Human Error by Micah Gura

The time was 8:19 in the morning. City bus #17 took a left turn off of 13th Street and beheld a strange sight- a burning bus on the side of the road, surrounded by police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, the orange blaze streaking up through the windows and turning into a massive plume of black smoke. One passenger of bus 17 turned to his brother in shock.“John, did you just see that burning bus over there?” “Yeah, the roads are getting more dangerous by the day.” “But that was the worst wreck I’ve ever seen! No one could have made it out of there,” said the first brother, Trey. “Oh, I don’t know about that.” “Are you guys talking about that crazy wreckage?” asked someone sitting behind John. “You think it’ll happen to us?” asked another bored passenger. “Come on Trey, stop scaring everyone. It probably wasn’t even that bad,” said John. “What, are you crazy? I’d be surprised if there were any survivors.” “So you mean we’re all going to die?” “Of course not!” retorted Trey, a bit too loudly. “Hey, keep it down over there!” shouted an elderly businessman a couple rows over. “You shut up, old man. Now anyway-” “What did you just say to my father?” yelled a middle-aged woman. “All this nonsense about some bus crash is driving me insane. I’ll bet you’re making the whole thing up.” “Lady, I think you’re insane,” Trey said. “Yeah, she’s right,” said the man sitting in front of her. “How do we even know there was a crash?”

“I just saw it with my own eyes! Other people can vouch for me.” “He’s right,” said a young man in front of John. “How could you not see it?”

“Sure, if you say so.” The other man shrugged. “Actually, I think I took a photo of the wreck,” said a young woman, pulling out her

phone.

“You did?” Trey exclaimed. “Well why didn’t you say so?” Just then, the bus hit a large bump, causing the woman’s phone to fall to the floor of the aisle. A teenager who was passing by slipped on it, inadvertently spilling the drink he was holding onto a tall man. “Hey, watch what you’re doing!” the man shouted while another curious passenger picked up the phone, which was then snatched by another woman. “Give that back!”

“No, it’s my phone!” But there was nothing that could be done as more passengers joined in the fray. “I wonder why they’re fighting over there.” “I don’t know, but it looks fun!” “Leave my sister alone!” “Lemme see that phone! That other guy said there was a crazy bus crash.” “No, he said we’re going to crash.” “We’re all gonna die!” A new voice came over the bus speakers.“Passengers, please stay seated and do not engage in violence of any kind.” “Say, I’ll bet it was the driver on that bus who crashed it!” “You’re right, those idiots can’t be trusted!” said the tall man, who had managed to grab the phone. He held up the photo to everyone. “How can a bus crash like this without any human error?” The others nodded in agreement. “Who knows if we’ll turn out the same way?!” “I assure you all that the crash you saw was a rare occurrence,”

said the driver. “Now if you’ll please sit…” He glanced to the side for a moment as people started to crowd around him “Keep your eyes on the road!” “Is this the person in charge of our lives?” “Here, look at this photo. Are you telling me that was an accident?” The driver glanced at the phone, wondering how that wreck could have happened and why these people were so crazy. The passengers took this glance as the final straw - this driver was not paying attention to his duties and was about to crash. I’ll be a hero! Trey thought as he reached for the steering wheel and tried to keep it straight. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. With everyone grabbing the wheel, the driver could only pray as the bus started veering off to the side, which only resulted in more people trying to maintain control. As the bus was supposed to make a sharp turn, it slammed into the cliff beside the road, immediately bursting into flames. The time was 9:26 in the morning. City bus #42 took a right turn off of Greenwood Street, and beheld a strange sight- a burning bus on the side of the road, surrounded by police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, the orange blaze streaking up through the windows and turning into a massive plume of black smoke. One passenger of bus 42 turned around in a shock to her sister. “Hey, did you just see that burning bus over there?”

—Micah Gura ’25