Suddenly, Harper’s train of thought was disturbed by the sound of the internal bus radio being flicked on. The sound played through the old, crusty speakers on the roof of the bus. There was something so nostalgic about their sound, the way they sounded retro, ancient even. The radio show hosts were currently discussing the world's most mysterious crimes, ones that had never been solved. Harper listened intently, full of interest on the subject. Mysteries had always intrigued her, and it had her questioning why most cases remained unsolved. Something in her brain didn't like the fact that there was no certain closure, even with the greatest minds being there at the scene to solve it. Although, she found it incredulous that perpetrators even found ways to stump the mystery professionals. Listening to the case on the radio, she settled with the fact that whoever had committed the crime had spent years upon years perfecting an unsolvable case.

Harper hummed an earworm tune as she followed along with the true account. She unlocked her phone and penned down some notes in a writing app quickly, using her index finger to scribble the words.

"I'd say, the guy probably burnt the evidence. If all they found was ashes, it would make sense for that to be what he left behind.”

Like most mornings, she would end up guessing how the murderer had escaped, lied, or hidden their evidence. Through knowledge alone, she was often correct.

"The police later found traces left behind." One of the radio show hosts continued. "This led them to the red-handed Daryl Hisome, who later confessed for his murder crimes and explained how he'd hidden the evidence. All gone in one swipe of a matchstick."

Harper triumphantly ticked the checkbox next to her written educated guess; once again, she had guessed the ending right.

"You'd think they'd start coming up with better ways to hide evidence after this long." She mulled to herself with a slightly cocky grin.

The hosts spoke on the gruesome topic for a few minutes longer before the regular music schedule continued, cutting off the conclusion on the perpetrators court sentence. Harper frowned, knowing she wouldn't get to hear the end of the segment since her journey was nearly over for the morning. She quickly opened another note on her phone to remind herself to find out the end of the story. She wouldn't have slept right if it were left unfinished.

The bus came to a sudden stop as the next passenger boarded and paid their fare. Harper knew exactly who it was just by looking out the window to read the street sign. A young school-aged girl hobbled on, crutches under each arm and a school bag over her shoulders. As usual, Harper smiled at her and received one back. The girl gingerly handed over her money to the bus driver and took her seat, directly in the middle of the bus. It was the same seat she always sat in, Harper noted. A strange choice since one would think she would pick a front-most seat in her condition. Harper had never spoken up about such a small issue, the girl must have been content in her place.

As a personal philosophy, Harper built her life around metaphorical chapters, like a stage play. She knew that she would soon move on from the chapter where she took the bus every morning, opting for a better morning routine. There was no use in telling someone what to do for a moment in this chapter, only for her to move on and never meet them again. It would be a waste of her time.

Much like the case with this girl on the bus, she knew that interfering with people’s life and personal decisions wasn’t worth it, as a new chapter had begun for her. In the same way, Harper also felt like a new chapter was upon her when she moved away from her family to attend the academy, but she had mostly gotten over the distance between them with ways of digital communication. 

Most mornings, she tended to overthink these things as her mind raced to all the possibilities of life, but they never followed through as anything more than a drop in the vast lake that was her mind. Having to make up for the fact that her dance partner had changed plans was a far more pressing issue at this stage in her life, so she didn’t have time for pointless thoughts.

The only sound reason she saw to inspecting and remembering the daily life around her was so that one day she would be fully prepared for a random questioning. She had always loved the idea of being a witness to a crime. Being able to recall exactly where the murderer lived and how they commuted into the city from day to day was definitely on her strange bucket list.

Not that she suspected this crippled schoolgirl on the bus in any way.

Harper's phone screen went to sleep before she quickly flicked it back on again. For a second time, she fought within herself on whether to send a short 'Hi' or 'How are you' as a subtle way to break the ice to her dance partner. She looked back up for a moment at the handicapped girl, just as the bus made a sharp left turn into the main city. Harper knew there was only a minute or so until they arrived at the academy, so she didn't have much time to think about what to say. This was her last chance today to say something while she was still without the ‘distractions’ she called her friends.

"Hey, I'm with the other girls at Silken’ today. Wish you could be here, you left too soon. Your parents are dumb by the way. Why'd you have to go with them? Your friends and career are here for you if you ever come back. I'm always here, okay?"

She stared at the moderately lengthy message on the screen, hovering her thumb over the send button. Before she could even second-guess her wording, the bus came to a halt and her thumb tapped the screen. She sighed and quickly jumped up from her seat. There was no point in even trying to take it back now. After all, words were such a permanent thing in the human languages of the world.

She quickly ran to the front of the bus and to the door, giving a quick acknowledging wave to the girl with the crutches. With energy in her step, she jumped out of the bus onto the pathway outside. Knowing that the driver didn't have the patience to wait for her any longer she made sure she didn’t drop anything on the way out and dashed down the street. 

He still had a hot cup of coffee to drink after all.