FRUSTRATION (Old Upload)

FRUSTRATION 

By Franklin Campusano

DISCLAIMER!

This text is the raw unedited version of the yet to be published novel 'Frustration' written by me. The reason I publish the whole manuscript this way is so that my friends and any interested ones can read the manuscript ahead of publication time. Despite this, the text can still be enjoyed and if you like my writings, I recommend you give this story a try. Thank you!

CHAPTER 1
TRIALS OF THE WARM BLANKETS 

        If I had the opportunity to make a wish today it would be that today was tomorrow. I mean, seriously, if only the blankets were just slightly colder then I would be able to get up slightly faster. The most dreaded sound a dreamer could ever hope to hear, the sound of the alarms I set have been going off, looping around for about 15 minutes now. All I could do is stare at my ceiling while lying face up on my bed. No, I can't even fall sleep again, I'm simply lying flat, face up on my bed staring at nothingness as if I were in some sort of trance. 

        Despite my outmost efforts to ignore my alarms that are continuously going off one by one, in the end all I will be able to achieve is delay the inevitable. In the end, I seriously have to wake up. After a few months since graduating college, I have had the luxury to sleep in a lot. Because of all the tremendous work that I had gone through for these past four years plus a worldwide pandemic, my parents thought that it would be a good idea for me to take half a year off to recover. 

        Today though is a little different, today is one of those days that no matter how many morning bedtime excuses you make, in the end, you will have to wake up. So, in what seems like a supernatural, superhuman effort, against all of my primal instincts, I finally manage to get myself out of bed. 

        Later today at 8:30am I'm scheduled to board a bus, a bus that's heading straight towards Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I'm supposed to be at the New York City bus terminal at the very least within an hour before the journey begins, just in case any unexpected event takes place. This is actually quiet the big deal for me, you see, I been living in New York for about 12 to 13 years ever since I arrived with my parents from Colombia. Ever since that time, I have only left the city two or three times in school trips. To tell you the complete truth, I don't really leave my house that often which is evidenced by this fact. 

        This will be the very first time that I will be taking a trip down to Pennsylvania. And as frustrating as getting up from my comfy bed is to me at this very moment, I have to admit that I am looking forward to boarding that bus. Something about me that you should know is that I love road trips. There's just this deep and vast sense of adventure as you see the landscape roll at about 40 to 60 miles per hour from your vehicle's window. You really get to take a sneak peek at so many worlds within this world, places that are unfamiliar and strange to you, are the same places in which many would spend their whole lives at, and you, you're just a passerby that only had a quick brief glance at their homes and lives. 

        Today I have a four-hour long road trip to look forward to and that on itself puts a smile on my rough looking morning face. Not only that, but I also have the promise of being in a place that I have never seen and been in before and that also puts a smile on my rough looking morning face. Time to do something about this rough looking morning face of mines. 

        As I have previously mentioned, I been living in New York for about 13 years now, I arrived here from my home country Colombia in the summer of 2009 at the age of 12. To be honest has been a rough but fun adventure growing up from a grown child to rebellious and emotional teenager to a young adult college graduate. And throughout all of this time, I never knew that I had family living in Pennsylvania. Family members whom I know and met growing up but that I had lost contact with after I traveled here to the states. Seriously, I had absolutely no idea that they also came over here to the states while I was here living in New York. After resuming contact with them at about a month or two ago, we opted for a little family reunion. 

        After getting up from my voluntary warm and comfy prison in which I will inevitably spend about one-third of my entire life or more, I head right on over to the bathroom. In there after taking care of my daily morning physiological needs, I treat myself to a warm lengthy shower. Right now, is about 5:16am so I can take my sweet time. After exiting the hot steamy bathroom, I then submit my teeth to my daily teeth brushing routine. I love my teeth to be white and shiny, so I'm known to be very rigorous with my toothbrushes, needing replacement in about every two weeks. 

        Because today is a very special occasion, I have also opted to dress with my favorite clothes. I have this nice long neck black sweeter with my favorite sci-fi series "Spaceman Saga" printed on it. I have this nice red skirt with square patterns that I love saving for special occasions such as this. Finally, I have my trusty trench coat which is warm enough to keep me warm during the cold winter and stylish enough for me to use in warmer months such as April. I also have my white long socks with Butterfly patterns and some comfortable shoes. 

        My hair doesn't require much work. I have a rather simplistic approach to self-care, a smart woman like me knows that time is gold. I'm so used to seeing my peers spend hours upon hours working on their extremely long hair. My approach is different, you see, I still look good, but while being time friendly and comfortable. So, I often opt to keep my hair short. After brushing my hair for like about five brief minutes, my hair looked ready to go. 

        Now with my dress and grooming out of the way I need to take care of something just as essential as my looks. You see, every morning we humans are required to intake some sustenance in the morning that comes in the form of breakfast. Today in particular I am in a desperate need for nourishment. Once I exit my room I head towards the fridge with the mentality and intentions of ingesting everything in my path. And with good reason, I am going on a long arduous air conditioner infused journey and I need my tummy to be full and satisfied. Thankfully, some leftover baked chicken that was mostly eaten by us yesterday is involuntarily willing to help me out with my pursuits. 

        After mashing some nice red potatoes with butter and Mayo and steaming some nice frozen vegetables, I proceed to have my daily morning feast. But this is not enough to satisfy my morning appetite. So, I accompany my delicious, mashed potato breakfast with a nice bowl of Cereal and sweet almond milk. Ever since I was a little girl, I always preferred salty cereals over sweet ones. For some reason, instead of feeling like a healthy part of my balanced breakfast, sweet cereal feels more like a sophisticated attempt to make candy breakfast.  I love my good old cereal based on a nice toasted pulverized corn with a nice cup of sweetened almond milk and as expected, alongside the baked chicken and the mashed potatoes, my corn cereal hits the spot.     

        Something to take note off is that these bus tickets are insane. Originally, I wanted to take a train via MetroNorth towards Harrisburg, but the tickets are so expensive ranging from $300 dollars or more.  The buses are no different how so ever, tickets were ranging from $100 dollars to $200 dollars. Thankfully I was able to book a ticket for about $85 dollars but that's a stretch, as of today I'm still quite salty about paying that much to board a bus. 

        Finally, the most important part of a journey for me is my trusty backpack. Trust me, I don't go anywhere past three blocks away from my apartment without it. I am known to carry my backpack everywhere.  In it I always carry the essentials with me those being: A few extra sets of clothes since I'll be there for about two days. My trusty towel and newly acquired toothbrush and an oat flavored deodorant. Because I want to have fun while on the road trip, I made sure to put all of my handheld video game devices as well as my two tablets and laptop. That's right, I'm a tech girl. My parents are working so after packing my backpack I turn off and unplug everything in the house and proceed to lock the apartment door and leave my building. My adventure begins now. 

CHAPTER 2
THE WONDERFUL JOURNEY THROUGH THE NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY SYSTEM AND THE AMAZING ADVENTURES IN THE NEW YORK CITY BUS TERMINAL

      
         You know you live in a particularly bad area of New York city when at around 6:40 in the morning the first people you see in the streets are our beloved chain smokers, our lovely neighbors whom main pleasure in life is to fill our already unclean air with good old Nicotine. To tell you the absolute truth, this is quite unexpected for me. I never thought of these individuals as being morning people. Now that I am witnessing them, I cannot help but to imagine that they probably have an easier time waking up early every day than I am. Perhaps they are simply awoken by their desire to indulge. 

        Upon accessing the most nearby train station to my house, I notice that my train is

only a few minutes away, which is a big plus since I am already way ahead of schedule,

this means that today I have time on my favor. Waiting for the train is not an issue for me,

specially today, I expect a nice smooth ride all the way towards Times Square 42nd street.

Also, since it is so early in the morning, there's no way that the trains will be full of people

at this time, and that's another big plus. There's nothing better than a train cart with some

nice personal space. The more the better and today surely, I will get that as well. A nice

smooth ride as well as some very good personal space, right?

        Sadly, I could not be more wrong that I am today. Upon the train's arrival the first

thing I notice is a whole ton of a lot of people and I mean seriously, a whole lot. I can't

really believe what I'm seeing. I mean what are all these people doing here? Is 6:40 in the

morning! Why is the train so packed in such a manner so early on?

        Is like New York City is stuck in a perpetual loop, is like no matter what time of the day or night it is in New York, there's just a lot going on in the streets here. No matter they

refer to New York as: "the city that never sleeps."

        The train is packed to the brim with workers. The train is so pack in a matter of fact

that I had to take off my backpack and place it in the floor of the cart. With an already grim

expression on my face I could not help but reflect in my situation at the moment.

At the moment, I am surrounded by hundreds of overly worked depressed individuals that

are on their way to work right now. Me in the other hand, have to board this train because

I'm going on nice field trip sort of speak. I genuinely feel like I'm stuck in a human sized can

of Sardines. A can of Sardines full of Carbon Dioxide and, human skin particles, and liters

worth methane gas in the form of human farts instead of the traditional processed, heavily

preserved, high in iron tomato sauce that we all know and love.

        Thankfully because I am a veteran of the rails and a trained expert of the New York

City subway tunnels, deep down I know that once we arrive at first of all, 149th street

Grand Concourse and the later 96th street, the train cart will become more dispersed. But

there's something we cannot ignore, in a matter of fact, this "something" is such an usual

part of a New York city subway ride, that it may as well be a staple of it.

    I'm OfCourse referring to the crazy passengers. These folks can either make or ruin a

ride in my opinion, these people come in a variety of shapes and forms, first we have the

common beggars. Then we have the evolved version of beggars that come in the form

desperate performers, we also have the evolved form of desperate performers which are

the more sophisticated performer who are actually trained on whatever their craft is.

Then we have the preachers, the sellers and then we have the most wild out of all of them,

the genuine crazy people and OfCourse, we cannot forget the hoarders who literally make

a nest out of the train carts.

        Thankfully, this ride does not feature none of that at least up to this point and right

upon arriving at 96th street, the floodgates of the train carts open up releasing a massive

load of angry frustrated commuters whom only thing in their minds is to get to work and

get things done. About half of the total passenger count disembarked at this particular stop and I could not be anymore glad. Finally, I could take a seat and rest up

my poor back. Upon releasing a deep sigh of relief upon seating down on the seat in the

train cart the dreaded premonition, the fear you know will come true but that you hope

your wrong about comes to my mind. Deep down within my subconsciousness

I tell myself: "Today is going to be one of those particularly long days isn't it?"

Hopefully I'm wrong and simply being pessimistic. The last thing I want to achieve

today with all honesty is to graduate as a prophet, a prophet of doom. Only two stops

left before I leave this train cart myself.

        Upon arriving at Times Square, I stretch my by straightening them all the way in

a 180 degree from the upper leg to the button leg and a 90 degree angle from my torso.

Upon getting up from that stiff and cold train bench and straightening my back, I could

feel all of the blood in my body filling up my back muscles and upon waking out of the

train cart I make sure to send my aunt that lives in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, just to let her

know that I'm already on my way.

