus to Abia state the next morning.
A journey that was supposed to take at most 11 hours turned out to be an unbelievable 24-hour journey.
That journey impacted me negatively. It made me detest the transporter and travelling by road.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to reading from you in the comments section.