The 6th HUPE in Storyland competition Ranking

The bus was crushing the icy road heading to Zagreb at usual schedule, it has left Osijek at 04:00 PM and it was supposed to arrive at 09:00 PM, an hour longer due to unusually snowy weather. Nela, uniquely beautiful sixteen year old girl with glasses that had this interesting almost square like shape with the brightest burnt orange colour and messy black hair that looked like a cloud of ink underwater and had few waves that were out of her small bun. She had this beautifull raw amber skin but pale face with big deer eyes. She looked like a vampire deprived from her blood. She only wanted to look through the fogged window at fields that looked like they were covered with a large white quilt and listen to her favourite song, she prayed that one day it will make her feel goosebumps all over her body like it did the first time she heard it. She was always on a look out for meaning and stability in her life, never trying new things because she knew that change can be dangerous and uncomfortable, she didn't like human encounters or anything that was new in her life. She always felt lika a big ticking time bomb, almost always annoyed and frustrated, maybe that was just puberty kicking in. Everything always seemed chaotic and out of place, she always felt like that one nail that hold the whole building together. Those four or five hours in a year when she was visiting her grandparents in Zagreb meant the world to her because it meant that she gets to be completely silent and left alone. It felt like she was running away from everything, so freeing and relaxing but also challenging and dangerous because all her problems were left unsupervised. First one and a half hour was perfect, she was seated alone as she planned and she fell asleep on her seat. Curled up like a saved kitten in warm palm of her new owner, just so clueless and carefree. It felt like almost everything was taken care off. Suddenly the doors of luggage storage slammed so loud that it woke her up. She wasn't the only one that was cranky, obviously. You could tell by the way that driver was driving he woke up on the left foot, even though his right foot was constantly aggressively pressing the gas pedal then suddenly pressing the brake pedal like he wished his "evil" ex-wife he cheated on was standing in the bus then falling down as he would press the brake pedal. Bus stopped at Slavonski Brod ton pick up passengers. Nela was positive nobody would sit with her because she looked very unfriendly, she put her bags on the seat next to hers and tried to look like she was sleeping, the oldest trick in the book. The gentelmen that climbed onto the bus stairs right in that moment looked older than the trick. Even though a lot of seats were completely empty, he decided to sit next Nela. He approached her seat carrying three plastic bags from the supermarket filled with clothes and some other travel necessities that were very loud. He wore jacket that was slightly too thin for the weather, he looked like a spoiled child that refuses to get dressed properly before they leave the house. He was yearning for a weather that requires a cold river instead of hot tea. He looked like and average grandpa, gray hair with the weakest beard and almost perfect mustache. He shook Nela's shoulder a little to wake her up, she couldn't believe it. She was so annoyed that somebody was actually trying to wake her and sit next to her even though she checked the bus before passengers were supposed to come in and there were plenty seats left. She still didn't move, he shook her shoulder again and said, "Hey little one, wake up." she kind of smirked because his voice was likeable and wasn't fitting for the place they were located at, it was a typical Dalmatian accent. Her smirk slowly faded as she opened her big brown eyes and saw this man, he smiled at her and started moving her bags from the seat next to her by himself. She was a little bit scared because this really old man with a really bad beard choose to sit with her out of all seats in the bus that were empty. He sat there and put his very inconveniently loud plastic bags under his legs. Before he spoke, he coughed to get the phlegm out and then with a really raspy voice, much quieter than he coughed asked her what's her name. Nela knew that it wouldn't be smart to tell him her real name so instead she said her name was Vesna. That was the first name that came to her mind because as he asked that question the bus was driving next to a billboard, the billboard was showing a local Croatian jewellery store that was named Vesna so she took the opportunity, how convenient. You could see a slight glimmer in his eyes as she was saying that name. His name was Mate, of course. "That explained the accent." she thought. Mate asked her where is she from and what does her parents do for work, a totally appropriate question to ask anyone when you first meet them, old people what can I say. He had this really friendly smile on his face that you couldn't say no to, he radiated this really positive energy, acting like his pension wasn't miserably small like everyone else's. She politely said that she is tired and that she would like to sleep, she was saying that while putting her wired headphones on so he would just take a sign, she was actually being more polite than she usually is with people. Mate told her that the colour of her glasses were really ugly, he said it just like that with no reason whatsoever, old people really do have a way with words. Her song didn't start playing yet so she heard this hopefully well intentioned criticism. She slowly pulled her headphones down and started a really inappropriate sentence that was directed to the old man but again very conveniently the bus suddenly