       Perhaps, if I could move somewhere where life is not such a hassle and is not so overly

packed with beings of my own species, maybe the quality of my life will improve. That

thought is also another reason I'm heading down towards PA, perhaps I could find a better

life down there. Outside of the train stop and, on the streets, surrounding Times Square,

there's a lot going on as usual and as expected.

        You cannot help but to admire the tall skyscrapers and all the crazy flashing lights

that will surely give a person suffering from epilepsy a run for their hard earned

money even during the daytime. According to the GPS, the New York city bus terminal

is only a few minutes walk away from the train stop. A walk that I easily breeze through

with my smart phone handy.

        Once I have arrived at the building, I notice that this is actually an extremely large

large building. No seriously this place, the New York city bus terminal is like a world inside

our world. Upon accessing the building by means of one of the front doors, I cannot see an

end to the vast open lobby, is like the lobby literally goes on forever. Thankfully though,

there's an information booth a few feet away from the front door.

        The man on the information booth seems to be conversating with what appears to be

a random passenger but he's actually an employee. Since I don't take notice of this at first,

I patiently wait behind the employee until the man himself takes notice and politely asks me

go right ahead, which I gladly accept. Upon approaching the information booth man I

politely asks:

"Where is the terminal that leads to the bus going towards Harrisburg, PA?"

        The man looks at me and asks me which bus company am I going with. Obviously

I don't know this, this is my first time ever using this service and I thought the bus terminal

worked like the MTA. Because of this I simply bring up my email and show the man my

ticket.

"Swiftwolf, okay, go straightforward, go down the escalator and walk all the way to the

end to terminal 66."

    After speaking with the information booth man I headed right towards the escalator

behind the information booth. The escalator is in the middle of the floor, and there is a

long line right on its end. There's a big line of people trying to go downstairs as well as

a long line of people coming up from the floor under. As a good and respectful citizen,

I hop into the line myself to wait for my turn to also access the escalator downwards.

Right before my time to access the escalator comes, a big line of old people intercepts

me going up, they are leaving the escalator towards the direction where the downstairs

starts and they are blocking me. But this doesn't bother me at all since I have time on my

hands. What does bother me in the other hand is this really tall, really muscular, really

angry and really mean man that appears behind me suddenly and as soon as he appears,

he tosses me aside yelling:

"Move!"

    Right as the group of old people finished clearing the area. This man tosses me aside

with such force that I almost toppled and face planted the floor, thankfully I manage to

incorporate myself before that happens. It takes me about two or three seconds to fully

process what just happened, time spent staring into nothingness with my mind completely

blank. Upon processing the situation at hand, my body is filled with raging adrenaline,

my blood pressure hits the motors full speed ahead. There's only one choice to be made

and that choice is violence. That's right, I am angry really really really angry but there's a

slight issue here. You see, this man is tall, muscular, angry, and mean and who am I?

I am a 5'6 tall, slim, angry, raging young woman that's literally going againts this 6'5

behemoth with violence in mind.

        As this man goes down the escalator the only thing I am able to spill is:

"We'll see how far you'll get treating people that way!" 

        Obviously, I do not spill these words as eloquently as presented in this text. 

To tell you the truth, my attempt to sound threatening is all out pathetic, people 

in the escalator alongside me simply look at me with the "are you seriously 

going to engage this man?" Type of look. The man of course ignores me and 

continues on. He knows that engaging me is pretty much at worthless pursuit. 

I realize pretty quickly that I stand no match against thit hippopotamus and 

simply incorporate myself and continue to head down the escalator.  

        Now that I am in the bottom floor of the facility, I find myself facing the same issue that I faced upon entering the building proper. There's no end to this place in either direction and I can't determine which direction is gate or booth 66 found at. But once again, thankfully near the bottom of the escalator there is a gate with "SwiftWolf" as a logo on its top. So in my naive I interpret this as the place I am supposed to go to. 

        This gate also serves as an information booth and this booth unlike the other features a line, this means that this time I have to wait before speaking to the information agent which is not that big of a deal as of now. The line goes by very quickly despite it looking a bit lengthy and sooner than later my turn to speak to the agent arrives. 

        Upon engaging the agent, a woman, I simply ask her: 

"Where is the bus that departs towards Harrisburg PA is at?" 

"You mean the one that departs at 8:30am?"

"Yes, that one." 

"That's gate number 66, that will be right to the left all the way towards the end, in a matter of fact, you will see it as soon as you leave this gate." 

"Thank you so much!" 

    And upon exiting the gate, hold and behold, I see a large sign displaying: 

"Gate 66" 

     All the way to the end of the bottom floor. I head there as quickly as possible. It doesn't matter to me that I still have about an hour and thirty minutes of wait time, I simply want to be where I am supposed to be as soon as I possibly can, and then wait. 

        Something odd about this place now that I stop and notice. You see, this place is nothing like I expected a bus terminal to look like. My expectations was a bright place with white walls and white ceramic floors, with lots of chairs, lots of vending machines and lots of restaurants and stores inside. In essence I was expecting an airport and what I got is something far from this mental image. 

        This place looks more like a clinic, and not just any clinic. This place looks like either a laboratory or a place where you go to euthanize your animals. The lights are a bit dim but not enough to make the place look dark. The walls are painted in shades of blue. Navy blue in the upper part of the walls and the bottom is a darker shade of blue. The floor is a tiled floor, and the floor is some form of grayish blue as far as I can remember it. The are chairs but not as many as I expected. There are only two lanes of five very narrow chairs and they are off to the side near the walls. Almost all chairs are occupied, by some rough looking people. In a matter of fact, these chairs are so narrow that in the end I prefer to remain standing. Yes, personal space is really important to me. 

        Furthermore, there's trash lying around sparely but despite this, no less noticeable. There's also wind in this room and I can't help but to find that to be strange since we are supposedly underground. Wind literally blows inside here which in my mind gives me a since of how big this place really is. Not only that, but there are also birds nesting in elevated corners of the room which is also odd to me. These birds casually fly down and pick up whatever food items they could get their beaks on and you can see them casually walking around the waiting room. 

        There are thankfully two bathrooms, and they look pretty clean, as well there are two clean looking water fountains as well which is a big plus for me. There are also some vending machines featuring snacks and drinks which I'm currently keeping an eye on in case that I want to try get some snacks. There's also a janitor currently cleaning the place which is pretty reassuring. In a matter of fact, too bad that I can't sit on one of the chairs. You see, if you can't already tell I am very Claustrophobic and I really value my personal space, seating in these chairs will mean that I would have to make physical contact with strangers.

        There is this man speaking franticly on the phone. He seems to be on a video call, what makes this man notable for me is that he seems to be pointing the camera at me and I don't like that. Obviously, he's not videotaping me, I mean why would someone want to video tape me? I'm simply standing here and not doing nothing remarkable. When the man notices me looking at him, he turns away and leaves from the booth. Weird but okay. 

        Now that it is 8:15 in the morning people start lining up in front of the door that leads right into the bus parking lot which is underground. As soon as I see this happening, I also make my way towards the line and get in it. Behind me there's this young woman that looks kind of lost, she has a backpack and some luggage with her, she also has an absent expression on her face. I ignore her at first but she actually engages me by asking me: 

"Hey, can you watch my luggage for me? I want to get some snacks from the vending machine before boarding the bus." 

        I see nothing suspicious about her or what she's asking of me so I reply by saying: 

"Sure thing, go, but make it quick." 

        Upon hearing this, this young-looking lady leaves her position on the line behind me and heads right over to the vending machines in the back of the booth. She approaches the vending machine that contains drinks and purchases a Cola. After obtaining her beverage she heads right on over towards the vending machine that features snacks and attempts to purchase some snacks.

        On the meantime, while I'm watching this young woman from a distance, this employee that seems to be assisting the bus driver who is standing by the door that leads to the bus is passing some pamphlets. When he approaches me and attempts to pass me my pamphlet, I make eye contact with him and ask: 

"What is this?" 

        The young man looks at me and replies: 

"This is a survey; you can fill it out if you like and hand it to me by the end of the bus ride."

"Oh okay, I'll make sure to fill mines up but there's a problem." 

"Yeah? What is it?" 

"I am completely paperless; I am digital only so if I could have a pen." 

"Ah, no problem, ma'am." 

        The young man passes me a pencil which I happily receive. Upon turning back towards the young woman whose luggage, I am watching at the moment; I notice she still is trying to purchase snacks. From what I can tell the machine is acting up and is refusing to give her desired item. What a bummer, seems like the machine has swallowed her money. The janitor who was mopping the floor earlier is trying to aid him but to no avail, the vending machine insists on keeping the money and the snacks. This matter is worrisome to me because I am watching her stuff, and I don't want to remain stuck with this woman's stuff. 

        Out of the sudden though, a technician shows up and opens up the machine, giving the young lady her coveted snacks, she comes right over to the line again and as soon as she gets back, I proceed to greet her back. 

"That was quite the struggle you had there." 

"The machine wasn't working." 

"I can see that." 

        Deep down, I could tell this lady was not from this city. Something in her eyes displayed innocence and naiveness, so because I felt kind of bad for her and for her wellbeing, I proceed to tell her: 

"Listen, watch out with whom you leave your stuff with. You see, many would of just said yes to your request and as soon as you turn your back, they will scram with your luggage never to be seen again." 

"Yea I know but I just didn't want to take all of my stuff over there just to bring it back." 

"I feel you."

"Uh huh." 

"Where are you from?" 

"I'm from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic." 

"Really? Nice! I heard they got nice beaches over there." 

"We do actually, how about you? Where are you from?" 

"I'm from Bogota, Columbia. May I know your name?" 

"My name is Veronica nice to meet you and you?" 

"I am Tubeppa feelings mutual." 

        Great, now I have a travel buddy, my partner in crime who's going to be by my side if things go downhill from here. Upon approaching the door that leads to the bus, the driver asks for the ticket which I swiftly bring up from my email. The bus driver looks at me briefly and asks me: 

"Where are you going?" 

"Harrisburg." 

"Okay get in." 

        Honestly though, I almost let out a sweat here because my paranoid self-thought that I was in the wrong bus. Since I have never used these services, I simply assumed that this bus has only one stop, but no, the bus has a few stops. Before Harrisburg, the bus has to make a quick stop in the city of Philadelphia and after arriving in Harrisburg, the bus will continue on towards the city of Pittsburg. Interesting. 

        Inside the bus, my primary concern is to find my assigned seat. Upon looking towards a guy and asking him where seat number 8b is he said not to worry about it, I could seat wherever I want which is great. Obviously, I pick a seat in the middle back right by a window. Hopefully the bus doesn't fill up so that I could have two seats for myself, one for me and one for my trusty backpack. 

