The Midnight Bus- Beijing, China.

Leon stood alone at the bus stop. The distant lights and sounds of the more crowded part of the city reminded him that there were in fact other people around, yet he couldn't shake the eerie feeling of isolation that plagued him. Coming from Hong Kong, Leon was used to the noisiness of his old neighborhood. Looking for a new experience, he packed up all of his possessions and moved to a quieter area of Beijing. At the time, he thought that a change in environment would be nice, but, though he would never admit it, he was beginning to regret his decision.

As the unnerving loneliness grew more suffocating, Leon reached into his backpack to find something to distract himself. When he looked up with his iPod in hand, he was startled to see that he was no longer alone. An old man sporting a red Mandarin jacket and a dark ponytail appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Leon nodded politely before putting on his headphones.

The two men stood in silence until Bus 302 arrived. The old man took a seat up front, a few rows down from the driver. The rest of the bus was deserted, so Leon sat down in the far back. They started moving, and Leon became immersed in his music. He barely noticed the bus stop once more to let on two additional men. They sat down directly behind the driver's seat.

After a few more minutes of staring out the window, Leon felt a rough hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the old man angrily glaring at him. He took off his headphones and gave the man a questioning look.

"Give it back," the old man hissed.

"Excuse me?" Leon replied, completely confused.

"My wallet!" the man answered furiously, "I know you stole it! Now give it back!"

"Are you insane?" Leon was getting upset. "I didn't do anything of the sort."

"Stop lying!" The old man was shouting now. "Give it back right now or I'm calling the police."

He reached forward and boxed Leon's ears. Leon yelled out and smacked away the man's hands. The bus came to an abrupt stop.

"Both of you get out! Now!" The bus driver shouted, "There's no fighting on my bus!"

He opened the door and gestured for them to leave. Leon grumbled as he grabbed his things and stomped out of the bus. Once the men were back on the street the bus driver drove away in a huff. Leon turned to glare at the old man, but was surprised to see him looking oddly relieved.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you on the bus," the old man said with a smile, "but I just saved both of our lives."

"What are you talking about?" Leon asked.

"Those two men who got on, did you get a good look at them?" the man asked.

"Uh, no," he admitted.

"Well, if you had, you would have seen that they were missing their legs," the man exclaimed wildly, "Those men were ghosts!"

Leon had never been the type to believe in the supernatural, and right now he was feeling very annoyed about having to walk all the way home in the middle of the night. He was about to express this annoyance very vigorously until he noticed the man's triumphant grin. He truly believed that he had saved their lives, and Leon couldn't crush a senile old man's feelings. So, with a heavy sigh, Leon thanked the man and began heading back to his apartment.

A couple of weeks later, Leon was sitting at his kitchen table eating breakfast and watching the morning news. He gasped when he saw an image of the bus flash onscreen.

"Two weeks ago, Bus 302 had disappeared shortly after midnight," the newscaster reported, "All traces of it, its driver, and any passengers that may have been aboard were nowhere to be found. Until today, when investigators found the vehicle parked in a ditch three miles north of its normal route."

Leon stared at the screen as a team of medics loaded a full body bag into an ambulance. A swarm of police officers were taping around the area. The bus itself looked completely normal, albeit slightly daunting.

"The driver was found in his seat in an extended state of decomposition, though there appeared to be no sign of a struggle or an apparent cause of death. The bus also appeared to be in perfect shape, until investigators discovered that its petrol tank had been filled with blood."

Leon felt sick. He thought back to that night when he had been so unsuspecting and so very close to ending up like the bus driver. He silently thanked the old man, this time with complete sincerity, for saving him from the fate of the midnight bus.

So this is an urban legend that made its rounds in Beijing a few years back. There are several variations of it, but I personally liked this one the best.

Leon-Hong Kong

Old man- China

Each chapter of this fanfiction is going to revolve around a different set of characters placed in a scary story or urban legend from their country. I already have a few ideas for more chapters, but if there's anything you really want to see me write about, leave it in the comments.