It was a stormy night. The school bus driver had called in sick, unable to take the children home. As the class advisor, I remained unmoved as the children cried and begged me to drive them home. In my previous life, I had given in to my daughter’s pleas and chose to drive the children home myself. As an inexperienced driver, I had managed to successfully deliver each child to their home, trembling with nervousness the entire time. The next day, the entire class collectively boycotted school. Not a single student showed up. A crowd of parents stormed the school, accusing me of failing to protect their children as the class advisor. My beaten colleagues vented their frustrations on me. “Didn’t you promise to get the children home safely? Why have they all disappeared?” they demanded. “Child trafficker! You deserve to die!” someone shouted. I desperately tried to defend myself, but the police arrived with criminals in tow who accused me of being their accomplice. Even my own daughter tearfully stood up and accused me of violently abusing the children. I stared at my daughter in shock as she produced a surveillance video. The footage showed me wielding a cane, bringing it down hard on the children as they cried out in pain. The people around me angrily denounced me as a monster. My husband even provided a video of me privately cursing the children. I found myself universally condemned. Despite multiple appeals to prove my innocence, the surveillance footage and videos nailed me to the pillar of shame. I was immediately sentenced to death. When I opened my eyes again, I had somehow returned to that fateful rainy night. My daughter, Tiana Quinn, looked at me pleadingly. “Mom, Miss Yolanda said only you can drive the school bus. Please help my classmates, okay?” Outside the office, over twenty children stood pitifully in the rain, their eyes glistening with tears. They begged, “Mrs. White, please help us. Otherwise, we’ll have to stay at school in the rain all night.” I couldn’t help but think of the tragic outcome from my previous life, my body trembling uncontrollably. I shook my head repeatedly. “No, I’m just the class advisor. I don’t have approval to use the school bus. I can’t possibly drive it.” The children’s expressions dimmed. They hung their heads dejectedly. My office colleagues finally couldn’t bear to watch any longer. “Mrs. Brown, the children are getting soaked. Who cares about approval at a time like this?” one said. “Exactly! How can you be so cold-hearted as their class advisor?” another chimed in. “If I knew how to drive, I’d definitely take the children home myself,” a third added. A chorus of complaints and accusations suddenly flooded my ears. I was momentarily speechless, my gaze suddenly fixed on the window outside. My husband, Ezra Quinn, came rushing in, the smile on his face instantly turning to concern when he met my eyes. “Your school bus driver has a high fever and can’t pick up the kids. We’ve coordinated with our side,” he explained. “We can’t spare anyone from our company at the moment, so I went ahead and got approval from your school leaders. Can you fill in for now?” I stared hard at Ezra. That was awfully quick. My daughter instantly brightened. “That’s great, Mom! Now that you have approval, you can take my classmates home, right?” I still refused. Looking at Ezra, I said apologetically, “I only recently learned to drive. I’m afraid something might happen with such a big bus full of students.” “Why don’t you do it? I remember you know how to drive the school bus too.” Ezra’s expression froze. When he recovered, he shook his head repeatedly. “No, no, I haven’t driven a big vehicle in over a decade. It would be truly irresponsible if I tried.” His expression gradually turned strange. “I know you’ve never liked these kids much, but you’re their class advisor. It’s your responsibility to get them home safely.” My heart skipped a beat. Seeing Ezra about to take out his phone, my eyes darkened. “I’ll make sure to get the children home safely,” I said. My husband instantly relaxed. He smiled and picked up our daughter. “Then I’ll take our daughter home first to wait for you.” Tiana’s face lit up with a big smile. “Bye, Mom!” That strange feeling crept over me again. Nevertheless, I led the group of children onto the bus. The bus was covered in cobwebs, looking as if it hadn’t been driven in years. As I sat in the driver’s seat, a stinging sensation spread across my arm. The next moment, a rash of tiny bumps erupted all over my skin. I paused, looking