pulled over really fast even though they weren't even close to their next stop. They both leaned to the right side of the bus and Mate hit Nela with his elbow. He didn't say sorry which unbearable old people rarely do. Nela just took it as it is. Bus driver said on the speaker that snow is absolutely horrible, roads weren't cleaned properly and he somehow successfully managed to make a political connotation. He made a small comment about certain Croatian political figures and cussed something under his breath, I guess he didn't want to ruffle the feathers too much. They stopped on the side of the road waiting for the road to get cleaned so they could pass, there were about milion cars in front of them and behind them waiting for the same thing. Nela started projecting on her life from the moment that she was born and kept thinking "Why does this seem to happen to me so often?". At this point her few hours of peace became surviving this old mans stinky breath and trying to make no eye contact. She couldn't decide if he was a pervert or just an idiot, and on top of all that she was hungry. They both were silent for almost an hour, if you somehow could look thorugh perspective of a random passenger you would see this young girl listening to her music at full blast not knowing people can hear it and a dinosaur with a bad beard sometimes glancing at her. Mate decided to be even more insufferable and suddenly pulled her string earplugs out of her ears, she just looked at him and by her face you could tell that she was on the edge and Mate was dancing on it. He asked her if she was hungry, he had some bacon and bread in his plastic bag along with the knife. Nela was very hungry but her teenage brain viewed this situation as embarassing and not acceptable, her embarrassment radar was off but somehow Mate was thar kind of person you couldn't say no to. Even before she decided to say yes he was already cutting two pieces of bread without hesitation. He kind of threw this bread at her lap, I guess his manners were left at Slavonski Brod along with his suitcase. As he fed her his bread, he felt warmth in his hearteven though his face looked chronically judgy but sweet. Nostalgia hit him more with every bread slice he cut. Mate said that they will probably stay here for some time and that he would like to tell her a really interesting story. Nela had to say yes because she owed him at least that after eating half of his cached food. She thought he was about to tell her how some young person her age almost run him over with their electric scooter and that's why our country is falling apart, but she clearly underestimated him. Story starts in Makarska, year was 1965, Mate was thirteen. Makarska is a beautifull city in Dalmatia filled with the smell of jasmine and rosemary as Mate likes to remember it. Mate lived there and he said it was heaven on earth, this beautifull town placed at the Adriatic Sea coast, he cherished every second he used to spend there with his parents and brothers. He remembers playing with his brothers in the sea and competing who will swim to the boulder in sea first but he never managed to win. He was always a little bit unathletic and much younger than his brothers. Mate smiled as he talked about his old life, Nela was confused by his emotional approach to this topic. Mate continued to talk about the charms of Makarska with such passion, but just because life there was heaven for him doesn't mean it was heaven for his parents. That same year they had to move to Slavonia due to the lack of job in Dalmatia. They moved to Slavonski Brod with a so-called train without timetables. The ride was really long but it was even longer to Mate due to his heart being broken for the first time. He couldn't believe that they were leaving his beautiful home for some ugly hole of a place without sea. His new home was an abandoned hosue that smelled like cat piss and was this really ugly shade of orange we already figured he hated. He was hungry almost all the time, the times were hard. He had to attend a new school and a new class with other children that all sounded and talked really weird. As there is a major difference in the way Slavonians and Dalmatians talk express themselves, it was really hard for him to adapt. Everybody thought he had a really accent and nobody was really too friendly towards him. He was sitting on a bench one day, it was a school break. He was always alone because he wasn't atheltic enough to play with other boys. His brothers were much older than him which meant they didn't even attend school anymore so he couldn't be with them. He tried reading the book that he stole from the school library when all of the sudden this beautiful angel on earth appears. Her name was Vesna, she was of Romani origin and she was a little bit older than Mate. She had this beautiful long brown hair and the most chestnut brown eyes he ever saw. She always wore this scarf sunflowers around her head to get it out of her pretty face. She attended the same class as Mate did but they never really talked before because he was told that people of Romani origin onlty steal and lie so he didn't really want to mess with her. As she approached him, sun hit her face and her skin looked golden, her hair moved in the wind and her eyes looked like church windows. She said to Mate "You are really skinny, you look dead.", she was pretty direct. Mate was astonished with her beauty. She brought bread with her and she gave him a slice. As she sat at the bench next to him and ate her bread with him he was shocked with her generosity. She wasn't like his father taught him at all, she was kind and funny and she was only giving and never asked for anything in return. She was also always positive and she brought happiness into his life