        This bus is pretty neat both outside and specially inside. The windows have dark glass which allows you to look out but nobody from outside can look in, and it doesn't let in too much sunlight. The seats are big and comfortable but a bit stiff and straight. I can't lean back too much because there's a couple seating behind me. There's air conditioner which makes the inside of the bus a bit cold but that is not a problem because I have my trusty trench coat on. 

        The driver gets in and shuts the door and upon seating in the driver seat, he proceeds to introduce himself. 

"Hello everybody, my name is John, and I will be your driver today. This is a Pittsburg bound bus, our next stop will be the city of Philadelphia. When we arrive in Philadelphia, we will make a 10-minute shopping stop before resuming our journey towards Harrisburg. In total, the journey from here to Harrisburg will last four hours so tighten your seat belts, this will be a long, nice drive." 

        No better way to start this journey, don't you think?

CHAPTER 3 

THE FANTASTIC DRIVE FROM NEW YORK CITY, THROUGH NEW JERSEY, TO PHILADELPHIA 

        The bus is preparing to depart. Something that is slightly annoying me is the air vent. You see, as I previously mentioned inside of this bus is pretty cold, but once again that's not very annoying. What is annoying is that one of the many air vents inside of this bus is right above me and is on it's fullest setting. The thing that baffles me about this air vent is that I don't know how to turn it off or lower its pumping speed, after all I am a tech girl, and I can be very handy as well when I need to. Something else that I remember mentioning before is that the bus is not full how I expected it to be. In a matter of fact, saying that the bus is not full is actually a little bit of a stretch. This bus can very well fit 300 passengers, but over here in this bus there's about a hundred at most. This makes this bus pretty empty. Perhaps many of the passengers could not overcome their warm blankets earlier this morning and decided to re-schedule for another day or time. Something noteworthy about this bus, something that is kind of a new thing for me is that there's a toilet in the back of the bus, that's pretty neat. 

        After John's brief rehearsal the bus sets off. I as a good girl make sure to have my seat belt put on, the bus is a big bus, but we can't underestimate a car crash. The bus makes a couple of turns, I can't necessarily tell which streets we are on, all I can tell is that at the moment we are in New York. Suddenly we pass by a what I think it is the Lincoln Tunnel but please don't quote me. Sooner than later, we arrive in Jersey City. From the window I can see the large building scape of New York being bordered by the great Hudson River getting farther and farther away. The view is so nice, and the day is co clear that I decide to take out my phone and record a quick video, but sadly the video doesn't look as good as it appears in real life. 

        Sooner than later and to my surprise, the landscape changes from large buildings to smaller buildings and just a little further down the line the landscape changes again from small buildings and houses to fields, distant towns and lots of astonishing farmlands and windmills. Seriously this is so beautiful, I wish I could make a video of the passing landscape all the way through but that's a stretch and even if I did, it wouldn't look as good. This is something to enjoy right now at the moment. I could only imagine the feeling and sound of the wind as we pass by all of these places, good thing I am not being directly being hit by it though. At some points we also pass through forests and for the longest stretch of this journey, the scenery switches back and forth between forests and farmlands. 

        My co-riders are also a bit interesting. Like me, they are all people out in a call for adventure. I could only imagine, some of them are going out to visit friends and family and some of them are simply returning back home from their most current trip. Among them there's a large family of African descendance, they seem to be bickering but nothing really serious, they are two roads to my left. There's this pretty nice young couple who seem to be really enjoying their time together the best way they can at the moment, I kind of feel jealous of them to be frank. Furthermore, there's this Amish couple and their young adorable little girl. They are also seating a few roads ahead of me also to my left. The young woman named Veronica, the one whom I spoke to earlier is seating two roads behind me, so I can't see what she's up to or talk to her either. 

        Staring at the scenery passing by at about 60 miles per hour can be very fun, entertaining and can give space for reflection but, staring at a window can only be engaging for so long. My co-riders also seem to feel the same way too, many of them are shutting the sheets in order to block the light from their particular windows in order for them to fall sleep. The light doesn't bother me to begin with, my only problem right now is that I am feeling bored. We are currently 45 minutes into this ride and now I am beginning to feel the weight of these upcoming four hours. 

        Because of my sudden boredom I decide to grab my trusty backpack and take out one of my handheld video game devices to play some games, which I am glad I have with me. But as fun as playing my video games is there a slight issue that I always seem to ignore when going on any long trips. When I am riding on any sort of vehicle and I start doing something else besides seating down and waiting for the ride to be over, I start feeling dizzy. That's right, ever since young I always struggled with motion sickness and I know that I am stating the obvious, but this is annoying, like really annoying. 

        Despite this, I am still able to play my games and use my phones during quick intervals, and then I would take a break to let my body recover sort of speak. This dude behind me, he looks Turkish or Indian whispers to me. To be completely frank I have absolutely no idea what he's trying to tell me, so I respond by leaning back slightly and asking him: 

"What's up" 

"Hey, I'm sorry to bother you but can you share your hotspot with me?" 

"Uh sorry no, I can't. You see, my internet is actually limited and if I share my hotspot with you, I will run out of signal really quick." 

"Ah okay sorry, thank you." 

        I'm glad that this guy understands because with all honesty, I don't want to share my hotspot with anybody. After a short while of gaming, it on I start to feel really dizzy. So, after putting my gaming handheld back in my backpack I grab my trusty trench coat and start using it as a blanket. Many of my co-riders are already deep in their sleep and maybe I should join in on the fun, after all, it is okay once in a blue moon to simply follow the current. 

        Right before I ooze off though, I decide to check on my GPS, to see how far we have traveled. To tell you the truth, maybe I should not have done that, when I saw that we were far from even crossing the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the only thing I could do is let out a deep sigh. 

"This is going to be longer than I thought uh? Guess a little sleep is justified." 

        With four hours of passively seating down staring outside in a window that's currently moving at 60 or more miles an hour, it would be big blessing if I could simply sleep through the whole journey. But I have to be shrewd here, part of me wants to stay alert in case some crazy apocalypse happens, so I set my alarm to ring in half an hour intervals. With that being said, I fall sleep. 

        After what seems about 25 minutes passed, I wake up. Sleeping under these conditions is kind of a struggle, but I still manage to pull it out. For curiosity's sake, I decide to pull out my GPS again just to see that we are still deep within New Jersey. I also make sure to look around my parameters and pretty much everyone is sleep, everyone that I can see with my own eyes of course, I have no idea what's going on behind me after all. 

        Another half an hour passes, when I check my GPS again, I see some progress finally. We are still within the borders of New Jersey, but we are also closely approaching the parameters of Pennsylvania which is great. After seeing this great news, I make sure to look around my parameters again and everything seems fine. Once again, most passengers are sleeping still except that some of them are now awake and using their phones. Nothing remarkable here so I ooze off again. 

        After what seems like about 20 minutes John speaks via the speaker again, he remarks: 

"Hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying the ride so far. We are now fast approaching Philadelphia, remember that once we arrive at the bus terminal there, we will take a 10-to-15-minute break in which you can get off the bus and shop around." 

        Knowing that we are fast approaching Philadelphia is pretty promising, but there's still some time before we make it there. So in the end, I decide to fall sleep for another half an hour again. This time I wake up to some passengers complaining to the driver. 

        I can't quite tell what it is they are complaining about since I can't hear what they are saying very well. All I can observe at the moment is that some of the passengers are pointing towards the air vents that are above them. So, who knows? Perhaps they feel that the air hitting them is way too cold? Way too strong? Way too fast? Who knows? It is not my problem anyways. 

        At this point I bring up my phone to check my social media accounts when I suddenly hear a bearded man yell: 

"Hey John! The air is too hot!" 

        That explains it, so apparently the air vents are pumping hot air at the moment, at least some of them are because mines is still super cold. John by means of the speaker replies to the bearded man: 

"Okay! Once we get to Philadelphia we will do a quick check up." 

       

        Not so much time passes until we make it to the parameters of Philadelphia. From afar it looks like a massive thriving city just like New York. As I see the massive skyscrapers getting bigger and bigger at a fast pace, I can't help but to reflect on the fact that the world is a lot bigger than we humans can understand. Obviously we know that, but I believe more often than not we take that fact for granted. We have so much going on within our small confined overly crowded spaces that we often forget that there's so much more going on beyond our parameters. 

        Deep down, within the deepest confines of my subconsciousness, my mind can't simply comprehend that there are more places in the world aside from New York city. That matters little though, no matter how hard it is at the moment for me to fully grasp this fact, my eyes can't stop providing me with the overwhelming evidence. The streets of the downtown area of Philadelphia are crawling with people going on about their daily lives. People who's entire existence I was oblivious of until this moment. 

        There are people standing, there's people fast walking towards their jobs, there's people socializing and more, way more. So much is going on at once and this is outright amazing. In one of these streets, there is this middle age homeless man begging at the side, he has a sign displaying: 

"Need money to build a spaceship." 

        And the funniest part is that the drivers are stopping, having a laugh and giving the man money. Honestly though, I would of done the same thing. Too bad I have a 2.5-inch-thick dark glass stopping me from handing the man some nice change. 

        Suddenly the bus makes a right turn into a moderately sized parking lot. We have arrived at the Philadelphia SwiftWolf terminal. At this point we will be here for about 20 minutes at most. After that, the next stop is Harrisburg, my trip should be over soon. 

CHAPTER 4 
A FATAL TECHNICAL ERROR! FRUSTRATION BEGINS TO SPROUT IN THE PHILADELPHIA SWIFTWOLF TERMINAL 

        

        We have finally arrived at our first shopping stop in the city of Philadelphia. Some of the passengers of the bus are starting to get off to go shopping in the nearby area for some snacks and drinks. Since I am not really familiar with this area nor this bus system, I decide to stay inside of the bus. Afterall I am not really hungry at the moment nor thirsty. According to John this shopping stop will last approximately 15 minutes. 

        

        In a manner so sudden though, John starts to tell everyone without discriminating to get off of the bus. I don't really get to hear it at first until John himself addresses me by telling me: 

"Hey! You need to get off the bus now! Until we check what's going on with it." 

"Am I allowed to leave my stuff here?" 

"Yes, leave your stuff here, everybody will be getting back into the bus in about 15 minutes." 

        At first my inclination is to leave my stuff in my seat but something tells me to take my bag pack with me, after all, I am a very anxious person and I tend to become uneasy when I'm far away from my stuff in an unfamiliar place. So in the end, I take my stuff with me. To be completely frank, this situation has made me a little upset, I really want to continue on with my journey but now that we are experiencing some technical difficulties, who knows how long we will be here for? Hopefully we can get going with the trip within the next 15 minutes. 

        The passengers upon stepping out of the bus either go out shopping within the nearby area or stay standing by the bus within the parking lot or inside the bus terminal. The weather is no longer clear, rainclouds are starting to cover the sky and it is also starting to drizzle a little. The weather is also becoming a bit windy. 

