Simon Barker

Just a few more steps and he would be free.

Move, he screamed, louder than he ever would have dared before.

It was still no good.

Nobody moved.

Desperate and enraged, Simon blindly reached out and pushed as hard as he could.

Flesh gave way beneath his palms, and time seemed to slow as he watched the repercussions.

He didn't even realize who he'd pushed until it was too late.

An elderly woman lost her balance, her cane falling to the bus floor as her body flew down the steps to land on the concrete below with a sickening crunch.

Bile rose in Simon's throat as he looked down at her.

Her arms and legs were splayed like a starfish, and blood oozed from her head, matting her gray hair to her scalp.

Her mouth was frozen in surprise, her lifeless gray eyes staring up at Simon in accusation.

He kept his eyes on her as he waited for the screams of horror from witnesses, the rough hands that would grab him and hold him mercilessly until the police came to take him away.

But he was met with silence.

When he finally turned to the other passengers, none of them even noticed.

Not even the bus driver reacted.

Simon remained at the top of the stairs, frozen in shock as the doors closed and the bus pulled away, leaving the woman to bleed out on the sidewalk.

Her cane laid on the floor beside him.

He picked it up and sat down as a wave of numbness overtook him.

Simon was a logical person.

He was a math teacher, after all.