when no one else could. Just like a beautiful sunflower in the field, always turning towards the sun even in the darkest of times. Vesna and Mate hang out together everday at school and everyone thought they were weirdos. Everyday before school he would go to her house and they would walk to school together. She could never go to his house because they both wanted to avoid the trouble, but she wouldn accompany him to the beginning of his street as they walked home from school. He would always watch as she would walk back home, just staring as her legs moved, almost hypnotised. She wasn't always present in the school but every time she was there and some children would try to attack Mate because of his accent Vesna would protect him. Mate was a little bit shy and reserved. One day Mate got beaten up and as Vesna helped him to get to his house she told Mate in her almost angel-like and gentle voice that felt like sun rays on the skin "You really need to learn how to take care of yourself because I wont be able to protect you forever". He just couldn't stop looking at her long brown hair that looked like a forest of pedunculate oak that stretches along the Sava river as she was holding his hand. Every time he was around her time just stopped, she was his first love. This was the first time Vesna walked him directly to his house, they would usually just separate at the corner of the street but this time it was different. Vesna hugged him tight which she never does and a tear rolled down her pretty face, like a leaf slowly falling off the tree and dancing in the wind. He thought it was because he was covered in blood. He could feel that she was being raw with him for the first time. Next day he came to her house like he usually does but she wasn't there, nobody was there. He stood outside confused and he felt his tomach drop. He asked the lovely lady that was living in the huse next to Vesna "Where is Vesna and her family?". The lady said that Vesna and her family left ten minutes ago, they went on a train to Italy, Vesna was getting married to some older guy. Mate felll on his knees and started crying. He looked like a defeated warrior that is about to be executed. His whole world has been crushed again, his heart broken again. The lady said if he could run fast enough he could greet her one more time because the train station was really close. "We have arrived in Zagreb" said the cranky driver on the speaker. Mate started putting his bread and bacon away in his plastic containers and putting them back in his colourful supermarket bags. Nela grabbed his cold hand and asked "Did you make it before the train has already left, did you ever say goodbye to each other for the one last time?" Nela never felt more interested or excited about anything in her life, her face suddenly lit up as she asked this question in hurry. He just stood up with his plastic bags and said "Goodbye, Vesna.".

The bus was crushing the icy road heading to Zagreb at usual schedule, it has left Osijek at 04:00 PM and it was supposed to arrive at 09:00 PM, an hour longer due to unusually snowy weather. Nela, uniquely beautiful sixteen year old girl with glasses that had this interesting almost square like shape with the brightest burnt orange colour and messy black hair that looked like a cloud of ink underwater and had few waves that were out of her small bun. She had this beautifull raw amber skin but pale face with big deer eyes. She looked like a vampire deprived from her blood. She only wanted to look through the fogged window at fields that looked like they were covered with a large white quilt and listen to her favourite song, she prayed that one day it will make her feel goosebumps all over her body like it did the first time she heard it. She was always on a look out for meaning and stability in her life, never trying new things because she knew that change can be dangerous and uncomfortable, she didn't like human encounters or anything that was new in her life. She always felt lika a big ticking time bomb, almost always annoyed and frustrated, maybe that was just puberty kicking in. Everything always seemed chaotic and out of place, she always felt like that one nail that hold the whole building together. Those four or five hours in a year when she was visiting her grandparents in Zagreb meant the world to her because it meant that she gets to be completely silent and left alone. It felt like she was running away from everything, so freeing and relaxing but also challenging and dangerous because all her problems were left unsupervised. First one and a half hour was perfect, she was seated alone as she planned and she fell asleep on her seat. Curled up like a saved kitten in warm palm of her new owner, just so clueless and carefree. It felt like almost everything was taken care off. Suddenly the doors of luggage storage slammed so loud that it woke her up. She wasn't the only one that was cranky, obviously. You could tell by the way that driver was driving he woke up on the left foot, even though his right foot was constantly aggressively pressing the gas pedal then suddenly pressing the brake pedal like he wished his "evil" ex-wife he cheated on was standing in the bus then falling down as he would press the brake pedal. Bus stopped at Slavonski Brod ton pick up passengers. Nela was positive nobody would sit with her because she looked very unfriendly, she put her bags on the seat next to hers and tried to look like she was sleeping, the oldest trick in the book. The gentelmen that climbed onto the bus stairs right in that moment looked older than the trick. Even though a lot of seats were completely empty, he decided to sit next Nela. He approached her seat carrying three plastic bags from the supermarket filled with clothes and