        The place where we currently are at looks like it has seen better days. The parking lot looks uncared for and the building itself looks abandoned in a way. The parking lots are surrounded by what seems like decrepit apartment buildings which are still operational by the way, as in, people are living in those places. There's trash being tossed around and dragged on about by the winds. The walls have cracks on them and there's also some parts of it that have graffiti. This is not what I expected a bus terminal to look like, but I am not going to be here for too long after all, so I won't pay this much mind. 
        I decide to approach Veronica who also decided to remain in the parking lot while John and some staff members are checking up the bus. There is this trapdoor at the side of the bus which the staff has opened up and they are checking the insides of the bus with flashlights. Veronica looks just as upset as I am but for different reasons apparently. 

"I wonder if these vending machines are working." 

        Says Veronica. 

"This place doesn't look so well, so who knows? Only one way to find out." 

        So, Veronica and I decide to approach the vending machines that are nearby the front entrance of the bus terminal. To our surprise, these vending machines are completely empty. 

"This place has definitely seen better days." 

        Says Veronica. 

"I agree, I have heard some things about this city, some of them are not good." 

        Suddenly, John rallies up all of the passengers and says: 

"Alright everyone! You can now get back into the bus!" 

        The passengers start cheering and for good reason. The weather is now starting to become more hectic, and the slight drizzle is becoming closer to heavy rain. Once inside of the bus, I immediately reach the same exact seat that I was seating in, but there's a slight issue. The inside of the bus is way too hot to our discomfort. At first, I don't pay this no mind since I believe that the air conditioner will cooldown the bus little by little. At the moment I am simply happy to be allowed back into the bus. 

        Suddenly and to our misfortune, John by means of the intercom tells everyone: 

"Everybody we all have to leave the bus again! The bus is too hot!" 

"Again?!" 

"Yes, everybody steps off the bus please! Until the bus is able to cooldown." 

        So once again, all of us step off the bus again, and this time to a turbulent weather. It is now raining heavily alongside with heavy winds. Because of the bad weather some passengers decide to head into the bus terminal to seek refuge. Veronica and I alongside with a small group of passengers decide to stay outside by the building. 

        John then decides to approach us who are standing by the side of the building and while some staff members are continuously checking up the bus. John begins telling us the bad news: 

"Alright guys, listen up to what I have to tell you. The cooling system of the bus is now broken." 

        After hearing this the passengers start uttering: 

"What, come on!" 

"I'm going to have to take the bus to the mechanic and come back." 

        These are obviously horrible news. Everybody is now upset, but deep down we all understand that technical errors can happen anytime. 

"Everybody comes inside the bus terminal please!" 

        So, in the end, we all come inside the bus terminal where John once again rallies us up to once again utter the message: 

"Listen up everyone! The cooling system inside the bus is broken! I'm going to have to take the bus to the mechanic to get it fix and then come back. Going to the mechanic should take me 20 minutes." 

        After relaying this message to us once again, John approaches the manager of this bus terminal, and they proceed to go towards the back room to talk. This situation is overall very frustrating, and I am not exaggerating. This is the first time I use these services and something like this has to happen. Now we are going to have to remain here for who knows how long. 

        The inside of the Philadelphia SwiftWolf bus terminal is a large open room that serves mainly as a waiting area. The place is packed, there is currently two lines of people who are getting ready to board their particular busses, one of them is heading towards Atlanta New Jersey. The place looks no better than what it does outside, the whole place is in a decrepit state. The are a lot of chairs but no where enough chairs for all of the people that are currently here at the moment. This means that those of us who just came in are going to have to stand all the way until John comes back from the mechanic. 

        Now I want to use the restroom, so I inform Veronica to wait for me for a second while I go off to use the toilet. If I thought that the place was already in a deplorable condition already then get ready when I start talking about the bathrooms. These bathrooms are in a horrible decrepit state. The place is very dirty. Some bathroom stalls are completely exposed because some doors are outright broken. The toilets are unflushed, you can literally see other people physiological needs floating in the toilets. The soap dispensers are still working fine which is good, so in the end, I do my physiological needs while not having physical contact with the toilet. 

        Once I step out of the women's room, I notice that Veronica is nowhere to be seen, so I start looking for her while yelling her name out loud. I become frustrated at the fact that she didn't wait for me, like doesn't she understand that we are travel buddies now? While I am going around looking for Veronica in the large waiting room, I hear someone knock in the glass crystal from outside. Veronica is knocking the glass from outside. Upon seeing her, I approach the glass door of the side but it's locked. I then approach the other glass door that is further up on the side of the building, but it is also blocked. My frustration starts building up because of this, Veronica swiftly points at the right door for my convenience, and I end up exiting the bus terminal by means of the glass door on the side. 

        Upon going outside Veronica tells me: 

"Hey, I'm going to go get some snacks while John goes towards the mechanic, here take my phone number and call me in case John comes back before I do." 

        I agree with Veronica and take her phone number. Veronica then leaves the parameters of the bus terminal towards the streets outside. I proceed to go back into the building. I could have also gone ahead with her but since I am not familiar with this area nor this bus system, I don't want to take the risk of being left behind here. 

        There's this man, a passenger who seems to really know he's way around. Something about his demeanor seems to inspire confidence. He's waiting at the information booth so because of this, I decide to approach him and ask for his name: 

"Hi, I'm Tubeppa I'm on the same bus as you are." 

"Hey there, I'm Mark." 

"You seem to know your away around this system, how long do you think the driver is going to be at the mechanic for?" 

"Not 20 minutes obviously, remember that 20 minutes is the time it will take him to get there to the mechanic, so him going there and coming back would be 40 minutes." 

"Uh huh." 

"So at best it will take the driver around an hour to get back, 20 minutes to arrive at the mechanic, 20 minutes for the checkup and the fix and 20 minutes to arrive here at the terminal." 

"So your saying that it will take him an hour?" 

"That's because I'm being optimistic at the moment but expect the worse." 

"Oh God, don't say that I'll hope for the best, after all, one hour is not so bad." 

        Mark goes ahead and takes his seat which he found when he got into the bus terminal earlier. I decide that If I am going to be in this place for an hour at best, I may as well find a seat and spend the whole-time playing video games. 

        So, I begin looking around the large open waiting room for a free seat, and fortunately, I happen to find a seat all the way to the back near the bathrooms right by the Amish couple, so I go ahead and take that seat. Upon approaching the seat, I proceed to greet the Amish couple by saying: 

"Hello guys, I hope you are all doing well, may I take this seat right by you guys?" 

        The Amish couple are very polite and in a very kindly way they respond: 

"Yes, go right ahead, the seat is all yours." 

        So, I take the seat and make myself right at home. The Amish man now leans on to me and whispers to my ear:

"20 minutes to get back into the bus, right?" 

"Honestly, seems like we are going to have to wait a little longer than that to get back into the bus. Probably around an hour wait at best." 

        The Amish man lets out a slight sight. 

"Well, is alright as long as we are able to get back home in time it should be okay." 

        Now that I remember I decide to send a quick text message to Veronica: 

"Hey, the driver is going to take approximately one hour to get back so you can take your time." 

        Veronica replies: 

"Okay, thank you for letting me know, I'll be back there soon." 

        A few minutes pass by while I am in my seat scrolling through my social media accounts when I look up right ahead of me, there's this man that looks really lost, he also seems to be desperately seeking help from someone. My instinct upon seeing this is to simply ignore him since after all, whatever he's going through is not directly my problem, but part of me feels like I can help this man and my consciousness would simply not let me ignore him for long. As I get up from my seat, I turn towards the Amish couple and let them know: 

"Hey, I'll be right back, can you watch over my stuff?" 

"Yes of course, go right ahead." 

        I know I can trust them with my things, after this interaction, I head right towards the front to greet the lost looking man. 

        Upon approaching him I greet him by saying: 

"Hey, hello, are you okay?" 

"No, I urgently need someone that is able to speak Spanish please." 

"Hey, I am of Hispanic descent too so I know more than a thing or two about Spanish, how can I help you sir?" 

"I need to go to Atlanta city in New Jersey, can you please ask one of the agents in the information booth if they have any buses available that are headed that direction?" 

"Sure thing sir, considerate it done." 

        So we approach the information booth agent and I proceed to ask him: 

"Hey, this man is looking for a bus that is headed towards Atlanta, New Jersey. Do you have anything available at this moment? He seems to be in a hurry." 

"yes we do but, our next bus heading towards Atlanta will depart within a few hours, if you want there's actually a bus nearby here that goes directly towards Atlanta, do you want me to show you where it is?" 

"yes of course, go ahead, tell me." 

"The bus stops right there between 10th street and Filbert Street, in a matter of fact, once you reach that interception you will see it right there." 

"Alright, thanks, I appreciate your help." 

        After this I relay the information to the man and we both proceed to exit the bus terminal and head right on towards the interception between 10th and Filbert. Upon exiting the bus terminal, I can see that this street Filbert is a very busy street, there's lots of businesses and places to go into, for example, a few feet away from the bus terminal is a large looking movie theater. While we are walking towards the interception, I ask the man: 

"Are you new here? How long you been living in the states?" 

"Yes, I been living in the States for about 3 months now, I come from Jamaica." 

"I see, listen, I always tell this to everyone that has newly arrived at this country, the hardest part about moving to United States or any country howsoever is the beginning, everything afterwards is just fine." 

        The man smiles briefly while reflecting on something I never find out about. Upon seeing this I turn my face towards him and ask him: 

"What is your name sir?" 

"My name is Albert, nice to meet you, what is yours?" 

"I am Tubeppa, is a pleasure as well." 

        At this point, we reach the interception between 10th street and Filbert where the bus stop is visible right about a block away. At this point, Albert and I shake hands. 

"Thank you so much for your help ma'am." 

"No problem, Albert, it was a pleasure, I wish you the best in all of your endeavors from now and on." 

"Same." 

        Upon saying this, Albert parts ways we me and runs towards the bus that literally arrives as we were shaking hands. This is the last time Albert and I ever saw each other. I hope he's doing well right now. After Albert goes away, I head right back into the bus terminal, back into my seat besides the Amish couple. 

        There's a grocery shop right there in the interception between 10th and Filbert so because of that and because I am aware that Veronica is in a never-ending quest for finding snacks, I decide to send her a text: 

"Hey, you know that there's a grocery shop right there a few feet away from the terminal between Filbert and 10th, you could also go there." 

"I know, I was actually there a few minutes ago, I am back inside the bus terminal now, I am seating in the back near the restrooms." 

        Interesting, so as I head back into my seat I find Veronica right there, seating by a seat besides of mines. I have absolutely no idea how she ended up there but there she was, and to be honest, that is totally fine. 

        Veronica got herself a small plain Cheese Pizza pie and a bottle of Soda, the girl is living the dream, and I don't blame her, I'll probably do the same later. As we casually seat right aside of each other, Veronica is eating her food and I am playing my video games, suddenly, out of frustration and with a straight face, Veronica while still eating her Cheese Pizza utters: 

"I am so frustrated! I'm going to be late for work today!" 

"Uh? Where do you work?" 

"I work a few hours away from Pittsburg in a resort." 

