It was 8:43 in the morning, a dreary Monday. The lifeless atmosphere was on its way, gathering all the dark clouds to pour down the rain of misery. Not long after that, I could imagine: the rain was going to bring the rush-hour traffic to a standstill. “What a bummer!” I thought to myself, seeing the big crowd crammed inside the bus that came into sight. The standing passengers were squished together like a can of sardines with little to no personal space to them. They had no choice but to be straphangers during this peak-hour ride. 

Then, the bus arrived at my stop, and soon the front door folded; the passengers shoved their way out of the line, their shoulders bumped into one another and their bodies pressed up against each other. More often than not, they stepped on one’s feet by accident. All they could think about was to push through the wild crowds to the open air. This is when all hell broke loose: pickpockets. God forbid any of them should be nowhere in sight. Having a sense of security, I clutched my bag to my chest and scanned through the bus hoping if there were any handles left to grab. Meanwhile, the bus driver yelled out to the crowd hovering around the front corner, “Go to the back!” “There is much space left in the back” “Why on earth are you standing at the front?”—despite the fact that the back corners were already occupied with others. I omitted his bad language here, so you wouldn’t be second-hand embarrassed. Finally, I held on to the nearest handrail and spied here and there with my cautious eyes for any suspicious behavior like a detective on a mission. 

While people were pushing and shoving, It was such perfect timing for pickpockets to do their magic trick so effortlessly that an average person was unprepared for. No one could see it coming—what kind of techniques they might have had up their sleeves. What if they brought a knife to slit open my bag from behind and stole all the valuables? What if they were a group of gangs working together rather than just one pickpocket? Even if one of the passengers witnessed their devious acts—would he or she dare to put themselves at risk to shout for help or confront this nerve-wracking situation? Not much chance, at least, in where I came from. The man standing next to me in an office suit kept looking at his watch every three to five minutes. The seated lady with her earphones on and her head down was staring at her phone. A bunch of cocky teenagers chatting and laughing came within my earshot and reminded me that they were living their best life without a care in the world, even in this hive of activity. People were too wrapped up in their heads and unbothered to get themselves involved in whatever was happening to other passengers—so was I. Then, I tuned in to my body and realized I was overthinking all the possibilities that could turn up. The amount of anxiety going on the bus was too much to take, especially when anyone else on the bus was just a complete stranger to me.