Close Encounters

Ever been alone before, and intense feelings of an exaggerated fear begin to cripple your thoughts. Fearing for your life for no apparent reason whatsoever because of a mental malfunction? The crippling anxiety that strangles your thoughts could be due to the deep darkness that engulfed your entire body to the point where you couldn't see your own limbs, let alone somebody else's. An eerie feeling that you aren't really alone as you had previously thought; like someone was following you or that you were being watched.

This was me after I came out of Jason's house with nothing in my hands but the cryptic letter I had just received. I could feel that I wasn't alone anymore in the woods. The trees started shaking all of a sudden. At first I thought it was the creatures that dwell within the trees, shaking up the branches and thus making noises. This was my comforting thought for the first three minutes into the deep darkness. "How could it be that these sounds are following me?", I thought to myself. I lit the flashlight from my mobile phone and shone it behind me.

This was something I had always avoided, because it meant I'm giving out my location to the bad guys through the dark. This time I had to light back to see what was behind me. Fortunately, I did not see a thing except a number of trees, nothing surprising there really.

After some minutes practically running blind in the trees, I eventually got to a junction and followed along a small road. I got to the main road, where I ran into a dilemma I had been avoiding ever since I got out of that house - There weren't any cabs at that time of the night, in fact, all vehicles were not in sight! I then proceeded to begin a walk that would take me a total of three hours to my place in the city, and that's the least time it would take me all. Perhaps if I factored in the breaks I would be taking, the duration of this dreadful journey would roughly be six hours.

I was walking along the white line that separates the right side of the road to the left side. Something I would always do as a kid growing up around these parts. Back then, very few people had cars, so it made it easier for my friends and I to play freely without being disturbed and also without the risk of being ran over by a truck.

I guess even in my old age the game had been stuck in my head, lingering, waiting for the perfect opportunity for me to come back to where it all started.

So, I continued on my way, and for me it was definitely about the destination and not the journey. It was very taxing on my energy and also my mental health was on the line as I was constantly scared as it was still very dark. I thought being out of the forest meant that I would be at ease, but no! I was still very much terrified. I couldn't bear the thought of succumbing to someone lurking in the night. My acluophobia had always been a major issue. Also, I had never been in a fight my whole life, so how would I possibly hope to defend my self?

Then, for a few seconds for the first time in a while, my head cleared out, it was so calm. There were no instances of constant rumination, no compulsive thoughts. I looked back and to my shock, came racing a car right behind me. It had blinding lights on and I couldn't move.

I realized I had frozen even in my thoughts, like a rabbit stuck in the middle of the road that couldn't move a single muscle to save its life.

The car swerved and the tires screeched, producing a terribly loud noise that was intensified by the dead calm of the night.

The car came to a halt after seconds of twisting and turning.

"Are you ok?", I went running to the scene to check if anyone was hurt".

"Yeah! I'm all good, thanks. Listen man, I'm so sorry I almost ran you over. Can I offer you a lift?".

This was a miracle accident! I had been walking for so long and now I would get to hitch a ride. I did not want to seem to desperate, so at first I decline, to which he said:

"Please man! It's the least I can do for almost killing you."

"It wasn't your fault man, but alright sir, If you insist". I was so glad he insisted.

Of course we had to push the car back into the road for it had went off road. We struggled at first to get it up from e side of the road, but once we got our rhythm, it was easy.

We wasted no time and drove on after we had gotten into the car. He was very talkative and had previously stated that he tends to speak nonstop while driving to 'ease the tension of driving'. I found that pretty weird, but it didn't matter much because I was just glad to have found a ride.

Along the way, he suggested he would further make it up to me. He did not state 'how', so I just sat there, not knowing what would follow. He took a turn to the right and drove to a garage that had a restaurant which was open 24 hours a day. A restaurant whose existence I knew not about, so I was a bit skeptical about the food.

We got there and the guy had already made reservations. At this point my police intuition kicked in and I noticed that all this was stating to get a bit weird.

"How come you had already made a reservation for two?", I asked as calm as possible so as to avoid him knowing that I've started to suspect him.

He looked at me, chuckled a bit and told me his story. Apparently, he was supposed to meet his girlfriend at the restaurant to celebrate their third anniversary, but sadly, she cancelled.

So, I guess that explained why he was driving like a maniac when he nearly ran me over.

I accepted his dinner proposal, and we sat down and ate. A little weird sharing dinner with someone I had just met, but it was a little enticing. His persona exhibited out an intense, mysterious aura that felt vaguely familiar. I honestly felt like I knew this guy, but seeing as how I had just met him, I just assumed he had one of those familiar faces.

The whole experience was great to say the least, and to my surprise, I really enjoyed the food.

We stood up immediately the feast and asked if I wanted to take some leftovers home. I accepted the offer without hesitation, remembering how I wouldn't have anything to eat tomorrow morning. I hadn't bought grocery for this month because of the serial killer case. Just the slightest thought of this case, and all my worries came rushing to the scene. I guess it was that simple for me to be back to square one, constantly being haunted by the thought of someone roaming the streets, murdering people.

Perhaps the change in my emotions also affected the facial expression I left in the real world when I went into my head. The guy noticed it and asked if I was ok, and honestly I couldn't lie about this. Of course, I wasn't at liberty to talk about an on-going murder investigation to a civilian, but I had to let him know I wasn't ok.

We went back to the car and drove off. There was a deafening silence in the car, which was quite absurd because he couldn't shut his mouth when we came here, so I guess he was respecting my silence and privacy. I respected him for that.

After a long drive and a few minutes of directions, we finally made it to my neighbourhood. I was so happy to have finally be here! I couldn't thank him enough.

I got out of the car and was thinking about how the world needs more people like this guy when I realized I never got his name.

"Forgive me, what was your name again?", I asked, embarrassed.

"Oh, you know my name Jules", he said smiling.

I was baffled, I never told this man my name, but what happened after lingered in my head for the longest time. He wished me luck in finding the serial killer, and that was disturbing because no civilian knew about the case! As the car's rear passed slowly near me, I could see clearly, an artefact that was similar to the one found in both murders...