My mom held my hand as we waited
for the bus
This bus was not ordinary; it would take me through my life
Fog surrounded us, hiding everything
from view
Then the bus pulled from the fog, and stopped in front of me
Mom kissed me and pushed me on;
the door closed and the driver told me
Sit in seat one
I did what he said; the seats went up to twelve, then were cut off by a thick curtain
Every time the bus stopped, someone got
on and everyone moved up a seat
Once every seat was filled with at least one person, the bus turned onto a gravel road
Now I'm in seat five; I've learned and grown
Then a kid got on and a teenager from seat twelve got up and got off the bus
The bus driver said if she didn't get back on, she could never come back on
She shook her head and other teens stepped out of the rolling fog
They handed her a cigarette and the fog
engulfed them
The bus drove on, now I'm in seat nine,
the bus stopped and someone got on
But then a teen pushed through the curtain and stepped off the bus
The bus driver told him to get on, but the teen shook his head
Other teens again stepped out of the fog,
and gave the buy a bottle of beer
He took a sip and disappeared into the fog
Now whispers filled my head, telling me to get off the bus, explore the unknown
I tried to ignore them, but they got louder when the bus stopped again
The voices were screaming at me to get
off the bus
A boy from seat six climbed off the bus,
kids who knew him were beating on
the windows
Telling him to get back on
Again, teens came from the fog, they
handed him a plastic strap, which he
tied around his arm
Next, they handed him a needle, he slid it
into his skin and emptied the contents
into him
The kids on the bus beat on the windows with all their strength, but the fog engulfed him
The bus drove on
Now I'm in seat twelve, a step away from the curtain
The voices were so loud that I wanted to cry
Get off, they scream, the world is so nice
out here; more freedom, come join us
The bus stops, I stand and push through
the curtain
As I push in, another kid out
I reached out and grabbed their arm
The boy looked at me, then suddenly
tears spilled from his eyes and he fell
into my arms
I knew what he was going through, the struggle between the voices and your will
I lead him back through the curtain, and
after I turned away from the merciless voices, my life got better
So hear what I say, if you're reading this,
the voices can be defeated
Don't leave the bus, because beyond that curtain is a life you just can't give up
Help those who tried to leave, the fog
beyond is full of evil;
Smoking, lies, killing, rape, drugs
You're better than those who live in the fog
Set an example
Don't ever leave that bus.