Warning: Car Crash
by Anonymous TA Student Writer
It was forty some odd years ago but I remember it clear as day. I remember his blank stare, his white hoodie, everything. He’s the reason I don’t work no more. I used to love my job, and would work whenever I could for however long I could. I didn’t have a family to go back to back then.
I was on my longest run I had done in years. It was cross country from Washington all the way to Maine. I had already been on the road for over 48 hours. I wasn’t stopping for anything, or so I thought. I was tired but I could deal with it. After all, it's not the first time I had gone this long without sleep. This time was… different though.
It all started when I saw a white car. Completely normal right? Wrong. This one didn’t have a license plate. “Whatever,” I thought to myself, “just some punk teenager trying not to get caught.” So I watched as it sped off towards the skyline. Less than ten minutes later though, another drove by, seemed to be the same car. This time I checked out the driver. There was something off about him though, he was wearing all white. He had on white sweatpants with a white hoodie, he had the hood up over his head and had a white baseball cap on. This time I was getting concerned. I still thought it was just a coincidence though. Just like the last he sped off to the horizon as I watched.
Again around five minutes later the same white car with no license plate, and the same driver went by. This time I knew something was happening so I pulled off the highway and took a break at a truck stop. I kept it simple, went in, ordered a breakfast meal, they served breakfast all night, it had two eggs, two pancakes, and some hash browns. As I was waiting I looked out the window, and to my utter dismay, there he was, the same driver. He was tall, slim, and had on more white than I could see from my truck. He had white sandals with white socks too. He was looking out toward the road and didn’t seem to move an inch. Now I was getting worried. I went to the bathroom and washed my face, trying desperately to magically make him disappear from my thoughts.
After giving myself some time to calm down and contemplate, I went back out and waited for my food. As soon as I sat down I looked out the window. He was gone. “Phew,” I whispered to myself.
After what seemed like the longest wait of my life – it was only ten minutes – my food arrived. Now that my mind was off that man I could enjoy my food. It was some really good food, or maybe I just hadn’t eaten in a while. Either way my hunger and thoughts of the man were gone. A while after the truck stop, I think it was close to an hour later, my worst nightmare came to fruition. I looked out my window and almost threw up. He was there, the man was there. He was running alongside my truck. I was freaking out because I was going 65 miles per hour down the highway and a man was running alongside me. I sped up, frightened by him. 70, 75, 80, 90 miles per hour, but he was still there. He looked at me through the window and that’s when I froze. This man didn’t have a face. He just blankly stared at me. I couldn’t look away.
-----
Two days later I woke up in a hospital. I had bad bruises and scratches all across my body. The doctor came in a few minutes later, clipboard in hand. He told me that I had been in a coma for two days after I had gotten in a brutal car accident. He told me that I would be fine, but I wasn’t worried about that. I knew I would be. I, however, was truly worried about the man in all white. For some reason I had an inclination to quit my job. At this point I was doing whatever I could to get as far away from the man as I could. I thought quitting my job would help. I asked the doctor for a phone, dialed the number of my trucking company and told them that I had been in a terrible accident and couldn’t drive a truck ever again. I was physically capable of driving again, I couldn’t bring myself to do it though. Besides, my life got a lot better afterwards anyway.
Comments