Simon Barker

Men and women passed her by, taking no notice.

A young girl skipped ahead of her mother, who was uselessly calling her back.

A young couple strolled by hand in hand, and while the girl turned to look in the jewelry store window, the man took his fill of the curvy woman walking by.

Simon shook his head and faced forward again.

The seat in front of him was empty now, but he couldn't remember seeing the man leave.

In fact, the bus hadn't stopped, yet the man was nowhere to be seen.

Simon frowned.

Maybe he simply hadn't been paying attention.

The bus slowed to a stop and two teenage boys got on, sitting directly behind Simon, both in baggy jeans and loose sweatshirts with the hoods pulled up.

Simon glanced at them with distaste, but they were too preoccupied with their phones to notice.

Unfortunately, the tuna sandwich woman continued to happily chomp on her lunch.

Simon grimaced and turned away just as the bus pulled back into the street.

But what he saw on the sidewalk had him turning back to the tuna woman.

His head swiveled back and forth between the woman across from him and the remarkably similar looking woman heading down the street, also eating a sandwich.

They both had dark hair and wore pale green coats with the same big black bag.

Even their shoes were the same.

The one on the bus raised her eyebrows when she caught him staring, and he sank back into his seat with a sigh.

Maybe there was a good reason he didn't take the bus.

It seemed to mess with his mind.

Simon suddenly felt stupid, thinking a bus ride would change his life.