Splash. Splash. Splash. Crunch. Splash. Splash. Splash. Crunch.

But this time, it was not my feet making that noise, but the shaky bus whenever it went through one of the several puddles covering the road. The rain was relentless, obscuring my vision of the outside world. Rover hadn’t spoken for a while, and I was trying to get my head around things.

“Louis...” I turned my head to glance at the cat, who was standing beside me, looking uncertain, “Can I sit here?” I moved to the next seat, nodding, attempting a friendly smile. Rover smiled back, before sitting next to me, continuing to stare at me with his feline face, and huge, smiling eyes. It creeped me out.

“You do realise what bus this is, right?” The cat asked, and my heart sank. Here was the moment where Rover sprung the crushing news on him, confirm that I had to live in this town called Honevray.

“Alton.”

“No...” I sighed, looking away as the cat continued to say, “This is the bus to Honevray. Honevray is a small town full of animals... Like me... Um... You see, humans can’t normally see this bus... That’s why we’re so shocked you can. Only ten other people have seen the bus in the past, and only one other is still alive.”

I listened to the story, not moving, but instead said in some type of hope, “I want to get off.” I looked to the door, but then to the cat that blocked his way out, and the fact the bus was moving quite quickly. I wondered if I would even make it.

Rover sighed miserably, “You can’t... We can’t let anyone that knows about us leave... You have to live in Honevray.” The cat’s shoulders slumped, and he looked downwards at the floor beneath them. His ears drooped, and if the cat wasn’t wearing clothes and acting human, I would have found it cute.

I stiffened slightly at the news, but said emotionlessly, “I won’t. I can’t.” I shifted slightly to the left, away from Rover, who failed to notice. I thought of my parents at home, waiting for me to walk through the door. How would anyone expect me to just abandon them?

Rover looked taken back, “You’ll have your own house... You’ll make friends. It’s a beautiful town.” I pictured myself in a massive mansion, struggling to cope with all the housework required in living alone. Ouch.

“I don’t care. I’m only sixteen. I can’t have a house, and I have a family. I can’t just vanish.”

“But... You have to.”

I turned to glare at the cat, who shifted uncomfortably beneath my eyes. I then asked, now angry, “And if I refuse?”

“You can’t.”

I rolled my eyes, hitting my head against the window, ignoring the thump it made, and the thumping headache I now had. “Why not?”

“You can’t leave this bus.”

I blinked three times, looking past the cat to the door, wondering if it was physically possible to just jump off the bus and survive. I shifted slightly, before glaring at the cat once more, “And why is that? How will you stop me?”

Rover sighed, actually looking depressed as he bowed his head, but that just made me want to strangle its furry neck even more. Finally, the annoying feline replied with, “It’s... Impossible. Once you enter the bus and acknowledge reality, it seals you in. If you try and jump out, you just reappear inside, unless Kapp’n permits you to leave.”

...

...

“LET ME OFF!” I leapt from my seat, jumping over a surprised Rover and dashing towards Kapp’n, attempting to strangle the weird turtle thing, “LET ME OFF!”

“Aye yi yi!” Kapp’n shouted, swerving an incoming vehicle, “Ge’ off me! You not ge’in off and tha’s final! Rover!” The cat left his seat and pulled me back, causing the two of us to fall backwards to the floor, allowing Kapp’n to regain control of the bus.

“Get off!” I protested, shoving and slapping at the cat who pinned me to the ground, “I want to go home! I have to go home!”

Rover skilfully dodged my violent attacks, looking down calmly at me, before driving his paw into the soft spot of my stomach, causing me to gasp for breath and end my struggle long enough for the cat to pin my arms down. He then said, “Please calm down!”

“Calm down?!” I shouted, struggling again, before continuing, “You’re kidnapping me!”

“Land ho!” I heard the driver shout, and the bus skidded to a halt, sending Rover flying into the back of a seat and me to roll down to the front, before falling down the steps and falling flat on my face on concrete.

“Well that was convenient.” Rover said from behind me, before shouting, “Sorry Louis! Enjoy your life in Honevray!”

The bus then drove off quickly, leaving me to look around at my surroundings. The place was very... bright and colourful. Almost like a children’s game graphics. Trees littered the place randomly, red shiny apples hanging from the branches, and random flowers of many colours were planted in many different areas.

It was very... Cute.

The sound of a clock chiming made me turn around, and I found myself staring at a large, fancy building. A clock was on top, showing the time to be five o’clock. I took a step forward uncertainly, listening to the cute tune that sounded, before reaching for the handle.

Time to start my unwanted life.