It was late and I wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but for some reason I dreaded getting on the bus. I felt a desire to turn and flee, but home was three miles away.
When the bus pulled up to the stop, I felt relief, as I noticed no other passengers were on board. I stepped up into the bus and the air felt very cool. I pulled my coat tighter around me as I sat down. My hands were shaking from the cold and I could not read the paper. I lay the paper in my lap, looked up and noticed a beautiful butterfly hovering over the next seat. I watched in astonishment as it slowly materialized into a lady. She had long flowing black hair, chiseled features of a goddess, and wearing a nice blue business suit. Little black ballet type slippers completed her outfit.
She slowly moved the backrest of the seat in front of me so that she could sit facing me. I was speechless as she said, “Do not be afraid, Julie. I have come to protect you tonight.”
Before I could say anything, the bus stopped and three burley young men came aboard. They sat down in the long seat behind the driver and leered at us two women. After the bus began to move, the tall man stood up, pulled a gun out of his jacket and held it to the drivers head, saying, “Just tend to your driving and you won’t get hurt.”
The other two men stood up and headed towards us, as the short heavy set one said, “Do as you are told and neither one of you will get hurt, much.”
The butterfly lady looked at me and slowly shook her head from side to side, so I remained quiet, as I sat shivering, not from the cold air, but from being scared.
The short fat man reached for my arm but seemed unable to touch me. He tried again and again, getting angrier by the minute. The man with the scar on his face reached for the lady and as he touched her arm, he drew back in surprise and yelled in pain. His hand seemed to be on fire. His face twisted in anger as he reached out to grab her around the neck. Both hands became very red and he drew back, startled and cried out in pain.
The man by the driver turned around and asked what was holding them up from doing their business. He came running towards us, gun raised, as if to hit me on the head. The driver saw his chance and quickly stepped on the brake. All three men went flying into the opposite seats and knocked unconscious. Somehow we had remained in our seats, unaffected by the sudden stop.
The driver called the police on the bus phone, picked up the gun, and pointing it at the men. The police arrived, handcuffed the men, and took them to the patrol car. One of the officers asked us all to step outside for questioning. I huddled against the butterfly lady until I heard the officer ask me what had happened. I started telling him how the lady had protected us, but he interrupted me saying, “Sure lady, you were the only one on the bus, except for the driver and those guys.”
I looked around and sure enough, she was gone, but the beautiful butterfly hovered nearby. I explained how the one man had both hands burned when he tried to touch her.
The other office said, “Yes, the guys hands are burned, but not to badly.”
I told them how the lady had put some type of shield around me, because the short guy couldn’t touch me no matter how hard he had tried. The driver admitted that there was another lady on the bus but he had not picked her up. He said he had looked in the rearview mirror when he heard the guy scream. He definitely had seen her calmly sitting there, looking at me and smiling.
Where did she come from and where had she gone so quickly? There were questions that no one could answer except me. She had been my Angel of Protection on that night of the scary bus ride.