Green Spine

27 September 2009

Contemporary fantasy. Words: 880.

I was travelling home on the bus tonight after going to college. It was a nasty day today. Though it is April, it is actually sleeting outside and very cold. I wore my long leather coat. I do not wear it often – only when there is a blizzard – and I felt a tad ridiculous and self-conscious because I stuck out like a sore gothic-looking thumb. I hate the bus route I travelled home on; it goes down some very twisty roads and through a couple of rather bad areas.

I was trying to read a book, Buffy the Vampire Slayer – a gift from my sister, and that was also adding to my discomfort because I get travelsick very easily. Why was I reading the book? Well, it passes the time on a bad bus route, and I really wanted to know whether the triumvirate demon really would eat Cordelia.

Anyway, someone got off the bus around halfway through the journey, and the movement happened to make me look up. There was a youngish, dark-haired man sitting two seats in front of me.

I was sitting above the wheel arch, where I always sit, so I was a couple of feet higher than he was. I glanced at him and I noticed he was wearing a woollen hat pulled over his head. I could still see the back of his hair and the top of his neck above the collar of his coat, and there was something weird about the top of his spine.

It looked quite bumpy as though the bones were sticking out a long way, almost pointy, and somewhat greenish. It totally derailed my train of thought. I could not get back to reading my book after that. I just kept staring at this guy's pointy green spine.

I wondered if he was wearing a latex mask over his head, because when I looked at his woollen hat he looked like he might have a couple of bumps sticking up on top of his skull. I really wanted to get up and take a closer look at him, but you just cannot do that on a bus. I had no reason to get up without drawing attention to myself.

I just kept staring at him and trying to look like I was not staring, hoping he would move so I could see his face. A few more people got on and off the bus at this time, and I am certain that at least one of them glanced right at him, but no one's expression changed, and no one laughed or anything, so I figured he must look normal and could not be wearing a mask after all.

So was he wearing a latex spine? How the heck would that work? Was he going to a fancy dress party or something? It was nearly eleven o' clock at night, so conceivably he could have been going or coming back from somewhere – he could have been drinking in town beforehand and have a facemask in his pocket and an outfit on under his jeans – he was wearing jeans, I could see his leg sticking out at the edge of the aisle. He was also wearing battered white trainers, and the coat he had on was brown, I think it was suede.

Maybe the whole thing was just an optical illusion, something about the angle of the light falling on the back of his neck.

By this time, it was nearly my stop so I picked up my bag and walked quite slowly down the bus holding on to the bars. I took a good look at him when I got closer, and he definitely had a pointy green spine showing out of his collar. In fact, I could not see any latex lines. It looked real.

I dare not look right at him as I passed because that would have been rude, and he might have thought I was a bit strange for staring at him. It might have embarrassed him if he knew I had noticed, so I just walked down to the front of the bus and took a casual glance behind me, let my eyes sweep over everyone onboard.

There were not many people left onboard by that time, as the bus only goes over the hill and then it turns around and heads back into the city. There was an old guy near the front, a couple at the back, and the man with the green spine.

He was just an ordinary looking person, a bit rough around the edges; dark eyebrows, a low brow, hat pulled down over his ears and forehead. He was looking out of the window. My instinct told me he was a working man – especially on this bus route – but a well-dressed one, as he was wearing a light cotton shirt with blue (I think) pinstripes at big intervals. I vaguely recall seeing a white t-shirt visible through the open collar. I only glanced for a second, because otherwise he would have noticed I was looking.

Then my bus pulled up. I said thank you to the driver and climbed off. I stood at that bus stop and stared after that bus for some time before I turned towards home.

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