Creepy bus driver with bad intentions

This story happened to me in 2022, when I was around 24 years old. For a bit of context, I am non binary, assigned female at birth (AFAB) but let’s say I look very “feminine”. At the time I was studying in Paris and renting a room in the house of the mom of my boyfriend at the time, in a city that was more than an hour away from Paris but 20 minutes from Versailles (another important city in France). It was in winter, during a school break I think, and I was going out in Paris to see a long-time internet friend for the first time (she turned out to be a very toxic and problematic person whom I’m not in contact with anymore but the story is not about her). I must say that I have a rather petite frame because of an eating disorder I was dealing with ever since I was a child, and I’ve always looked much younger than my age (even these days I need to show my ID when I want to buy alcohol). On the day of my encounter with my friend, I was dressed casually with a skirt, our encounter went very well but since I lived far away and planning to go to my boyfriend’s house later, I had to leave before midnight because the public transportation would become scarce after 10pm and I had around 2 hours of transit to get there.

Unfortunately, I didn’t leave early enough so I managed to get a train until Versailles but would have to wait almost an hour to get a bus to go to the nearest city from my boyfriend’s house where he would then pick me up with his car.

While I was waiting near the train station, I noticed a group of bus drivers who were smoking and talking to each other, I approached them to ask which one of them was going to drive the bus to insert the name of the city closest to my boyfriend’s house and one of them, a small man with gray hair, who was probably in his late 40’s - early 50’s told me that it was him. He noticed my skirt and said that I must be freezing so he offered me to go heat myself in the bus and wait there until the time of the departure. I gladly accepted, as I was indeed freezing, and while he was walking me to the bus which was parked in a very dark corner with no lights, he got very close to me and started to act very familiar with me, asking me about where I live and where I was going to and such. I was feeling uneasy and uncomfortable but I was raised to be polite and I’ve always been a people pleaser so I answered all his questions with as little details as possible until we reached the bus. He opened the door for me and while all my instincts were screaming me to NOT GO IN THAT BUS, I ignored them and got in anyway. I sat at the front of the bus, where there was a bit of light but mind you, I am black and even in the dark it would have been very difficult for anyone to see me, beside from the other bus drivers who saw me leave with the driver, no one knew I was in that bus.

Anyway, the second I got in the bus, things got even weirder, he threw his lit cigarette away and got in the bus with me as well, all while telling me a bunch of anecdotes about the bus, about how the bus was actually designed to transport the French football team and how there was a huge table and even bathroom at the back of the bus and that I should come in the back of the bus with him to see. He suggested me twice to come in the back of the bus where there were absolutely no light and this scared me even more so I texted my boyfriend “might no come tonight. Weird bus driver. Call me asap” while ignoring the driver rambling.

He then came back to the front of the bus and stayed in the corridor, blocking my way, he talked about random things I don’t remember and all the time his eyes were fixated on me, especially on my phone that was in my hand, and my knees/thighs. All the time I was praying for my boyfriend to see my message and call me, and when he finally did I breathed a sigh of relief, the driver must have seen the face of my boyfriend on the screen of my phone because he took a step back and told me that he was going to smoke another cigarette outside. I answered my phone and told my boyfriend everything that was going on while looking out the window to keep an eye on the bus driver. When he was far enough I ran to get out of the bus only to discover in shock and horror that he had locked the door ! I was trapped in that bus and no one knew where I was except my boyfriend, the creepy bus driver and the other bus drivers who saw me leave with him. Still on the phone with my boyfriend, I went back to where I was previously sitting and saw through the window that the creepy bus driver was coming back. When he saw me on the phone, he left and locked the bus again, he did this circus back and forth a total of three times, locking the bus behind him every time, but the last time he stayed near the bus so I hang up with my boyfriend and decided to text him instead. At some point I sat on another seat, to keep an eye on the creepy bus driver, and through the window I saw and heard an elderly woman who asked him if his bus was going to city nearest to my boyfriend’s house and he deliberately lied to her, telling her that it would be another bus. At this point I was freaking out, frantically texting my boyfriend that I was going to die, that the bus driver would do terrible things to me then kill me and throw my body away.

It was at this moment that the bus driver went back in the bus and locked the door again. We were supposed to leave in less than 10 minutes and suddenly something finally snapped in my brain. I got up, trying to maintain a calm appearance and lied to him about how I need to go back to the train station to go to the bathroom, he told me that there were bathroom in the bus, then I lied again saying that I needed some snacks from the vending machine. He hesitated and finally accepted to let me go, but before he did so he pretended twice that the button to open the doors wasn’t working and at this point I didn’t care about hiding my distress anymore, I told him that if he couldn’t open the door I’d pick the emergency hammer to break the door and suddenly the button was working again.

I bolted out of the bus and took the deepest breath of cold fresh winter air I’ve ever took. I’ve never been in prison but I imagine that it what it feels like to be released from prison.

I then ran up to the train station, hide behind a vending machine and when I finally felt safe, I bursted in tears. I called my boyfriend back and he told me that he called his sister who lived in Versailles to that her boyfriend would come and pick me. While I was trying to calm myself, guess who I saw coming in the train station ? The creepy bus driver. He was acting like he was looking for something - or rather, someone - and that was likely me. I hold my breath and waited for him to leave and then cry some more because I realized at that moment that I was his prey and I was right about his bad intentions.

Finally the boyfriend of my boyfriend’s sister came and took me back to where I live and I couldn’t sleep that night or the following days, my insomnia worsened. I made a signaling to the bus company but since he wasn’t a usual driver for them, nothing was done and I didn’t even received an answer.

I am very grateful for everyone who helped me that night and I know it has been said before but let me say it again as a reminder : TRUST YOUR GUTS. TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS. They’re never wrong. Also, fxck being polite with creeps that make you feel uncomfortable/ unsafe / uneasy.

Thank you for your time and attention. Stay safe everyone and have a nice life !

PS: Sorry for all the possible mistakes. It is currently past 5 am, I’ve been writing for more than an hour and though I’m fluent in English, it’s not my first language.