The Last Echo of the Night: A Ride Through Eternity

In the hushed, dimly lit terminal, the last night's bus was a silent sentinel, waiting for its final passengers. The air was thick with the anticipation of departure, but none could anticipate the journey that would unfold. Among the passengers boarding was Li Wei, a woman whose life had been a tapestry of sorrow and mystery.

The bus rolled out into the night, its windows casting a soft glow upon the faces of its passengers. The world outside was a tapestry of black and white, punctuated by the occasional flicker of a distant streetlight. Li Wei sat in the back row, her eyes fixed on the window, as the bus hummed along the empty streets.

As the ride progressed, the night seemed to grow colder. The lights inside the bus flickered, and Li Wei's breath misted in the air. She turned to the seat beside her, expecting to find another passenger, but the seat was empty. She reached out, touching the back of the seat, only to find a cool, unwelcoming metal.

Li Wei's mind raced with confusion. She had seen no one get on or off at the stop they had just passed. Her eyes met those of the driver, who seemed equally startled. "Driver," she called, "there's no one here. Who was in this seat?"

The driver, a stoic man with a furrowed brow, shook his head slowly. "There was no one," he replied, his voice tinged with an unsettling edge. "I drove the bus by myself. The seat was empty the entire time."

Li Wei's heart began to race. She clutched the strap of her seat, her fingers white with紧张. "Then who...?" she asked, but her voice was barely audible.

The bus continued its journey, and as the night deepened, the temperature inside seemed to plummet. The lights continued to flicker, casting eerie shadows on the faces of the few passengers still aboard. Li Wei's gaze returned to the empty seat, where the driver had claimed no one had been.

She noticed something then. A faint light, like a wisp of a candle, flickered in the corner of the bus, where the driver sat. It was so faint that it seemed to belong to another realm, not this one. Li Wei's breath caught in her throat. The light was coming from the back of the bus, where the empty seat had been.

"Driver," she whispered, her voice barely a murmur, "I think someone's here."

The driver looked back, his eyes widening. "There's no one," he repeated, his voice shaking.

Li Wei stood, her feet trembling. She moved toward the back of the bus, her eyes fixed on the flickering light. The moment she stepped into the aisle, the light grew brighter, illuminating the corner of the bus where the seat had been. And there, in the dim light, was the outline of a figure, seated where no one had been moments before.

Li Wei's heart pounded as she approached the figure. As she got closer, she saw that it was not a human, but a ghost, cloaked in the shadows, its eyes reflecting the fading light of the night. The ghost turned to face her, and Li Wei saw that its face was contorted with pain and sorrow.

"Who are you?" Li Wei asked, her voice trembling.

The ghost did not answer with words, but with a haunting melody, a sound that seemed to resonate in her soul. It was a melody of longing and loss, a song that spoke of a love torn apart by time and tragedy.

Li Wei felt a chill run down her spine as she realized the ghost was her own reflection. The melody was her own voice, the sorrow was her own pain, and the love was her own lost heart. The ghost was a fragment of her past, trapped in the last night's bus, forever searching for solace.

The bus lurched, and Li Wei's world began to spin. The ghost seemed to reach out to her, a hand passing through the air as if it were a barrier she could not cross. Li Wei felt tears streaming down her face, her heart breaking at the thought of never being able to leave this eternal ride.

As the bus came to a stop, Li Wei found herself back at the terminal, alone and shivering. She looked around, searching for the empty seat, but it was gone. The driver was nowhere to be seen, and the bus was gone, vanished as if it had never been.

Li Wei stumbled outside, the cold night air hitting her like a physical blow. She found herself in front of a grand old house, the kind she had seen in her dreams. She stepped forward, and as she entered the house, she felt the ghostly melody fade away.

She looked around, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. She was in the room where she had once lived, where the memories of her lost love were etched in the walls. Li Wei sat down on the bed, her body weary from the night's journey.

She realized that the ghost was a manifestation of her own grief, a part of her that had been trapped in the last night's bus, searching for release. Now, as she sat in the room of her past, she felt a sense of peace wash over her. She knew that she could finally let go of the past, that the ghost would find its way to the light.

The last echo of the night faded away, leaving Li Wei in the silence of her past, with a heart that had finally found its peace.