On a pale blue dot, somewhere in China, a bus drove through the countryside, heading towards the coast. Inside the bus was a group of teenagers, and parental chaperones, all excited about a day at the beach. For many this was the first time they would see the ocean, always living too far inland, being from the Jiangxi province. Some of the students had taken the six-hour drive before, but most never had the opportunity. Though some of the teens didn’t just want to swim, some of them just wanted to show off their swimsuits or flirt with their crush, this being the perfect opportunity.

Like every bus ride filled with teenagers, kids were being loud, unruly, pushing the boundaries, of the teachers watching. The teachers understood that that was what being a student was all about, and part of being a good teacher was knowing when they were crossing the line, and Liu was one of the best. Always giving the children just enough slack that they could be kids, but knowing when to push. When she saw a bunch of teens standing in the back, huddled she promptly stood shouting, “Sit back down.” Startling the group, as they quickly found their seats.

At the front of the bus sat a young woman, driving the vehicle looking back at the cowed students shaking her head, “Why did I ask to drive the bus?”

Jiaying, sat in the back of the bus looking out the window, just trying to ignore all of the noise, and enjoy the view, of the countryside she had never seen before. Jiaying wasn’t a fan of all the loud noises and people yelling all around her, but it was something she could put up with if she could see the beach again. The last time she had been was when she was a little girl, with her parents and she had so much fun that she couldn’t wait to create new memories with her friends. She had even gone out to get a swimsuit just for this trip. Though she didn’t expect to be out in the ocean for too long, she couldn’t ruin her delicate skin with too much sun, at least that's what her friends said, that was why they had brought a few umbrellas and plenty of sunscreen for the trip. Despite their caution, Jiaying was going to have as much fun in the water as she could, even building a sandcastle, she had brought a bucket just for that.

Her musings were interrupted by the boy, Feng Li sitting in the seat in front of her, "Are you excited." He was one of her good friends, since they were young, having grown up near each other. Though lately, he had become a bit too clingy around Jiaying.

Rolling her eyes, she smiled, “Yeah, who does want to see tourist attractions.” Jiaying was doing her best to downplay her excitement but was finding it leaking through.

“Aww, don't be like that, admit it it's exciting.”

Jiaying rolled her eyes again, not daining to answer Li but couldn't keep herself from smiling.

“Ha,” Li triumphed, “It will be something to see. Also, they say if you are there on the right day you can get a wish.”

“Is that how they get the tourists?” Jiaying hadn’t heard that before but the sea always seemed magical to her so why wouldn’t it be true? She imagined all sorts of vendors plying some kind of memorabilia about a wish, with trinkets galore, all saying something about it.

“Nope, that's just something the vendors try and sell there.”

Jiaying snapped out of her musing when she caught onto something Li had said. “So you've been here before. Why come on the trip then?”

“Come on. A day off and I can hang with my friends who wouldn't want to go on this trip.”

Jiaying looked thoughtfully at Li thinking, That does sound nice. It was why she had decided to come.

The conversation between Jiaying and Li was suddenly interrupted when the bus turned too hard almost lifting up onto two wheels, as the bus turned entirely too fast around a corner. Everyone on the bus screamed when they were thrown around and tossed into the interior of the bus. Jiaying found herself flying through the air, landing in the center aisle, shakily trying to get back up.

The driver was desperately trying to straighten the bus constantly over correcting causing everyone to continue to jerk around. After a long tense battle with the bus, the driver was finally able to straighten out the vehicle, and almost hit a car coming the other way. "Ahhhhhhh" the driver screamed in panic, jerking the wheel back and forth, causing the whole situation to happen again. She was terrified, this is the first time she's driven a bus, and it was not going well.

Liu was one of the few teachers that were able to catch onto the seat and keep herself from being thrown around the bus. She had not trusted the new woman to drive the bus since they had first seen her that morning. Even her excuse that the scheduled driver had called in sick felt flimsy, to her, but none of the other teachers questioned it, since they were already running late. Liu and the other teachers could tell she must have been known to the company because the bus ride itself was more than they expected, only smoothing out after the first hour. Liu thought they were finally getting into a flow when the driver nearly lost control. "Straighten out." She yelled.

