Chapter 21 : I moved to the country and now I know why the roads are dangerous (Part 2)

Then it dawned on me, I was spacing out again and I had literally just stopped to focus myself. I stopped the car just outside of Evans to do some deep breathing once again and I noticed something strange. I was at the bottom of a very steep large hill that I have no memory of at all but I have to have been here before. I literally can't have avoided it. There is only one road that leads to my house and the only other way to work takes me an hour out of the way. I know my attention is bad but to have missed this massive hill for months seemed impossible to me.

I sat there taking in this hill for a while, it was lined on both sides with trees and there was a single street light at the base. There was something odd about this place though, it was almost pitch black past the light. There should have been more light than this, it wasn't a full moon but most of it was illuminated and I could see everything else around me pretty well with just the moonlight. I didn't have time to sit at the bottom of this hill all night though, so I started to drive thinking about how stupid I was for leaving my stuff in the dryer and before I knew it.... the hill was gone. I looked in my rear view mirror and sure enough, the hill was already behind me. What in the hell is going on?!

There is absolutely no way I drove straight up that thing and missed it again. I made a mental note of a tiny disheveled hut I saw in my rear view as I was driving away so I could remember to stop on my way back and get a better look at this place. There's no way I'd forget that dump of a hut, it was practically destroyed. I was so focused on the run down hut that I was home before I knew it. I bolted into my house to throw on my uniform and rushed back out to my car. As I made my way back along the road all I could think about was the hut. The house, The churches and even the rock quarry took a backseat to this hill. I was so focused on it that I tuned out everything on the drive there that I noticed earlier.

I continued down the road and before I knew it I had arrived at the small town of Evans..... No, there's absolutely no way this is happening. I drove straight past the hut and the hill again like it wasn't even there, but I was looking for it the whole time. I slammed on my breaks and came to a screeching halt right out in front of the mechanic shop and pulled in to turn around. I stopped for a second to focus up, something weird is happening and I needed every bit of my attention to figure it out. As I sat there replicating the meditation techniques from this morning that seemed to help the front door of the shop opened. Out of the shop walks this scruffy older man who begins heading up to my car.

I rolled down my window to see what he wants,

"I'm the shop owner, I saw you pull over awfully fast and you looked worried so I wanted to make sure you were alright."

I didn't want him to think I was some sort of lunatic for being obsessed with this massive hill that I was sure everyone else knew about but me so I told him that I thought I left something at home and I stopped to turn around and get it. He stares at me with a look of confusion before saying with a grin

"I saw you turn around earlier, I'm sure whatever you left back there is better off that way. You should just keep going"

An immediate wave of fear hit me, was he watching me?! I nervously agreed with him and told him to have a good night as I drove off in a hurry. I stopped at a gas station up the road, partially to get gas but mainly to wait out a few minutes before turning around. I know I was going to be late to work but I just NEEDED to check out this hill.

After filling my car with gas and sitting inside it for about 10 minutes I hopped back on the road and headed for the hill. I normally don't speed but I didn't want the shop owner to see me going back so I was flooring it. I glanced over as I passed his shop and there he was... watching me tear past his shop headed back in the direction of the hill. I felt like a little kid disobeying his parents and getting caught, I was mortified but I kept going anyway. It was too late to turn around now and unless I did it in the middle of the road which I didn't like to do the only other place I could do it was my house. My mind began to race frantically thinking about the shop owner watching me.