at my exposed arm. In my previous life, the same thing had happened when I boarded the bus – a rash of tiny bumps appeared, and I developed a fever while on the bus. I had assumed it was from getting rained on. After a moment’s thought, I immediately called an old classmate. The children’s impatient voices came from behind me: “Mrs. Brown, when can we leave?” I snapped back to reality. I turned to face them with a smile. “Don’t worry, everyone. I promise I’ll get you all home safely!” Cheers erupted from behind me as I decisively drove the bus in the opposite direction. At the hospital entrance, I stopped the bus. My old classmate hurried over to take over. “I’ve got the students from here. You go on ahead,” he said. Twenty minutes later, I received a call from Ezra. He sounded like he’d taken the wrong medication: “Why haven’t you delivered everyone yet?” “Don’t you know all the parents have been calling?” “Where are you right now?” I looked up at the emergency room sign and replied curtly, “Hospital emergency room.” He paused, then said urgently, “I’m coming to find you!” The call ended with just a busy signal. Coming out of the emergency room, I ran right into Ezra. His face was grim as he launched into a tirade: “Which is more important, the kids or you? Not taking the children home first is literally gambling with their lives!” “Letting someone like you be a teacher – they must be blind!” My heart sank lower and lower. I had heard such words countless times before. “Lark Brown, you’re a disgrace to the teaching profession!” “You’re so useless, don’t corrupt those children!” “The school leaders must be blind to let someone like you be a teacher!” Each word stabbed at my heart. I had once fallen into depression and anxiety because of such words, questioning myself over and over again. I had taken antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication by the handful. Hearing it now, I just found it somewhat amusing. I gave Ezra a cold look. His expression froze. He seemed somewhat embarrassed and angry. “You’re glaring at me now! Am I not telling the truth?” he demanded. “Look at yourself! How did you insult those children behind their backs?” “You even said you’d sell the children! I bet you meant it!” His heated words drew quite a crowd. The phone video clearly transmitted my abusive language to everyone’s ears. The onlookers grew furious. “What kind of teacher are you? The children have become a burden in your eyes?” “You don’t deserve to be a teacher!” “Which school do you teach at? We’ll make sure to spread the word!” The accusations left me feeling suffocated. The world seemed to sway before my eyes. In my daze, I thought I saw Ezra smile. Then he bowed deeply to the crowd. “I’m terribly sorry for upsetting everyone.” “But the school bus driver is sick today, and my wife is the only one who can drive the big bus.” “Please give my wife a chance. Let her take those children home first.” I unconsciously followed Ezra’s lead and bowed as well. As I bent over, a child nearby crashed into me hard, knocking me to the ground. I suddenly came to my senses. Although the crowd was still angry, when they heard there were children waiting for me to take them home, they didn’t rebuke me further. I vaguely heard someone say, “It’s a good thing this teacher’s husband is sensible. Otherwise those poor children would really be in trouble.” Ezra looked at me imperiously. “Hurry up and go take the children home. What are you standing around for?” I didn’t move. Ezra’s expression became strangely bewildered. I finally explained, “I have a fever. If I force myself to drive, an accident could easily happen.” “I can’t be responsible for so many children’s lives!” With that, Ezra’s face darkened completely. One of his fists was clenched tight, while the other hand was hidden behind his back. After a moment, he sneered, “Still pretending to be sick? I bet you’re just trying to meet up with someone.” “After all, you have a record of contacting suspects.” My husband kept producing evidence to corroborate my alleged contact with suspects. The crowd’s chatter had already nailed me as a child trafficker. Someone even called the police to arrest me. I bit my lip, not knowing how to defend myself. At some point, Yolanda had hurried over. She was soaking wet, her exposed skin flushed red. When she reached me, she broke into a fit of heavy coughing, doubling over. After a long while, she finally straightened up. With reddened eyes, she bowed deeply to me. “Mrs. Brown, please don’t be angry. I’m