“Are you sure you will be able to manage on your own?” my sister Acacia asked me. I had just returned from a marriage late at night and instead of staying back at my sister’s place, I’d decided that it would be better if I drove back home as I had to attend work the next day. “Yes, for the 50th time,” I said, frustrated that she didn’t consider me responsible enough, I was 24 after all, I knew about the dangers lurking in the world. But seeing the genuine concern on her face, I knew I was being treated like a little child. Desperately I said, “I promise I will give you a call as soon as I reach home.”
After bidding her goodbye I sat in my car, all the gold accessories which I had worn for the wedding were safely seated in the backseat of my car and I left my sister’s house at 11:30 in the night. As the ride to my house was quite a long and tedious one and the road which I was taking was almost deserted I decided to turn on some music so that I didn’t feel alone.
While enjoying the tunes playing, I saw a figure standing on the side of the road, one of his hands stretched out waving to me, probably asking for a lift. As my car approached closer to the figure, I could see that the figure was of a young man, he was wearing black sweatpants and a very dusty white shirt, he sported a beard and his hair was long and had very bright yellow highlights. I decided that I wouldn’t be able to stop by and give this man a lift as it was past twelve in the night and I was being extremely cautious about the jewellery which was in the car’s backseat. I mumbled an apology to God and asked for forgiveness for not being a Good Samaritan and sped up when my car came closer to the man.
As I drove further, I realised that my car was the only one on the road. On one side of the road there were a few buildings, but as it was extremely late at night there was no light coming from the windows of the buildings. The other side of the road was completely empty except for a few trees and street lamps which were the only source of light for me. Seeing that the road was totally empty, my heart began thudding loudly in my ribcage and I was afraid that it would pop out of my chest at any moment. I looked with trepidation at each shadow, and every sound that I heard made me jump with fright.
A bit further I saw a figure was standing by the road with one of their hands stretched out waving out to me. Believe me when I say that my eyes certainly did pop out of their sockets when I saw that this figure was none other than the same young man I had seen ten minutes ago. My hands trembled as my knuckles were white on the steering wheel. My eyes were shaking, and I was sweating profusely. “How was this man able to keep up with the speed of my car?”
I just sped up when I drove closer to the man. I mustered up all my courage and just continued driving, muttering prayers under my breath and I could feel tears filling up my eyes.
After an interval of ten minutes, the same figure which was occupying all my thoughts suddenly appeared right in front of my car and my car screeched to a halt as I didn’t want to accidentally run over the man.
The young man just stared at me and his hands were in the same fixed position I had seen them in. My heart stopped and my whole body was frozen as if it was paralyzed. My brain wasn’t functioning and all I could do was shut my eyes in fear. Thankfully after five minutes when I opened my eyes I saw that the figure had left and my body was ready to function and I started my car.
I did not see the figure again and I reached my house at one in the night. I was still shaking and with my trembling hands, I called my sister. After hearing the quiver in my voice she demanded I tell her the whole story. I narrated the whole story to her and she comforted me the whole night, trying to convince me that my mind was playing tricks on me and to comfort myself I chose to believe that.
The next day, I woke up after a long sleep and decided that it would be alright to skip work for the day. I switched on the television to watch the news while I made my morning coffee. The news anchor was covering an accident which had occurred the previous day in the same area I was coming from, “this is the young victim who unfortunately passed away last night” the anchor said, I turned my eyes to the television to see the image and my whole body froze when I saw that picture was of a young man, who was sporting a beard and had long hair with bright yellow highlights. He was none other than the man who wanted a lift from me…..
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