Unsplash Credit: Lisanto

THE PERVERT ON THE BUS

Since I lived off-campus I thought that I would come in a day earlier, as I was going to hang out with some friends in Papine at the UWI Mona campus. I had to commute by bus because I was having car trouble. And the mechanic said it would be a week at least before he could sort the problem out.

The August Town express bus left downtown packed to capacity.

Literally.

I tried to make myself comfortable because anything was better than standing at the bus stop at this hour of the evening. I checked my phone and it was already 7:30 p.m.

The other passengers were fairly quiet as I guess they all wanted to reach their destination at this time of the night.

The pervert stood quietly and lonely in the aisle, just waiting for this pretty young woman to get lost in her thoughts before he makes his move.

And he did.

He moved closer and stood directly behind me, with his hand lightly touching my back.

I don’t know why but a feeling told me to look at the man standing behind me. I scanned him from head to toe and noted that he was tall, dark, and good-looking. A smile teased his thick lips. I rolled my eyes and look away.

It was only because the bus was so packed that he was standing so close to my body, I think to myself while trying to settle my uneasiness.

The bus going over the pothole-laden road felt like a rocking ship. So, I looped my arm around the handle of the seat to maintain my balance.

I could see from my peripheral field vision that he slid his free hand up behind me to grasp the bar at the top.

Still, this weird feeling erupts again.

Other than him invading my personal space at that point. Why am I so worried?

But it wasn’t hard to miss how much he was enjoying it, as he arched up against my hip, and his nascent erection rubbed against my buttock.

Wait!! am I hallucinating?

It was not my problem to assess this man's mental status. But I’ve come to learn in my twenty-three years on this earth that in life, there are special fools that spend their time trying to ensure gratifying themselves at the expense of others. He was one such fool.

Each time I shifted my hip to avoid his grinding, he pressed harder into me.

Once I was told that in every aspect of life, give priority to self-respect. Perversion when directed at you, alienates you from such quality.

Turning sideways to confront him. Disgust danced its way through my senses, unfurling on my tongue.

“What the fuck?” I blurted out, no pun intended.

He laughed and told me “sorry.” along with how the both of us standing so close and the motion of the bus caused him to get a little stimulated as he pull down his polo shirt to conceal his now apparent erection.

I was not naive enough to believe that was true. I felt slightly insulted that he thought so little of my intelligence as to use that line, to conceal the truth.

“PERVERT!!!!” I spat out the words at him with a repulse.

This time there were distracting noises coming from the other passengers as they were made aware of what was happening behind me, as I continue ranting at him.

Some called him out, while others sat pensively as they tried to fathom what was occurring.

When you have been single as long as I have, you would think that I’d jump on the opportunity for any dick I could get. Even if it was a dry hump and sexual gratification on the evening express.

I reminded myself that it was okay to put myself first. And that means protecting me from perverts who commute just to get a free thrill.

I eventually moved to the other end of the bus to get away from the lingering stupidity.