so sorry,” she said. “It’s my fault for getting sick. I’ll take over the school bus now and get the children home safely.” Her nasally voice immediately swayed everyone’s sympathy towards her. “Is this the school bus driver?” “Look what this teacher has reduced the poor driver to.” “If you ask me, she’s just jealous that this driver is younger and prettier than her. She wants to make her lose her job.” There was a hint of triumph in Yolanda’s eyes. She asked, “Mrs. Brown, where are the children? Can you take me to pick them up first?” “I just went to the school bus and saw it was empty—” With those words, everyone exploded. They all stared at me in disbelief: “You really sold the children?” Yolanda also looked incredulous, her eyes wide and tearful. “Mrs. Brown, how could you do this?” “Those children adored you the most!” They didn’t give me a chance to respond. Several parents rushed over. With bloodshot eyes, they grabbed my collar: “Lark Brown! What did my child ever do to you that you had to sell them?” “I always thought you were a good teacher! I was so wrong about you!” With that, a fist mercilessly slammed into my eye. I winced in pain, frowning deeply. The person holding me clearly had no intention of letting go. They only wanted their children back now: “Lark Brown, give me back my child!” “He’s my only child, you’re destroying our whole family!” Behind me, an old woman’s heart-wrenching cries rang out with genuine emotion. For the sake of her grandchild, she knelt down before me. She kept kowtowing, begging: “Mrs. Brown, if it’s money you want, I’ll give you as much as you ask. I’m begging you, please give my grandchild back to me.” At this moment, my throat felt painfully constricted. The people attacking me kept beating me, while the old woman kept crying and shouting. The scene was utter chaos. “Grandma, please get up! This teacher with no ethics doesn’t deserve your kneeling!” someone urged. “Get up quickly, there are so many of us here. We won’t let a child trafficker escape!” “That’s right, how could we let one person get away with trafficking children?” The old woman ignored all this. She cried and shouted for me to release her grandson. Her forehead was already bleeding. The crowd’s anger towards me grew heavier and heavier. Until I was beaten within an inch of my life. Someone grabbed me by the collar and lifted me up. “Come on, I’m taking this child trafficker to the police station. I want to see how long she can keep acting tough!” We had only reached the hospital entrance when a group of police officers blocked our path. “Who is Lark Brown?” one asked. “Someone reported you for human trafficking crimes!” “Officer, she’s right here!” someone called out. I was thrown to the ground. At last I could finally catch my breath. After a long while, I managed to climb to my feet with a bitter smile. “Officer, I reported myself. I may have been involved in human trafficking.” Someone finally couldn’t hold back: “If you were involved then you were involved, what do you mean ‘may have been’!” “The police are already here, are you still trying to deny it?” “What? You think using vague words means you don’t have to face legal consequences?” Angry, they kicked me. I staggered and fell to the ground. The police officer swept his gaze over the crowd and said coldly, “Calm down!” He looked down at me and had someone help me up. “What happened? Explain yourself!” After a long while, I shook my head to clear the double vision. “I was poisoned which caused hallucinations. I was going to sell the children.” The old woman rushed over and grabbed my collar, demanding: “You really sold the children? Are you even human!” “Poisoned? Do you look like someone who’s been poisoned?” Ezra gave a cold laugh. I didn’t respond to him, but stood up and handed the medical report I had gotten from the emergency room to the police officer. “You can take a look. The poison wasn’t severe, but enough to cause a high fever and hallucinations.” “In an unclear state of mind, I may have acted in ways that went against my true intentions.” The police officer looked shocked as he examined the report. After staring at it for a long time, he said, “We’ll thoroughly verify the information you’ve provided.” “We’ll take you home first.” The crowd stared at the police officer in shock. “Officer, she sold children. Why can she go home?” “Shouldn’t she be taken to the station at a time like this?” Ezra panicked and hurriedly blocked the police officer’s path.
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