some other travel necessities that were very loud. He wore jacket that was slightly too thin for the weather, he looked like a spoiled child that refuses to get dressed properly before they leave the house. He was yearning for a weather that requires a cold river instead of hot tea. He looked like and average grandpa, gray hair with the weakest beard and almost perfect mustache. He shook Nela's shoulder a little to wake her up, she couldn't believe it. She was so annoyed that somebody was actually trying to wake her and sit next to her even though she checked the bus before passengers were supposed to come in and there were plenty seats left. She still didn't move, he shook her shoulder again and said, "Hey little one, wake up." she kind of smirked because his voice was likeable and wasn't fitting for the place they were located at, it was a typical Dalmatian accent. Her smirk slowly faded as she opened her big brown eyes and saw this man, he smiled at her and started moving her bags from the seat next to her by himself. She was a little bit scared because this really old man with a really bad beard choose to sit with her out of all seats in the bus that were empty. He sat there and put his very inconveniently loud plastic bags under his legs. Before he spoke, he coughed to get the phlegm out and then with a really raspy voice, much quieter than he coughed asked her what's her name. Nela knew that it wouldn't be smart to tell him her real name so instead she said her name was Vesna. That was the first name that came to her mind because as he asked that question the bus was driving next to a billboard, the billboard was showing a local Croatian jewellery store that was named Vesna so she took the opportunity, how convenient. You could see a slight glimmer in his eyes as she was saying that name. His name was Mate, of course. "That explained the accent." she thought. Mate asked her where is she from and what does her parents do for work, a totally appropriate question to ask anyone when you first meet them, old people what can I say. He had this really friendly smile on his face that you couldn't say no to, he radiated this really positive energy, acting like his pension wasn't miserably small like everyone else's. She politely said that she is tired and that she would like to sleep, she was saying that while putting her wired headphones on so he would just take a sign, she was actually being more polite than she usually is with people. Mate told her that the colour of her glasses were really ugly, he said it just like that with no reason whatsoever, old people really do have a way with words. Her song didn't start playing yet so she heard this hopefully well intentioned criticism. She slowly pulled her headphones down and started a really inappropriate sentence that was directed to the old man but again very conveniently the bus suddenly pulled over really fast even though they weren't even close to their next stop. They both leaned to the right side of the bus and Mate hit Nela with his elbow. He didn't say sorry which unbearable old people rarely do. Nela just took it as it is. Bus driver said on the speaker that snow is absolutely horrible, roads weren't cleaned properly and he somehow successfully managed to make a political connotation. He made a small comment about certain Croatian political figures and cussed something under his breath, I guess he didn't want to ruffle the feathers too much. They stopped on the side of the road waiting for the road to get cleaned so they could pass, there were about milion cars in front of them and behind them waiting for the same thing. Nela started projecting on her life from the moment that she was born and kept thinking "Why does this seem to happen to me so often?". At this point her few hours of peace became surviving this old mans stinky breath and trying to make no eye contact. She couldn't decide if he was a pervert or just an idiot, and on top of all that she was hungry. They both were silent for almost an hour, if you somehow could look thorugh perspective of a random passenger you would see this young girl listening to her music at full blast not knowing people can hear it and a dinosaur with a bad beard sometimes glancing at her. Mate decided to be even more insufferable and suddenly pulled her string earplugs out of her ears, she just looked at him and by her face you could tell that she was on the edge and Mate was dancing on it. He asked her if she was hungry, he had some bacon and bread in his plastic bag along with the knife. Nela was very hungry but her teenage brain viewed this situation as embarassing and not acceptable, her embarrassment radar was off but somehow Mate was thar kind of person you couldn't say no to. Even before she decided to say yes he was already cutting two pieces of bread without hesitation. He kind of threw this bread at her lap, I guess his manners were left at Slavonski Brod along with his suitcase. As he fed her his bread, he felt warmth in his hearteven though his face looked chronically judgy but sweet. Nostalgia hit him more with every bread slice he cut. Mate said that they will probably stay here for some time and that he would like to tell her a really interesting story. Nela had to say yes because she owed him at least that after eating half of his cached food. She thought he was about to tell her how some young person her age almost run him over with their electric scooter and that's why our country is falling apart, but she clearly underestimated him. Story starts in Makarska, year was 1965, Mate was thirteen. Makarska is a beautifull city in Dalmatia filled with the smell of jasmine and rosemary as Mate likes to remember it. Mate lived there and he said it was heaven on earth, this beautifull town placed at the