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Passengers of a Dreamer | rainni’s

✧˚ ༘ ⋆。˚

The bus hummed a lullaby, a groggy metal beast stretching its bones as it rocked over uneven roads, each jolt mumbling to the silent morning, still half-asleep. Rinni nestled herself by the window, knees drawn to her chest, her breath fogging up the glass, fingers tracing shapes that started as spirals but quickly turned into cats, planets and wobbly dinosaurs.

She watched the world blur by, rain dancing on the window, droplets merging and racing down the glass, like tiny rivers chasing a freedom they'd never find. In the stillness of the near-empty bus, her mind wandered, skipping stones across a lake of daydreams.

An old man sat two rows down, coat frayed at the collar, a coffee stain blooming across his chest like a forgotten war wound. His shoulders slumped as if carrying the weight of an invisible kingdom. His eyes flicked to the window, hollow and distant, reflecting a world far away, one she was sure he longed to return to.

Rinni leaned forward, her voice no louder than a whisper, "He was a king once," she decided, eyes widening with the spark of a tale, "Banished from his throne for loving the wrong queen." Her fingers danced on the fogged glass, sketching a crown, tilted just so, barely clinging to the head of a weary ruler.

A girl boarded next, earbuds tangled, fingers tapping against her thigh, head nodding to a rhythm only she could hear. Her hoodie swallowed her shoulders, and a scuffed backpack hung low, swinging like the pendulum of a clock that forgot how to keep time.

Rinni's gaze followed the girl, saw the way her eyes flicked to the window, then down to her shoes. "She's running away," Rinni murmured to no one, feeling a pang of longing in her chest, "Escaping a life that tried to cage her dance." She could see it now— The girl spinning under city lights, twirling past expectations, ducking under responsibilities, pirouetting away curfews like a ballerina dodging fate.

The bus sighed, brakes hissing like a wounded beast. A woman stumbled on, arms full of crumpled papers, ink smudges staining her fingers, eyes flickering with hurried purpose. She sank into a seat, papers spilling like confessions across her lap, pen scribbling as if time was running out.

"A spy," Rinni gasped softly, as if she had solved a mystery. "Hiding in plain sight, sending letters to a lover she betrayed." The woman's hand paused mid-scribble, eyes scanning the bus as if she heard the whisper of her own story.

For a moment, Rinni held her breath, the line between real and imagined blurring, a thrill fluttering in her chest like the wings of a butterfly. But the woman looked away, lost once more in the maze of her thoughts, unaware of the tale woven around her, the tragedy painted in her shadow.

A boy shuffled to the back, hoodie pulled low, sneakers stained with spray paint. His eyes darted to the floor, to the sky beyond the window, to the distant horizon that seemed to pull at him, aching for escape. Rinni watched him, watched the way his fingers twitched, how his foot tapped to an uneven beat, restless, haunted.

"A time traveler," she breathed, "Running from a future he couldn't change, searching for a past that would forgive him." She imagined him leaping across decades, slipping through cracks in time, always searching, always escaping, never quite belonging.

The bus creaked, the road winding through narrow streets, morning light filtering through clouds like scattered memories. Rinni's eyes fluttered, heavy with dreams, a yawn escaping her lips.

A voice startled her. Quiet and uncertain. "Are you alright?"

Rinni looked up, blinking away the remnants of her daydream, meeting the curious gaze of the girl with tangled earphones. Eyes brown and warm, head tilted in genuine concern.

"Oh, I'm more than alright," Rinni said, a smile blooming on her lips, "I was just wondering if you were a runaway princess, or a celebrity with a double-life, or maybe..." Her eyes flicked to the earbuds, "A spy in disguise, using music to send secret codes?"

The girl's mouth fell open and Rinni leaned in, her face close, voice dropping to a playful whisper, "Blink twice if you're on the run. Nod if you're a time traveler."

The girl blinked. Once. Twice. Rinni gasped, hand flying to her mouth. "I knew it! But don't worry, your secret's safe with me." She zipped her lips and threw away the invisible key, as if sealing the promise with magic.

The girl's expression softened, confusion melting into a reluctant smile, her laughter breaking free. "You're ... weird." She said.

Rinni beamed. "Am I?" She asked, genuinely curious, as if she'd never considered herself anything but perfectly normal.

The girl looked at her a moment longer, then shook her head, a smile lingering on her lips before turning back to her music. Shoulders a little lighter, head nodding to a rhythm a little brighter than before.

Rinni watched her, watched the others, their faces flickering in and out of her dreams, Strangers wrapped in stories they'd never hear, legends carved in the whisper of a bus ride.

The bus shuddered to a stop, doors hissing open. The passengers filed out, one by one, carrying lives that were heavier, simpler, and far more real than the worlds she'd built for them.

Rinni lingered, her fingers brushing the fogged glass, tracing the outline of a crown, a spinning dancer, a secret letter, a boy who could travel through time. She smiled, the kind of smile that was almost a sigh, and whispered to the empty bus, "I'll remember you."

Then she gathered her dreams, tucked them safely into her tote bag, and followed the world outside, where stories waited to be born again.