“I'm trying.” The driver yelled back, frustrated.

The woman fought against the bus to dodge cars and straighten the bus back to normal. The entire bus was shaking and scared at the near-death experience. The teachers were not quick in getting out of their seats afraid she would do it again. Liu was the only one willing to walk to the front to admonish her, “Pull over!”

“Fine but it will have to be after the tunnel.” The woman said as they were quickly approaching a small mountain tunnel.

“No now,” Liu yelled as she moved closer to the front.

The driver looked uncertain before pleading, “Look there is a spot after the tunnel.”

Liu got in her face pointing to the side of the road.

“Fine!” She huffed. Liu felt satisfied, One of the other instructors must know how to drive this thing. If anything we can at least take a breath. Liu was about to turn to take her seat when she realized they weren’t slowing down. “Stop.” She demanded.

“We will.”

“Now!” Liu Yelled.

The tunnel was just ahead and sudden dread began to permeate the bus. Liu was looking at the tunnel with fear, as it felt wrong. We can’t go in there. Liu lunged forward to take the wheel only for a sudden jolt to make her fall back. They were past the point of no return, there was no way for the bus to slow down before the tunnel, they were going in.

In the back of the bus, Jiaying and Li stared out in horror watching Liu fall back, as they drove into the darkness. When they looked in the rear-view mirror they saw the driver with a mad smile. It was then that everyone knew something was wrong. As they were about to go into the tunnel Liu saw the driving girl turn to her, “Too late.”

——

In a place surrounded by trees, and mountains. A bus enters onto a grassy glade, stopping, as a woman frantically jumps out of the bus with her hands on her knees, as she caught her breath. With the bus stopped, the dread all the passengers felt was gone as the light returned, it took Liu and the other passengers a minute to realize that they had stopped. When Liu realized this, she angrily stomped out of the bus to give the driver a piece of her mind only to find, that she wasn’t there, and that there wasn’t a road anymore, just trees all around them. Where are we?

Just beyond the bus, both there and not, Ge stood back up now unseen, her heart beating fast as the adrenaline of driving a bus flowed through her. She watched as the people slowly exited the vehicle, fearful and confused, except for one man, Del, who walked straight for her. She smiled seeing him approach, "That was more intense than I thought it would be.” She said.

Del raised an eyebrow, “Did you have to go all crazy kidnapper at the end?”

She laughed, “It just came to me.” She had also kind of lost it near the end terrified of flipping the bus, but he did not need to know that.

Shaking his head, Del couldn’t help but smile, as he imagined the confused faces of the people. It was at least interesting, “You, catch your breath yet?”

She ignored his question, and asked her own, “Why did you let me drive?”

“It was hilarious.”

Stunned by his answer she let out a tired, “You suck.” Before playfully, punching the man's shoulder.

He laughed harder, rubbing his shoulder, “Hey, you had fun.”

“I almost killed them.” She said oddly calmly. She couldn’t believe she didn’t accidentally roll the bus on that last turn. She knew one was coming up but didn’t realize how sharp it would be, otherwise, she would have taken off her foot a long time ago.

“Yeah, that was pretty close, have you ever heard of slowing down?”

She mumbled under her breath, something unintelligible.

“What was that?”

She looked away embarrassed, “I don't know how.”

“You...did you not know where the brake was?” Del was horrified, How could she have possibly not have needed the break the entire time? That would explain why were were thrown around so much in the city area. “Oh my god, you lucked out...by a lot.”

“Where was the break.” She asked.

“It was the other pedal.”

She looked at the man accusingly, “Why didn't you show me before?”

“How was I supposed to know you didn't know?” It was such basic knowledge on driving, that when she asked to drive he didn’t bother explaining the brake pedal, assuming she knew.

Ge turned away from Del and looked at the unassuming group of people she had driven to this new world. She didn’t feel good about what she did, though she knew it was necessary. “Can we just go?”

Del saw where she was looking, “Yeah.”

The two began to walk away, leaving the people to their new world.