"You should call your boss then and let them know that you are going to be late today." 

        After I told this to Veronica, her face tightens a little, she seems reluctant to the idea of calling her boss. 

"Listen, whenever I was arriving late for work, I would always call my boss and let them know about it. It is never a problem, it's something that happens and we all know and understand." 

"They are going to fire me." 

        Veronica now starts to become nervous and slightly frantic. 

"Why would they fire you for this Veronica? It is not your fault that our bus broke down and that now we are delayed, what time are you supposed to punch in for work today?" 

"I have to be there at 10pm on the dot." 

"Veronica, we still have plenty of time, is about 11:30am right now, we still have the whole day ahead of us, I am sure the bus will be back soon and we will be able to continue." 

        Veronica lets out a deep sigh. 

"Okay, I'll wait an hour before calling my boss and letting her know." 

        Said Veronica in a rather reluctant way. 

Something must be going on with her, it is completely normal to be late to work every once and a while for circumstances that are out of our control, so I don't know what her deal is, perhaps she has a track record of lateness which that on its own is something to be concerned about but hey, this time it is not her fault. Perhaps she's simply being pessimistic at the moment, who knows? 

"Listen, even if you got a track record of lateness, there's literally nothing you can do right now. The bus broke down and it was not because of you, is just life." 

"Yeah, I know but I am still a little nervous, you see? My bosses had to talk to me earlier this month because of my performance, I really do not want to add lateness to my track record." 

"I see what you mean now. Still, trust me when I say that it is not a big deal, I am sure that after you explain to them what happened, your bosses will understand." 

        Because of the most recent developments, I decide to send my aunt, my family member waiting to receive me in Harrisburg a quick text informing her: 

"Hey, as of right now, I am currently stuck in Philadelphia for one hour because the bus broke down, but I should be on my way shortly after that." 

"Okay honey, let me know if anything else happens." 

        After this, while waiting for time to pass, I decide to take out my drawing tablet and in order to sketch a little. As I sketch a nice original character, the Amish couple that is seating besides of me takes a keen interest on what I am doing. In the beginning I thought that what I was doing is considered offensive to them because I am currently using technology but as I soon realize that belief was a huge stretch. Both the husband and the wife seem very amused by me drawing in my small tablet, so upon taking note of them, I decide to show them some of my best drawings. The couple is very impressed, and the husband turns towards me and asks me: 

"What is that?" 

"Oh this? This is a drawing tablet; we use it to draw and sketch just like paper." 

"How many pages can you fit in that?" 

        The wife asks. 

"Thousands! Thousands of pages, you might as well never run out of them to be honest." 

        Upon hearing this, both the man and the woman are astonished, and glance at each other with awe. They seem to be very amazed at the fact that you can fit so many pages inside of this small little square tablet. To me, this situation feels very wholesome, and I like it. 

        I am already aware that the Amish are a community of people that prefer to keep a primitive lifestyle away from anything electronic or technological and from the internet. Back when I was in middle school, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about them and their lifestyle, but this is actually the very first time in my life that I actually get to interact with them directly. So because of this I turn towards the couple and proceed to ask them: 

"What are your names?" 

"My name is Daniel, and this is my wife, Sophia." 

"How about your baby girl? She is so adorable! What is her name?" 

"Oh, our baby? His name is Jehosaphat, he's a boy and he is 9 months old right now." 

"Wait he is a boy? I thought he was a girl!" 

"Yes, I know! Is quite hard to tell but he is indeed a boy." 

        Upon hearing this, I chuckle a little. I find this baffling because the little baby is dressed in a manner that makes him look like a girl. 

"I thought the baby was a girl because of the way he is dressed." 

"That is because at this particular age, the only thing that differentiates a boy and a girl is the strap they wear on their head. Besides that, boys and girls wear the same clothes." 

"Ah! I see, that's good to know, I'll keep that in mind for future reference!" 

        At this point my geekiness started to kick in, you see, I am a big history girl, I love reading about the past and I also love reading about different cultures, so I addressed the couple and started saying: 

"I find the Amish to be so interesting, the way their lifestyle is and their unique sense of fashion. I find it so fascinating how advance, yet primitive you guys are, for example, I have watched so many videos of when you guys literally pick up a house and transfer it from one place to another! You guys literally do it by hand! I never knew that buildings had the capability of being moved until I learned that from you guys." 

        Daniel and Sophia just stare me during my whole monologue, and at the end, they don't really seem to know how to provide a reply. Danie very nonchalantly replies: 

"Yea I guess, I mean we try our best you know?"  

        Now I, in a very excitingly manner address Daniel and ask him: 

"What are your hobbies?" 

"Well, I guess I don't have any hobbies, now a days I am almost always busy." 

"I like to Knittle outfits for my children on my spare time." 

        Sophia adds in response to my question. 

"Waw! That is a very essential skill you got there! Knowing how to Knittle can get you out of a bind and can come in handy. Especially when one has no money to purchase clothes." 

"I know right?!" 

        At this point, after a brief silence, I decide to take out my video game console and start playing games. Daniel takes note of that and starts watching me play, as a response, I lean in a little towards Daniel so that he can have a good look of what I am currently doing. 

        I am currently playing an open world monster catching game, at some point during my gameplay, I go into the inventory of my character and proceed to take out my bike. In the game, the bike pops out of nowhere after you click on the inventory icon. This has no real-life application how so ever and this seems to amuse Daniel a lot, to the point that he starts chuckling. 

"Yes!" I utter. "It is impressive how far technology has come!"  

        Despite the light moment we are having right now, it is hard to get distracted from the fact the bus has yet to come. You see, at this point, it has been longer than one hour already. Right now, you can sense tension growing in the air, the passengers of the bus going towards Pittsburg and other busses are starting to feel concerned about the whereabouts of the bus.

        In a matter of fact, I can see Mark from afar having what seems to be a discussion with the information booth agent. Because of this, I turn towards Daniel and tell him: 

"I'll be right back; I am going to check out what is going on." 

"Okay, go." 

        I turn towards Veronica and tell her the same thing. Then after letting my traveling buddies know, I swiftly go towards the front booth and join Mark. Mark takes notice of me and he looks very upset, like something really bad has happened. 

"What happened Mark?" 

"Look at your email." 

        Mark replied to me in response. 

After hearing Mark's response, I take out my phone and log into my email address to see a recent email sent by SwiftWolf not so many minutes ago. The email says: 

"We are sad to inform you that your trip has been cancelled. Please call this 'number' below in order to get your money back." 

        Immediately after reading this email, my eyebrows started to twitch a little. And a slight devilish smirk is reflected on my face.

"This is going to be one of those days, isn't it?" 

        I think to myself in an obvious sarcastic way, it appears so. This is going to be one of those incredibly long days after all. 

CHAPTER 5
THE DISSAPOINTMENT THAT LEADS TO A HEART BREAK; THE INCOMPETENCE OF SWIFTWOLF IS QUITE BAFFLING 

            The trip towards Harrisburg and Pittsburg has been cancelled suddenly by the company, the passengers of the bus heading towards Harrisburg and then towards Pittsburg are now stranded in Philadelphia. The bus that was headed towards Pittsburg has been taken out of commission. Apparently, our dear friend John the bus driver has gone missing from the scene, which means he most likely went home after going to the mechanic. All of us are frustrated, all of us are sad, all of us are mad. 

        Now that I have had a few seconds to fully comprehend the situation we are currently in, I bring out my phone. Then I proceed to call the number that it is provided by the email from SwiftWolf. The phone rings a couple of times, but sooner than later to my fortune, the operator agent picks up: 

"Hello, thank you for calling SwiftWolf, my name is Jeff, how can I help?" 

"Hello, yes, this is Tubeppa and our bus headed towards Pittsburg has broken down and our trip has been cancelled by SwiftWolf." 

"Okay, would you like a refund? Or would you like to reschedule your trip?" 

"Yes, I want to reschedule for the next soonest departure please." 

"Alright, great." 

        Jeff now proceeds to ask me for my ticket number which I promptly provide to him, after I provide my ticket number to Jeff, Jeff proceeds to ask me: 

"Okay, so where would you like to go?" 

"I want to go towards Harrisburg. I came from New York and I want to go to Harrisburg." 

"Where are you currently?" 

"Sir, I am stuck in Philadelphia, that's where the bus broke down." 

"Okay, so you came out of New York and want to go towards Harrisburg correct?" 

"Yes correct sir, but remember, I am in Philadelphia right now right now." 

        The reason I am emphasizing so much the fact that I am in Philadelphia right now is because I want to prevent my ticket from saying that I come from New York headed towards Harrisburg, basically I am simply trying to prevent any logical error being displayed in the ticket which then may or may not cause problems for me later on when boarding the next bus to take my desired route. 

        Furthermore, I have an incline that Jeff doesn't quite get what I am trying to

explain to him. He's tone of gives me the impression that he is rather confused at 

the moment. 

"Alright ma'am, so I have this bus that is departing from New York at about 3pm and its scheduled to reach Philadelphia by 5pm, would you like to take that bus?"

"Wait what? It's about 12pm right now, are you saying that I will have to wait five hours until the next departure sir?" 

"Yes ma'am, this is our soonest departure, is either this or a refund." 

"Okay, I'll take it." 

        This situation is so discouraging. This also means that I would be arriving in Harrisburg at around 7pm to be later picked up by my aunt. Originally, I was supposed to arrive at Harrisburg at 1pm by lunch time and join my family then. Yet once again, the 5pm departure is the best option because it is the only option, so I have no choice but to take it. 

"Okay, great. I will send you the email with the new ticket, you should receive it within a few seconds." 

"Okay, one more thing sir." 

"Uh huh?" 

"I also have an Amish couple right here with me and they also need help rescheduling their trip, I am also calling in their behalf." 

"Uh ma'am you will have to call back for that, we can only do one ticket per call." 

"Okay sir? I'll call back, thank you." 

        After this I hang up the phone and immediately try to call back to SwiftWolf. Although I have to admit, I did raise my eyebrow a little when I heard Jeff say that they can only do one ticket per call. But I simply assume that they must have a good reason for it. At this point I still have some degree of hope for this company. 

        The email with my new ticket arrives right after ending my call. With all honesty though, as discouraging as this situation is so far, it is good to know what to expect from now and on. Now I know at least how long I will have to wait before continuing on with my trip and at least I have my seat on the next bus ensured. So I can give SwiftWolf that, I'm still extremely disappointed at the outcome of these events though. 

        No time to think about this fact though, I still have to help out my Amish friends. As soon as I dial the SwiftWolf customer service number my phone, that up to this point had an extremely low battery, gives out and dies. During all of this time, I been so distracted with this situation that I failed to take notice of my dying phone. As frustrating as this is, it's all my fault. 

        So, I immediately grab my backpack and take my phone charger and after looking around for an available outlet, I find one outlet available right by the restrooms, so I plug my phone there and it begins to charge. My phone takes a frustrating long ten minutes to turn back on. Minutes in which I was literally standing with it on my hands while Daniel and Sophia simply looked at me. 

