Terrifying Diagnosis
There’s no telling when tragedy will strike next. One day everything seems is looking great, then suddenly the rug is pulled out from under you and life descends into absolute chaos. That’s where we find our unfortunate protagonist Paul. He shared his story on Reddit, in which after receiving a deadly diagnosis, he encountered a hateful monster who seemed determined to attack him at his lowest point. But that wasn’t going to stop our determined hero though.
It was only a year ago that Paul received the life-changing news: a large tumor in his nasal cavity. While it was thankfully benign, Paul still needed aggressive rounds of chemotherapy to shrink this mass. The natural side effect? All of Paul’s hair fell out. He wasn’t used to waking up every day and seeing a completely blank face, with not even a hair on his eyebrows. He decided to wear a wig, so as not to shock everyone he would encounter in public. It would hopefully make such a difficult process just a little bit easier.
After a particularly long and intense chemotherapy session at the hospital, all Paul wanted to do was to take the bus home and crawl into bed. He was exhausted, and he must have been this close to simply bursting into tears. The bus itself was absolutely jam-packed with humanity. Paul feebly asked a middle-aged man if he could give up his seat for Paul. This man, noting Paul’s demeanor and low energy, sympathetically obliged. Yet it was only a moment of brief relief before Paul would come face to face with his worst fear.
Turning To Desperate Measures
Enter Brenda. A delightfully vicious mother with an intense “I demand to see the manager” haircut. She dragged along her twelve-year-old son, who seemed considerably happier than she could ever be. Paul felt trapped, already in a vulnerable position and not wanting to deal with the wrath of Brenda. But fate would have other things in store for Paul that fateful day.
Brenda marched along with her son straight towards Paul. She walked right up and asked, in a sickeningly sweet voice, “Hey, could you let my kid sit down?”
Paul really hoped she was talking to anyone else. “You mean me?” he asked.
“Who else?” Brenda stated with a false chuckle.
“Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m on my way from the hospital and-“
“So are we!” Brenda loudly interjected. “My boy just broke his leg and we’re coming straight from the ER!”
For the record, Brenda’s kid was standing on two legs and looked to be in much better condition than Paul. He looked healthy and slightly embarrassed, a much better state than Paul was currently in. Paul really didn’t want to have to give into this woman.
Paul sheepishly muttered, “He’s standing next to you completely fine.”
Brenda didn’t like this slight bit of defiance one bit. “Look here BOY! My child DESERVES to sit down here!”
What else could Paul do, except to say, “Look ma’am, I’m sorry, but I just got back from a chemo session in the hospital and I need to sit down here and rest.” Paul even moved his wig slightly to reveal his bald head for her, something he ordinarily would feel far too uncomfortable to ever attempt.
Brenda resorted to brutally yelling in Paul’s face. “STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND GET OFF OF THE STUPID SEAT YOU SKINHEAD PIECE OF TRASH!”
The entire bus was silent. At this point, Paul and Brenda had a devoted audience to the madness. No one wanted to feel the wrath of Brenda directly, so a desperate hush fell over the passengers. Brenda’s son was clearly mortified and was trying to mutter to his mom that they could find a seat literally anywhere else. That’s when Brenda resorted to truly desperate measures.
She Quickly Turned Violent
Brenda violently grabbed Paul and tried to pull him away from the coveted seat. Paul held onto the back of the seat as tight as he possibly could, even though his energy was fading fast. There was no way that he could continue like this for very long at all. Suddenly, he savior appeared, in the form of an elderly, gruff man, who we’ll call Stan.
Stan got right into Brenda’s face without any fear and shouted, “WILL YOU SHUT UP YOU DUMB COW?!”
Brenda was shocked that someone would ever call her out on her behavior. “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE TALKING TO?!” she roared.
Stan, speaking in an ice-cold furious drawl, stated, “Stop assaulting other passengers, or I will be forced to step in. Also, even the dumbest moron could see that this man has cancer.”
Well apparently Brenda refused to notice what was so clearly visible. “NO HE DOESN’T!” she loudly stated, as if the volume of her voice would convince those around her.
Stan quickly responded with, “He’s got NO EYEBROWS YOU MORON!”
Brenda was appalled. Her mouth hung open in disbelief at this intense man. It seemed like she had exhausted all of her other options, so she really only had one choice left.
She Never Saw It Coming
Without any warning, Brenda slammed her fist into Stan’s face. Paul couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. Neither could Brenda’s innocent young son. The whole bus was aghast, was there any way to stop Brenda from going on a violent rampage?
Turns out there was. Stan wiped his face, glared at Brenda, and stated, “Okay, that is it. Harassing passengers on the bus, physical assault against a passenger. And now assaulting an officer. You’re in deep, deep trouble, lady.”
Did he just say what everyone thought he said? A slow wave of horror spread across Brenda’s face. Yep, turns out Stan was a police officer. Brenda turned as white as a ghost. Fortunately for her, the bus had come to a stop. She thought she could immediately make a run for it. She didn’t count on the other, silent passengers snapping to attention and blocking her exit. Turns out she would also be charged with resisting arrest. It only took an additional three stops for a police car to arrive just for Brenda. As Brenda was being forcibly detained by the cops, her son apologized to Paul. He bashfully looked down as he apologized for how awful his mother had behaved. Paul took pity on this lonely kid. He certainly couldn’t help that his mother was pure evil.
After her kid left the scene, Stan walked up to Paul, asking if he would like to press charges. Paul responded with an enthusiastic yes. Stan proceeded to take a brief statement from Paul, and allowed Paul to complete the questioning on the phone with another officer. Paul wouldn’t have to go down to the station on top of an already exhausting day, and he could finally put an end to this traumatic encounter.
Are Things Finally Looking Up?
Despite how brutal it felt in the heat of the moment, Paul ended up coming out victorious and safe. Brenda was sentenced to several months of jail time and some community service. No word on what happened to her son, but hopefully he was staying with a much more sane guardian for the time being. Paul got an impressive tale of instant karma he could tell to all of his friends for quite a long time afterwards.
To this day, Paul continues to ride that same crowded bus to and from the hospital. On a much more positive note, his recent surgery to remove the tumor went quite well. He was declared cancer-free quite recently. Slowly but surely, his familiar hair is returning to him. Paul doesn’t feel compelled to hide behind the wig anymore. If he could make it through the traumatic ordeal that Brenda unleashed at him, he could certainly handle a few people potentially staring at him. There was nothing that could make him cower in fear anymore.
