🇺🇸
Survivor story

The Bus Ride Home

Original story

Message to a Survivor

Don't be afraid to tell somebody, even if you're being threatened. It only makes things worse and none of it was your fault.

The day before my thanksgiving break I was on the bus ride home (school bus, not public transportation), I usually tend to sit towards the back because thats where my other friends would sit most of the time. The bus isn't overcrowded as it usually is because not many people came to school, so it was just me who was 12 at the time and in 7th grade, my other 7th grade friend ill call him "T" who was also 12/13 and an 8th grader sitting behind me, i'll call him "M" who was 13/14. I sat all the way in the back one seat ahead of the last one, M was behind me. I'm scrolling on my phone waiting until we get to my stop, not long before we leave school T starts making odd remarks about how he's gonna SA me and touch me, sometimes people around me would joke like this and not do anything so i didn't pay it much attention and went back to looking at my phone. Eventually he comes into the seat next to me and starts making more inappropriate remarks about how he's gonna feel me up on my chest, thighs and other private areas. One thing to mention is that I was already kinda scared of T because of his physical strength, so I try moving but he just pushes me against the window and tries to start touching me. I don't let him get too far with it until M starts assisting my "friend" in the act by holding me down and moving my arms away from my body so I could be freely touched. I screamed but nobody from the front of the bus seemed to hear me or they just assumed it was just someone being weird or playing around. I tried recording the things he was saying but he noticed and took my phone and threatened to throw it out the window, but for the time being he just threw it to the seat across the aisle from us. I emailed my teacher about what happened but I knew she wouldn't see my message until we came back to school, which was about 4 days later. Once those 4 days were up, I gave her more information, she told our grade level assistant principal and nothing proceeded to happen, i waited days, weeks, eventually it was a month that had passed and i just gave up on getting them in trouble. I don't remember crying or anything of the sort, and i didn't tell the bus driver, we coincidentally had a substitute one that day and they still had another route to do after us so they couldn't do much about it themself either. I can't tell if i was really impacted by it or not, it was just weird especially since I considered T to be my friend and M to not be that much of a weirdo. A year after all of this went down, still nothing, but by then I had fully stopped caring. I didn't tell my parents because I didn't want them to overreact, I mean this is serious but I felt like I wasn't that harmed by it. I was also frightened of the idea of T and M trying to fight me or do it again if they were to get suspended and come back afterwards. I confronted both of them after our break in front of other people, they thought it was weird but they didn't seem to care much or want to do anything about it. I'd say now i'm fine, its been a while and I don't feel the need for therapy, I just wanted them to get in trouble for what they did. My 8th grade year I proceeded to stay away from T as much as possible, but our bus was smaller and we're in the same grade so it wasn't totally accomplishable. I'm not really sure what to do about this now, maybe eventually i'll tell one of my family members what happened but today is not one of those days and tomorrow isn't either.

  • Report

  • Just Checking...

    Discard Message?

    You have a comment in progress, are you sure you want to discard it?

    Similar community content

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate

    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate

    0

    Members

    0

    Views

    0

    Reactions

    0

    Stories read

    For immediate help, visit {{resource}}

    Made with in Raleigh, NC

    |

    Read our Community Guidelines, Privacy Policy, and Terms

    Post a Message

    Share a message of support with the community.

    We will send you an email as soon as your message is posted, as well as send helpful resources and support.

    Please adhere to our Community Guidelines to help us keep Our Wave a safe space. All messages will be reviewed and identifying information removed before they are posted.

    Ask a Question

    Ask a question about survivorship or supporting survivors.

    We will send you an email as soon as your question is answered, as well as send helpful resources and support.

    How can we help?

    Tell us why you are reporting this content. Our moderation team will review your report shortly.

    Violence, hate, or exploitation

    Threats, hateful language, or sexual coercion

    Bullying or unwanted contact

    Harassment, intimidation, or persistent unwanted messages

    Scam, fraud, or impersonation

    Deceptive requests or claiming to be someone else

    False information

    Misleading claims or deliberate disinformation

    Log in

    Enter the email you used to submit to Our Wave and we'll send you a magic link to access your profile.