        This makes me so sad, but finally, the phone turned on and as a result, I immediately dial up the SwiftWold customer service number again in order to help Daniel and Sophia reschedule their trip. 

"Hello, thank you for calling SwiftWolf, this is Diana speaking, how can I help you?" 

"Hello Diana, I am Tubeppa and our bus trip has been cancelled." 

"Okay, would you like to reschedule or get your money back?" 

"I am actually calling in behalf of someone, I already have rescheduled my trip." 

"Oh okay, who may that be?" 

"Is an Amish couple and their newborn baby." 

"Okay, so what are the names of the adults?" 

"Daniel and Sophia, those are the names."

"And what is their ticket number?" 

        Daniel passes me the printout of their ticket. 

"Their ticket number is [...]" 

"Okay, thanks. And where are they going to?" 

        I quickly turn towards Daniel and repeat the question to him, Daniel responds by saying: 

"Oklahoma, Ohio." 

        So after hearing Daniel's response, I address Diana again and tell her: 

"They are headed towards Oklahoma, Ohio ma'am."

"Okay, it seems that the nearest departure towards Oklahoma, Ohio arrives at Philadelphia at about 8pm today is that okay for you?" 

"Wait what! Are you serious about that ma'am?" 

"Yes, I have another one coming at 10pm if anything." 

"Ma'am (I take a deep breath) hold on." 

        I turn my face away from the phone and turn towards Daniel.

"Daniel, she says that the nearest bus going towards Oklahoma is arriving here at 8pm." 

"What?!" 

        Daniel looks at me in great shock. To tell you the truth, I can't tell whether he's overly disappointed or severely shocked, I cannot tell.

"8pm? That's the time we were supposed to arrive home." 

        After hearing this from Daniel, I turn my face back to my phone and begin to address Diana once again.

"Ma'am, do you understand that this couple has a newborn baby with them correct?" 

"I understand but that's all I can do right now." 

         Now my voice begins to sound a lot more aggressive and confrontational. 

"So your telling me that you are expecting this couple to wait for Eight hours in this bus terminal while (I get interrupted by Diana.)" 

"Ma'am I understand but (I interrupt Diana.)" 

"Yes! I am aware you understand! But how does you understanding this situation help this situation in any way?" 

"Ma'am I understand but there's nothing else I can do for you at the moment besides giving them this trip or giving them their money back."

        At this point I take my phone away from my face and with my eyes wide opened due to a deep sadness within me, I glance at Daniel. Daniel locks eyes with me, he can read my expression and he's equally as distraught as I am. No words need to be said, Daniel and Sophia already know. At this point both them and I know that this situation has really gotten out of hand. At this point there's nothing I can really say or do either, the feeling of hopelessness begins to dominate the air around Daniel, Sophia and myself.

        There's a middle-aged lady that is standing in our parameters. She has listened to the whole conversation since I have had Diana on the speaker this whole time. She approaches me and asks me: 

"Excuse me young lady, can I speak to the agent for a second?" 

        I turn towards the lady, and I already can tell that this person is not someone to mess with, so I respond to her by saying: 

"Sure ma'am go ahead." 

        I pass the lady my phone and the lady starts speaking with Diana.

"Hello, this is Margaret speaking, I work for the White House, and I have been listening to this whole conversation." 

        Upon hearing Margaret speak these words, shivers suddenly go down my spinal cord, my spinal juices feel like they been left in a fridge for a few minutes. Even my skin becomes like that of a chicken and my corporal hairs straighten up. This is quite the way for things to become escalated. 

"You do realize that this couple has a newborn child correct?" 

"Ma'am, I understand." 

"You also understand that you expect this couple with a newborn child to wait for Eight hours under these unsanitary conditions, correct?" 

"Unsanitary conditions?" 

"There's literally birds here!" 

        Not going to lie, this caught me by surprise. As soon as I heard Margaret mention this, I looked around the parameters and hold and behold there is a nest of doves right above us, 8 O'clock from us to be specific. Upon hearing this, Diana replies by saying: 

"Ma'am, wait a second please." 

        While Diana put us on hold for a few seconds, Margaret turns towards Daniel, Sophia and I and says:

"This is outrageous." 

"I know!" 

"If they can't provide their services after you paid for it, than the right thing to do is to pay someone else to do it for you. This company can easily send a taxi here for them to take them where they need to go." 

"Yes, they probably make a lot of money, probably enough to send us all in taxies." 

"Yes! They are a Million-dollar company!" 

        After Margaret replied to me, Diana came back. 

"I am sorry ma'am but there's nothing I can do but to give them their money back." 

"What's your name honey?" 

"Diana ma'am." 

        After Diana tells Margaret her name, Margaret's voice becomes less confrontational and more passive and reasonable. She lowers the tone of her voice and addresses Diana by saying: 

"You understand that this is a big deal, right? I will literally take a picture of this couple and send it to the transportation authority; this will come out on the newspapers you know?" 

"I understand but (Margaret interrupts Diana.)"

"But what!"

        Margaret's voice suddenly becomes confrontational again. Margaret then adds: 

"You're telling me that you can't send a taxi here to take them home?!"

"Ma'am we can't do that." 

"I guess we are going to have to complain then." 

"Margaret hold on." 

        I uttered. Then after Margaret took a small pause I turn towards Daniel, and I begin to address him. 

"Daniel, this is your choice, do you want to take the offer or take your money back?" 

        Daniel's expression says it all, he looks distraught and disappointment. This is really hard to see, to see such a nice guy in this situation is quite saddening to both Margaret and me.

"We were supposed to be home at that time (referring to 8pm), at what time we will be arriving then?" 

        Margaret utters the same question towards Diana. Diana responds by saying: 

"You will be arriving at Oklahoma, Ohio at 11am in the morning." 

        Daniel lets out a deep breath while he's eyes stare down at the floor. Margaret and I are in complete awe of how indifferent this company, SwiftWolf is. As anger begins to accumulate and flow swiftly through Margaret's and my veins Daniel responds by saying: 

"I guess I'll take it." 

        Upon saying this, Margaret responds to Daniel by saying: 

"To be completely honest, you may as well take it because getting your money back is a process on its own." 

        Daniel has decided to take SwiftWolf offer, this means that both him and his wife Sophia and he's son Jehosaphat are going to remain in this bus terminal for Eight hours until 8pm. Right now the time is 1:40pm, this means that both Daniel and Sophia have a long day ahead of them right now. 

"Okay." 

        Says Diana. Then Diana adds:

"I will pass the ticket to you." 

        Margaret passes my phone back to me. Now it is me talking in the phone. 

"You can email the ticket to me, and I will ask one of the staff members at the information booth to print out a copy for us." 

        Diana did just that, the email arrived as soon as I provided Diana with my email. The disappointment we feel at this point is immeasurable. And personally I, I feel heartbroken for Daniel and his family. Upon receiving the email, Daniel and I head towards the information booth where we ask one of the staff members to print it out for us. The staff member is very nice to us, and she prints Daniel's ticket for us. Upon receiving it, I pass the copy of the new ticket to Daniel. Then after we have the copy of the new ticket, both Daniel and I head back to our chair to sit down. And we did, in a matter of fact, no words came out of either of our mouths for a short while after that. We both just sat there. 

CHAPTER 6
AN INCREDIBLY SEVERE COMMUNICATION ERROR IS DISCOVERED; TUBEPPA'S TUG OF WAR WITH THE SWIFTWOLF BUS CORPORATION 

        It's been a few minutes already, Daniel, Sophia and I as well as Veronica been seating here quietly for all of this time. Veronica hasn't really bothered to call SwiftWolf to reschedule nor her boss to let him know she will be getting late to work today. She seems to have some sort of motivation issues, because of her lack of motivation to do anything about the situation at hand, I decide to not bother with her much. 

        There are some people lining up to get ready to leave on their bus. This bus is departing towards Boston, Margaret, the lady that helped us is among those people. We wave goodbyes from afar and I thank her for all of her help, and she leaves. The people that are headed towards Boston proceed to board their bus and proceed to leave. 

        Now, the entire waiting room looks a lot emptier, there is still a lot of people here but the place looks a lot more spacious and less packed than before. Time passes by and the place becomes emptier and emptier. The birds which are mostly Doves mentioned earlier that are nesting very close to us, are now flying around the entire waiting area pecking at whatever food items they manage to ger their beaks on. 

        Some funny looking individuals are all the way to the front and they are acting strange, they are yelling out loud and moving franticly. One of them doesn't even have a shirt on. The ambience in this place is what I would refer to calmly chaotic. We are all calm, but it is because we have no other choice but to remain calm. Suddenly though, Daniel breaks the silence: 

"Hey, how much do we owe you for all the help you given us?" 

        This catches me off-guard briefly, but I proceed to respond to Daniel: 

"Bah Daniel, no worries, this is on the house."  

"No, we insist." 

        Adds Sophia.

"Guys, it's okay, this is not a big deal." 

"You did so much for us, here take this." 

        As a courtesy and because I could also use some cash, I decide to take the money that Daniel and Sophia give me. I do not pay attention to the amount of money they have given me; I really appreciate the gesture from their part and that's what is important. At this point I also go ahead and ask Daniel and Sophia: 

"What would you guys like to eat?" 

        Sophia leans in and responds: 

"We like fish and we also like chicken as well." 

"Is fried chicken fine with you guys?" 

"Yes, totally." 

"I will go ahead and order it for you then." 

        Sophia and Daniel seem very happy and thankful, and I personally could not be any less fulfilled by this. I love the feeling of being needed and being useful to someone. If anything, in my opinion, this has been the best part of this whole ordeal, to have been able to meet Daniel and Sophia. 

        I also happen to notice that Daniel and Sophia are running out of water. There are a few water fountains present in the waiting room, but because of how this place is kept up I want nothing to do with whatever comes out of these water pipes and Daniel and Sophia seem to share my feelings about the subject. 

"Hey, I will go ahead and get some drinks, would you like me to bring you something?" 

"You can bring us whatever you like." 

"Let's see, do you like orange juice? Apple juice? or Grape juice?" 

"Orange juice is fine, if not Apple juice." 

"Okay, how about the baby?" 

"We usually give him yogurt." 

"What flavor?" 

"Vanilla is fine as well as plain yogurt." 

"Okay friends, I'll be back." 

        After this, I leave the bus terminal and head right over to the grocery store, once upon arriving, I head right over towards the fridge and get a 2 liter orange juice bottle. I also intent to get my hands on some yogurts but I can't find them, so I head over the cash register and ask the cashier: 

"Hey, I am looking for the yogurts." 

"They are over there in the left wall." 

"Thanks." 

        So I head right towards the left wall, and I see a good variety of yogurt cups. There is one strawberry yogurt cup as well as some blueberry yogurt cups, there's also one plain flavor yogurt and a cup of Greek yogurt, I decide to grab all of the cups of yogurt except the Greek, that yogurt is way to bitter for the paladar of Nine-month-old child like Jehosaphat. 