Adriatic Sea coast, he cherished every second he used to spend there with his parents and brothers. He remembers playing with his brothers in the sea and competing who will swim to the boulder in sea first but he never managed to win. He was always a little bit unathletic and much younger than his brothers. Mate smiled as he talked about his old life, Nela was confused by his emotional approach to this topic. Mate continued to talk about the charms of Makarska with such passion, but just because life there was heaven for him doesn't mean it was heaven for his parents. That same year they had to move to Slavonia due to the lack of job in Dalmatia. They moved to Slavonski Brod with a so-called train without timetables. The ride was really long but it was even longer to Mate due to his heart being broken for the first time. He couldn't believe that they were leaving his beautiful home for some ugly hole of a place without sea. His new home was an abandoned hosue that smelled like cat piss and was this really ugly shade of orange we already figured he hated. He was hungry almost all the time, the times were hard. He had to attend a new school and a new class with other children that all sounded and talked really weird. As there is a major difference in the way Slavonians and Dalmatians talk express themselves, it was really hard for him to adapt. Everybody thought he had a really accent and nobody was really too friendly towards him. He was sitting on a bench one day, it was a school break. He was always alone because he wasn't atheltic enough to play with other boys. His brothers were much older than him which meant they didn't even attend school anymore so he couldn't be with them. He tried reading the book that he stole from the school library when all of the sudden this beautiful angel on earth appears. Her name was Vesna, she was of Romani origin and she was a little bit older than Mate. She had this beautiful long brown hair and the most chestnut brown eyes he ever saw. She always wore this scarf sunflowers around her head to get it out of her pretty face. She attended the same class as Mate did but they never really talked before because he was told that people of Romani origin onlty steal and lie so he didn't really want to mess with her. As she approached him, sun hit her face and her skin looked golden, her hair moved in the wind and her eyes looked like church windows. She said to Mate "You are really skinny, you look dead.", she was pretty direct. Mate was astonished with her beauty. She brought bread with her and she gave him a slice. As she sat at the bench next to him and ate her bread with him he was shocked with her generosity. She wasn't like his father taught him at all, she was kind and funny and she was only giving and never asked for anything in return. She was also always positive and she brought happiness into his life when no one else could. Just like a beautiful sunflower in the field, always turning towards the sun even in the darkest of times. Vesna and Mate hang out together everday at school and everyone thought they were weirdos. Everyday before school he would go to her house and they would walk to school together. She could never go to his house because they both wanted to avoid the trouble, but she wouldn accompany him to the beginning of his street as they walked home from school. He would always watch as she would walk back home, just staring as her legs moved, almost hypnotised. She wasn't always present in the school but every time she was there and some children would try to attack Mate because of his accent Vesna would protect him. Mate was a little bit shy and reserved. One day Mate got beaten up and as Vesna helped him to get to his house she told Mate in her almost angel-like and gentle voice that felt like sun rays on the skin "You really need to learn how to take care of yourself because I wont be able to protect you forever". He just couldn't stop looking at her long brown hair that looked like a forest of pedunculate oak that stretches along the Sava river as she was holding his hand. Every time he was around her time just stopped, she was his first love. This was the first time Vesna walked him directly to his house, they would usually just separate at the corner of the street but this time it was different. Vesna hugged him tight which she never does and a tear rolled down her pretty face, like a leaf slowly falling off the tree and dancing in the wind. He thought it was because he was covered in blood. He could feel that she was being raw with him for the first time. Next day he came to her house like he usually does but she wasn't there, nobody was there. He stood outside confused and he felt his tomach drop. He asked the lovely lady that was living in the huse next to Vesna "Where is Vesna and her family?". The lady said that Vesna and her family left ten minutes ago, they went on a train to Italy, Vesna was getting married to some older guy. Mate felll on his knees and started crying. He looked like a defeated warrior that is about to be executed. His whole world has been crushed again, his heart broken again. The lady said if he could run fast enough he could greet her one more time because the train station was really close. "We have arrived in Zagreb" said the cranky driver on the speaker. Mate started putting his bread and bacon away in his plastic containers and putting them back in his colourful supermarket bags. Nela grabbed his cold hand and asked "Did you make it before the train has already left, did you ever say goodbye to each other for the one last time?" Nela never felt more interested or excited about anything in her life, her face suddenly lit up as she asked this question in hurry. He just stood up with his plastic bags and said "Goodbye, Vesna.".