Daniel had just missed the last bus home.

At least, he thought he had.

It was almost midnight, bitterly cold, and the little bus shelter offered about as much protection from the wind as a garden chair.

Then, out of the fog, two headlights appeared through the darkness.

A bus.

Daniel smiled.

His luck had changed.

The doors opened, and he climbed aboard.

“Does this go to Haversham?” he asked.

The elderly driver looked at him strangely.

“Eventually.”

Not exactly reassuring, but Daniel was freezing. He paid his fare and sat near the front.

There were only three other passengers. An old woman clutching a shopping bag, a young man staring through the window, and a little girl sitting on her own.

No one spoke.

Ten minutes later, the bus pulled into another stop.

A woman stood beneath the shelter.

The doors opened.

She didn’t move.

“She’s not getting on,” Daniel said.

The driver said nothing.

The woman was looking directly at the bus.

Yet somehow, she seemed to be looking through it.

The doors closed.

Daniel began feeling a bit uneasy.

Then he noticed something else.

They were passing through a village he knew well, except it wasn’t quite the village he remembered.

A butcher’s shop that had closed years ago was brightly lit.

An old petrol station demolished when Daniel was a teenager was now open for business.

And then they passed the Regal Cinema.

Daniel almost stood up.

The Regal had been knocked down twenty-five years earlier.

But there it was.

Lights blazing.

People rushing out through the exit doors.

And standing beneath the illuminated entrance was someone Daniel recognized.

His father.

His father had been dead for twelve years.

“Stop the bus!”

Daniel rushed towards the doors.

The driver reached across.

“Don’t.”

“My dad’s back there!”

“I know.”

Daniel stared at him.

Outside, his father turned.

For one impossible second, their eyes met.

His father smiled.

Then he raised his hand and waved.

The bus moved on.

Have you ever experienced something so strange that you’ve never been able to explain it? Tell us about it in the comments below. Your story might be perfect for Stories From The Universe.

Daniel sat silently for the rest of the journey.

Eventually, the bus stopped.

“This is you,” said the driver.

Daniel looked outside.

“This isn’t Haversham.”

“No.”

“Then why am I getting off?”

The driver smiled.

“Because you’re needed here.”

Daniel stepped onto the pavement.

The doors closed, and the bus disappeared around the corner.

Only then did Daniel look up.

He was standing outside St. Matthew’s Hospital.

His phone rang.

His sister.

Daniel answered.

“Where are you?”

“Outside St. Matthew’s.”

There was silence.

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Mum collapsed tonight. The ambulance brought her here. I’ve been trying to call you for nearly an hour.”

Daniel ran inside.

His mother had suffered a heart attack. She survived, but doctors told the family she’d had an extraordinarily lucky escape.

The following morning, Daniel remembered the bus.

He called the local transport company.

No bus on that route operated after 11:15 p.m.

The route number Daniel described didn’t exist.

Then he remembered his ticket.

He reached into his coat pocket.

The small paper ticket was still there.

But there was no route number.

No fare.

No destination.

Just four words printed across the middle.

YOU WERE NEEDED TONIGHT.

Daniel never discovered what happened that night.

Perhaps exhaustion played tricks on him.

Perhaps he’d boarded some strange bus and got confused about what he saw.

But that wouldn’t explain his father.

And it certainly wouldn’t explain the ticket.

Maybe some journeys aren’t about where we want to go.

Maybe they’re about where we’re needed.

And perhaps, every once in a while, when the Universe really needs to get our attention…

It sends a ghost in the form of a bus.

If you enjoyed The Ghost Bus, you’ll find 36 more uplifting, mysterious stories about coincidence, fate, strange timing, and life’s unexplained moments in Stories From The Universe by Keith Everett.

P.S. For more about manifestation, abundance, divine timing, and the remarkable teachings of Florence Scovel Shinn, visit the Florence Scovel Shinn Legacy YouTube channel