        The cashiers are very nice, once I approach the front, the female cashier asks me: 

"How are you doing today?" 

"If I can sum up this day in one word, that word would be 'crazy.'"

        We all have a laugh at what I just said. These cashiers are probably very familiar to people expressing themselves this way. 

"The funny thing is that, this is actually my first time ever in Philadelphia." 

"Oh really?" 

"Yes, I think is nice so far aside from my situation right here (I point my thumb finger towards the Philadelphia SwiftWolf bus terminal building.)"

"We are glad you feel this way." 

"I do have a question though." 

"Uh huh?" 

"Are people around here as nice as you guys are or are they like New York?" 

        The cashier while smiling points me towards the direction of the entrance: 

"Look over there." 

        I turn towards the door, there's a homeless man lying in the pavement right in front of the door. He's accompanied by other homeless people that are seating nearby the entrance of the store. Then the cashier points me towards the back of the store: 

"Look over there." 

        Once I turn towards the back, there is this middle age man that is not looking well, he looks like he under the influence of some narcotic and he's grabbing items in the shelves and dropping some of them in the floor.

"I see now." 

"This is what we have to deal with everyday over here." 

"Listen guys, we have to push forward, that is all I can say right now." 

        We chuckle at what I have said. 

"Well guys, it was a pleasure meeting you." 

"Same, see ya!" 

        From what I can tell, there is a lot of poverty in this city of Philadelphia, and this is supported by the fact that there are a lot of decrepit buildings in the nearby area as well. When I get back into the bus terminal and I approach Daniel and Sophia, I proceed to pass them the drink and the yogurts.

"I could not find any other flavors but these. (referring to the yogurts)" 

"It's okay, these will do just fine." 

"I also forgot to bring you guys cups." 

"That's totally fine, we have our own cups right here." 

        After giving the couple the drinks and snacks, I go ahead and seat down to drink my own juice. But there's something that bothers me at the moment. It's my updated ticket. When speaking to Jeff, the agent, I made it very specific to him that I am currently located in Philadelphia, despite this, according to the ticket, I am supposably expected to board the bus in New York when it departs later at about 3pm.

        The ticket also says that the bus will depart out of New York city at 3pm and according to the ticket the final stop of the bus will be Philadelphia. Maybe I am exaggerating but my dealings with this company has left an extremely bitter taste on my mouth, so in order to make sure that everything is fine, I decide to call back the SwiftWolf customer service number.  

"Good afternoon, this is Rachel speaking, how can I help you?" 

"Hi, good afternoon Rachel, this is Tubeppa and well, what I have today is a long story but to make it short, my trip has been cancelled and I had to renew my ticket because of it but I have a concern regarding my updated ticket."

"Uh huh?" 

"I think the information on my ticket is incorrect." 

"Okay, I see ms. Tubeppa, can I get your ticket number?" 

"Yes, my ticket number is [...]" 

"Okay, so you are supposed to board the bus that departs from New York at 3pm and that's headed to Philadelphia is that correct?" 

"No ma'am, you see, I am already in Philadelphia."

        I knew it! That guy Jeff made a fatal mistake on my new ticket. 

"You see ma'am, I made it very clear to the agent that was renewing my ticket that I was already located in Philadelphia and not in New York and he still decided me to schedule me to board the bus in New York anyways." 

"I see, I understand." 

"So can you please change my ticket so that I don't have any problems boarding the bus towards my destination which is Harrisburg?" 

"Unfortunately no, there's nothing I can do." 

        This right here, these words are what you call the tipping point for me. This company has absolutely no point on having a customer service number, because all they can do is tell me what they can't do, they are never able to fully help and when they do help it is at a huge stretch that they do. 

"Ma'am, what do you mean by that? What do you mean that there's nothing you can do for me?" 

"We can't change the ticket more than once at a time so, no I can't change the ticket again, sorry." 

"Ma'am do you understand that this was your mistake and not mines?" 

"Yes but there's nothing I can do except to give you your money back, sorry." 

"Ma'am, I am basically stranded here in Philadelphia, a place that I have never been in before and your telling me that you can't fix a simple communication error from your part? Because of some policy you guys have?" 

"I understand but once again, there's nothing I can do for you except give you your money back, once again sorry." 

        This is when I start to become aggravated, this is not normal for me. I am known as a very passive person, I almost never get mad, and I almost never start a show or a ruckus, but today is that one day where all of those changes. 

"It is so easy for you to say, 'I understand, I understand' and then do nothing about it! Let me speak to your supervisor!" 

"That's not going to do anything, she is just going to tell you the same thing as I did." 

"Ma'am, I don't want to talk to you right now, can I please speak to your supervisor?" 

"Okay, you will need to hold for a few minutes then, she is currently busy." 

"That's fine." 

        After this, Rachel put me on hold for a few minutes, minutes that literally felt like an eternity. At this point I am starting to blush, something that it is not usual for me, this goes to show how mad I have become. 

"Hello, how can I help you." 

"I need you to please change the information of my ticket because the information in it is incorrect. You see, my trip got cancelled and the agent that originally rescheduled my trip put the incorrect information in it." 

"Sorry, we can't do anything for you." 

"Ma'am this is your mistake not mines! Do you understand this?!" 

"Yes ma'am but sorry, all we can do is give you your money back and you will have to email customer service for that okay?" 

"Email them? I can't call them instead?" 

        At this point I am trying to figure out what else is there for me to do, as this conversation develops, I am thinking of taking the money back and then immediately booking another trip in order to not remain stranded in Philadelphia. 

"No, you can only email them ma'am sorry." 

"Okay and how long will it take for them to respond?" 

"About 96 hours." 

"Excuse me!! Your expecting me to wait in this bus stop for Four days?! 

"I am sorry ma'am but that's all we can do for you." 

"Are you crazy? Do you really expect me to stay in this decreptid place for Four days without a place to sleep or do my necesities?" 

"Listen I already told you the options, we can't renew your ticket again and we can only refer you to customer service, we are only agents, that's all we can do for you. If anything speak to the manager in the bus terminal to see if he can do something for you." 

        My breathing has become heavy and profuse, to tell you the truth, I feel scared. I am essentially trapped in this place, the money I have could help me afford an hotel but not for that long. This is basically no longer a slight inconvenience, this situation has escalated to a fight for survival. 

"Okay, can you please stay online then? While I speak to the manager here?" 

"Uh no, that is not within my jurisdiction, there's nothing I can do for you anymore."

        It's too late, I am already heading towards the front information booth to address the manager. As I walk towards the front I tell the agent: 

"Ma'am, I feel genuinely sorry for this interaction, you see, I'm generally a very nice and friendly person. But this is the side of me you're going to get and sadly you and I will never speak to each other again for you to see my nice side. Thank you for nothing!" 

        Then I hang up the phone and arrive at the front information desk. Where a stern looking man is seating at. 

"Hello, can I speak to the manager?" 

"I am the manager; how can I help?"

"Listen I am very aggravated right now you see, I am from the bus that broke down earlier, after the trip got cancelled, I called the customer service number to have my trip reschedule. The agent did just that, but he put the wrong information on my ticket. I called them again just for them to tell me that there's nothing they can do to fix it. Is there anything you can do to help me? Like telling the bus driver that it is okay to let me in since I already paid for the trip anyways?"

"No, you're going to have to call them again." 

"Listen! They were the ones that told me to talk to you and now you're sending me back to them?!" 

"No ma'am listen to me, I am tired of dealing with this same exact situation. All you have to do, is call them back and instead of asking them to fix the updated ticket, ask them to fix the original ticket and you see that it is going to work. I have to deal with these people on a daily basis, I know how they work." 

        While I am breathing profusely and with a slightly tighten face, I respectfully tell the manager: 

"Okay, but I will be right back in case of anything." 

"Okay." 

        So, I leave the front desk and head back into my seating area. I then look up through my emails and find my old ticket, the original one and then I dial up the SwiftWolf customer service number one more time. This time, I make sure to take a few deep breaths in order to not be rude to the next agent.

"Hello, thank you for calling SwiftWolf, this is Michelle, how can I help you?" 

"Hello Michelle, I'm Tubeppa. My trip has been cancelled and I need to reschedule my trip, can you help me out?" 

"Yes of course, give me your ticket number whenever you can." 

"Okay, my ticket number is [...] (I give her the number of the original ticket.)" 

"Okay thank you, so your headed towards Harrisburg I see, the next bus to depart Philadelphia towards Harrisburg will be arriving at your stop at around 5pm, would you like to take that bus." 

"Yes! Please, let me take that one!" 

"Okay, the email with your updated ticket should be arriving at your feed soon." 

        As soon as Michelle said that the email with my new fixed ticket came in. I can't describe the amount of relief I feel once I hear the notification on my phone come in. It genuinely feels like fresh water in a hot day in the desert. 

"Thank you so much Michelle, you have no idea how much you have helped me today!" 

"It's okay, that's why we are here for." 

"No Michelle, literally, you have done more for me than even your own supervisor, thanks a lot, you are the best." 

        After this I hang up the phone, and finally, for after a long while, I can breathe peacefully now. So, right now is about to be 4pm and my bus should arrive at this station at around 5pm. If everything goes well from here and on, I should be arriving at Harrisburg at about 7pm.

        I take my seat right besides Daniel, Sophia, Jehosaphat and Veronica and all I can do is lean on my seat and let all of the stress that I just experienced out one deep breath at the time. The manager guy was right, and to think that he has to deal with this sort of deal every day. 

CHAPTER 7
THE FINAL CURVE BALL HITS: AN ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED 

            About an hour has gone by. As I am seated alongside my friends Daniel and Sophia and their Nine-month-old baby Jehosaphat as well as my travel buddy Veronica, I observe from afar in the electronic billboard that my bus has been delayed. This is something worthy of concern but not something that is unusual. Delays happen all the time and it is normal in the transportation industry. Despite this, my inner incline impulses me to go right towards the information booth in the front and have a quick chat with the manager. Because of this, I turn towards my friend Daniel and tell him: 

"I'll be right back; can you once again watch over my stuff?" 

"Yes of course, go right ahead." 

        So, I get up from my seat and start walking toward the front desk in order to inquire to the manager who previously helped me with my ticket renewal problem about my upcoming bus. This is when I notice that the manager of the bus terminal appears to have his hands quite full right now. 

        This large family is currently having an intense back and forth with him and a driver. It appears that the bus driver is refusing to let them into her bus. A conflict such as this merits the assistance of the terminal's manager who has to physically stop the matriarch from doing something reckless. 

        While this goes on, I decide to go remain in the front while the manager guy takes care of that matter. And the minutes go on, and during all of this time, I continue to peek at the billboard and my bus is still delayed. Now and becoming concerned. More staff members need to get involved in the matter involving the large family, it appears that the family is not being allowed in because of some issue with their ticket, probably what was going to happen to me if I didn't act quick and had it fixed for a second time. 

