The Bus Driver

In Waterville, Maine, police were baffled by an unprecedented spike in all varieties of crime. Banks were robbed, companies were embezzled by faithful employees, the elderly were relieved of life savings by swindling grandchildren. Wives were killed for insurance benefits, jewelry was swiped from the hands of the dead at funeral homes, cars were stolen, painted and sold.

Some arrests were made and long investigations got underway. At last, police began to find a common thread in all of the madness. All money from the violence and corruption seemed to be funneled to one man, a non-descript fellow named Raymond Boomgardner who operated a small bus company. When the team of investigators swarmed on Boomgardner's home and office, they found that all traces of him were gone. All, that is, except for one sagging bus still caked with road dust. There were few clues found inside the crumbling vehicle, but on the back of it was a curious thing. There, painted with a peculiar gold tint and written in strange script was one simple word: OBEY.

Had Raymond Boomgardner found a way to mesmerize the people of Waterville into an organized madness to fill his own pockets? Was there something corrupt and magical about that one word with it's odd, gleaming letters? Such a thing was never proven and the bus driver was never found. The lead investigator on the case, one Sgt. Gary Forbes, has no further insights to relate. The day after the bus was found outside the abandoned office, Forbes quietly cleaned out the police evidence room, making off with cash and narcotics, and has not been seen since.