        For a brief time, the manager got away from the ruckus, and I manage to briefly approach him and proceed to ask him: 

"Hey, I have a quick question." 

"You're going to have to wait, I have a matter to take care of right now." 

"Yea, I can see, do what you have to do, I'll wait here." 

        Once I turn back to head towards the information desk, I notice that now there is a line. Since I was the first one to be there, I tell the people in the line:

"Guys, I already was here to begin with, I just went to check something with the manager." 

        This guy that is standing last in the line replies by saying: 

"Yeah right, that what they all say, just wait your turn like everyone else." 

        This guy is also accompanied by two other guys, but that matters little to me. Because of all of the stress that I have had to endure so far today, it has become quite easy to trigger me. So, I turn towards this young man and respond:

"You fool! Do you want a piece of me?" 

        The guy turns towards his friends, and they begin to laugh, but thankfully Mark interrupts and tells them that I was in fact there before everyone else, Mark is on the line as well, just a little ahead. So, I am given the green light to go right back towards the front. 

        After a while the large family has to leave and they storm out of the bus terminal. This situation has given them a bad look, but the sad truth is that that family is also a victim of the terrible customer service of this company. 

        The manager heads back towards his seat in the information booth and of course, I am the first one who gets to have her inquiry. So I greet the manager and ask: 

"Hey, my bus, the one ending with the numbers [...] has been delayed for longer than half an hour now. My bus was supposed to arrive by 5pm. What happened?" 

"Oh, that bus has been cancelled, you are going to have to reschedule again." 

        At this point, I am not even mad anymore. To tell you the truth, this is to be expected, we are talking about SwiftWolf after all. 

        I don't even bother to argue with the manager, because I know that it is not his fault, so I head back towards my seat and pull up my phone. Once again, I dial up the customer service number of the SwiftWolf corporation, for one final time. 

"Hello, thank you for calling SwiftWolf my name is (Interrupted)" 

"Listen to me, I am your best friend today and I am being dead serious when I say that."

"Uh huh?"

"My trip has been cancelled two times within a single day, I was supposed to take the bus heading towards Harrisburg at 5pm today!" 

"The bus got cancelled because of the severe rain." 

"When is the next upcoming bus heading towards Harrisburg arriving at Philadelphia?" 

"Our next bus heading towards Harrisburg will arrive at Philadelphia today at 11pm and the next one after that will arrive tomorrow at 6am, which one will you choose?" 

"You know what? Forget it! Just tell me how to get my money back." 

"I am sorry for the inconvenience; all you have to do is to email at our customer support email that is present in your ticket, and they will instruct you on what to do next." 

"Okay thank you." 

        After this, I hang up this number for one final time. Honestly, I feel like I am stuck in a loop here. I feel so tired of this. So I dial up my aunt who lives in Pennsylvania. 

"Hey Tubeppa how are you is everything okay? Are you on your way already?" 

"No, they cancelled my bus again, is it possible that you can pick me up from here?" 

"Of course, Harrisburg is about an hour away so I will let you know once I am near by okay?"

"Okay, I am sorry about this." 

"No is okay, we had to pick up a cousin of mines one time too because the same thing happened to him, those buses are horrible." 

"I appreciate it aunt, I will wait for you here." 

        I also take a look at my ticket and see the customer support email in the bottom of the ticket, but in the end, I opt to wait till tomorrow to deal with that process, because with all honesty, I am way too tired right now. 

        Essentially now, all I have to do is to wait for my aunt to arrive from Harrisburg to the Philadelphia bus terminal. That ride will take her approximately one hour, time that I decide to spend with my friends Daniel and Sophia.   

CHAPTER 8
IN THE END, MEETING YOU GUYS WAS WORTH THE ORDEAL

            After calling my aunt and being assured that she is already on the way, I can finally feel like everything should be fine. My aunt is still about an hour away aside from any traffic condition so I still going to have to wait. Today is Wednesday June 14th, my friends usually have gatherings on Wednesdays and today we have an art class, so I decide to bring out my tablet and tune into the meeting. 

        Daniel takes notice of me being part of an online meeting. Since I am in an unfamiliar place and to be honest, my appearance is not the best, I decide to keep my camera off, while I just listen to the discussion being discussed. Because I notice Daniel looking at the meeting, I allow him to take a look. 

"Waw, you could see everybody there." 

"Yes, this is a live meeting, they are all logged into their computers as we speak." 

        The meeting goes on for like about Thirty minutes and then it ends. 

As Daniel, Sophia and Jehosaphat are seating in our seats, some of the passengers that are originally from my bus are getting together, in a matter of fact, everyone seems to be grouping. One of them, the Turkish looking guy that asked me if I could share my hotspot with him earlier during the bus ride comes over to me and asks me:

"Hey, where are you going?" 

"I am headed towards Harrisburg why?" 

"We are getting together, we are thinking of paying an Uper ride to take us there, want to join us?"

"Not really, I already called my aunt and she's already on her way here to pick me up, so no thanks."

"No problem, we are only trying to figure out how much it will cost." 

"Get ready to pay over $100 dollars at best."

"Yup." 

"How about you Veronica?" 

"No thanks, I already called my cousin, he is also on his way to pick me up as well, I called him a long while ago." 

"Ah I see, so you were quiet this whole time waiting for him." 

"Something like that." 

"Cool, I'm glad you got things under control Veronica." 

        At this point we are starting to get hungry, so I decide to finally order some food for Daniel and Sophia and something on the side for me. The reason I have waited until now is because I been planning to purchase food for them to last them until 10pm, Daniel and Sophia already had something to munch on earlier. 

        So, I go online and order a large order of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn in the cob for them, the order is scheduled to be delivered here in about 20 minutes.

        As for me, I decide that I should wait a little, just because I want to be ready to pick up the delivery for Daniel and Sophia, when I start eating, I don't like being bothered. 

        Veronica gets up and heads over to the grocery store and picks up a cheese pie, this pizza pie doesn't look as appetizing as the first pie she ate earlier at the moment, but she seems to enjoy it. 

        When I look in my app to see the status of my food order, I see that the delivery driver is also a Colombian woman with a similar appearance to mines. This would make a great small chat between her and I. 

        When the notification of my food being delivered comes in, I immediately head towards the side of the bus terminal facing Filbert and wait for the driver there. The lady arrives in her car alongside another woman who is the one who gives me the food. I pass her a $2 dollar tip and head back inside. With Daniel, Sophia and Jehosaphat being taken care of, I decide that in the end, I want to try out that Cheese pie from the grocery store that Veronica tried out earlier, so I head right over to the grocery shop where I greet the cashiers once again for one last time.

"Hey guys, we meet again." 

"Hello!" 

"I heard you guys sell whole Pizza pies here." 

"Yes, you can pick the one you want from over there in the frozen section." 

        I see, so they sell the frozen Pizza and also offer to heat it up for you on the spot, neat. So, I head right over to the frozen section and pick myself a nice round plain Cheese Pizza pie and bring it to the cash register. The male cashier grabs the pie and puts it inside of an oven for a few minutes. After the time is up, he grabs the pie and puts it inside of a box displaying the store name and gives it to me, I end up paying around $5 dollars for all of their effort. Before I walk out of that grocery store, knowing that this is indeed the last time, I tell the cashiers: 

"It was a pleasure meeting you guys, until next time!" 

"Until next time!" 

        I then quickly head into the bus terminal with my food and sit down alongside my companions and start eating alongside them. By this point an hour has already passed, so I decide to call my aunt, only after I am done eating this pie. 

        To be completely honest though, this pie is not that good. The cheese has no taste, this Pizza literally has no seasoning, I could see myself enjoying this if I was really hungry but right now I don't really like this pie. Despite this, I wind up eating almost half the pie, leaving the rest inside of its box. I offer some to Daniel and Sophia to see if I can get this pie off my hands, but they don't want it. So I start looking around the parameters to see if there's a homeless man nearby and hold and behold, there is one sleeping in the floor not very far away from us. So I decide to stand up and in order to not disturb the man, I place the pizza inside its box besides him while he sleeps. But he notices and wakes up.

"I am sorry sir; I am just putting this Pizza here for you to eat later." 

"Uh? Oh, thanks." 

"It might get cold soon but I see that there's a microwave right there near you so I guess you could use it to heat it up later." 

"Yes, don't worry about it, I appreciate it." 

        The homeless man starts eating the pie right away, no heating needed. With the Pizza now being taken care off and my belly being filled again, I decide to give my aunt a quick call.

"Hello? Hey honey! What's up?"

"Nothing, just checking where you are right now." 

"I came across some traffic, but I should be there in a couple of minutes, I will call you when I'm in the area." 

"Okay!"

        After briefly talking to my aunt, I turn towards Daniel. 

"Hey Daniel! My aunt is almost here, I need to start getting ready. Are you guys going to be okay from now and on?" 

"Yes, everything should be under control from here and on, thanks." 

"Is there a way you guys can let me know that you made it home safe?" 

"We don't really have access to phone services the same way you guys do, but I can certainly write you a letter once we get back home."

"That sounds great!"

"Can you write your address here?" 

"Sure thing."

        Daniel passes me a piece of paper where I write all of my information, my address, my phone number and my full name. Then I give the paper back to Daniel and I have him check if he can understand my handwriting, because spoiler alert, my handwriting is not that great. 

        After a few short minutes my aunt calls me, I pick up the phone and ask:

"Hey, hello, are you here?" 

"Yes, come out we are driving down Filbert." 

"Okay!" 

        After this, I turn towards Daniel and Sophia one last time. 

"Guys! This is it; I am out of here." 

        Daniel gets up and we have a nice handshake. 

"Thank you so much for your help. It really means a lot. Have a safe trip." 

"It was nothing, I guess it was a good thing that I was here after all, that's what I think, who knows? Maybe God decided to bring me here to be of help to you guys." 

"Who knows." 

        I also turn towards Sophia and handshake her as well. I also say goodbye to their baby Jehosaphat. After this, I turn towards Daniel one last time and say to him: 

"Don't forget that letter! I'll be waiting for it!" 

"I won't."

        After this, I walked out of the bus terminal for one last time, literally to see my aunt waiting for me right there. She waves at me from her car and I run towards it and get in on the back seat, after we briefly greet we drive off, right towards Harrisburg. Veronica left a while ago without noticing us. She left her Pizza box right there on her chair, maybe as a parting gift. Daniel and Sophia will have to remain in the bus terminal until 10pm when their bus heading to Oklahoma will pick them up. They should be arriving tomorrow at 11am with God's help. 

        About an hour into the car drive, while my aunt and her friend are chatting with my family back in Colombia, I lean in the back seat and while reflecting on this whole ordeal I think to myself:

"Yup, I guess meeting them as in Daniel and Sophia was worth the ordeal after all."

        Although I feel sad that I could not find them a better alternative, I feel relieved at the fact that I did everything I could possibly do for them, they are in God's hands now and I know those are indeed very good hands to be in. 

End of story.