Mysterious Encounter

I touched my eyebrow where the sweat glistened. I saw my face in the rearview mirror and it resembled a sweltering pig. It was blistering hot and I didn’t have anything to drink since past six hours.

Driving was definitely a task I did not enjoy during autumn season especially for business purpose. I had to cancel such a fun date with Golu’s sister. She is so hot. I had met her twice at a mall and we instantly became friends. Now I know the reason Golu would not invite us home as he was hiding his amazing sister.

‘Oh! Why God, why do I have to go to Tekdi to meet the clients?’ I asked aloud.

The sun had set and the road was narrow that looked sinister in the evening shadows. I pay taxes, every year religiously, why doesn’t government utilize it towards placing some streetlights in these areas? I thought of playing some music which would hopefully divert my mind a little. These rented cars do not have a good music system or I could have played my favorite Mettalica CD. Now I will have to depend on the cheerless radio FM songs to while away my time.

While I looked at the music system to adjust the FM channels suddenly the car hit something hard and I applied the brakes. My heart was racing, my hands shivered while opening the door. I stepped out; darkness enveloped my surrounding except for the headlights of my car. I rubbed my eyes but could not see anything. There was nothing on the road. All of a sudden the radio started off loudly. I looked up with a start. There was no one. Strange, very strange! I shuddered with a blast of chilled breeze that hit my sweaty face. ‘What the hell happened?’ I yelled.

I have heard stories from my other colleagues about strange incidents that occurred to them on highways. I never believed any of it and blamed it on their susceptible nature for exaggeration. But this was first time ever when I felt a cold shudder of fear grip me.

I circled the whole car just to check if everything was fine. Then, I sat in the car and tuned the radio. Perhaps it had picked up a channel on its own. I sighed in relief and started the ignition.

I drove on an average speed. Shortly bright light flashed from behind. When I saw in the mirror I saw gargantuan tanker behind my car. I had never seen such a huge tanker in India except in Hollywood movies. It was grotesquely gigantic and its headlights resembled a thousand watt bulb. It blew its horn so loud that I gasped.

I swerved my car to the left side of the road to let it pass. Apparently it was in a hurry. The tanker did not budge as it was threateningly chasing my car. I changed the lanes to the right side so that the tanker could pass. Yet, it kept coming closer towards my car.
‘What was this man up to?’ I asked myself, ‘did I do something wrong?’
Now I sped my car if he did not want to overtake, ‘that’s fine!’ I exclaimed.
I constantly kept looking in my rearview mirror. I had not noticed that the radio had switched off on its own. These rented vehicles are no good.

I accelerated to the maximum speed limit. I could not see the tanker anymore in my rearview mirror, I laughed like a maniac.
‘Yes! I got rid of it.’ I laughed again in rejoice of my victory.

My laugh was immediately wiped out when I heard the earsplitting horn again. I slowed down and looked in the rearview mirror. Strangely, there was nothing behind. Suddenly the light flashed in front of me, it was the tanker’s headlight. It was in front of my car some distance away.
‘Holy shit, how did it manage to get there?’ I panicked.
I applied the brakes to stop the car immediately. The tanker started moving towards my car at a full speed. I had to do something. I changed the gear to reverse then turned the car around and drove like a maniac. Now I was scared to death! Should I call the Police? I thought. I looked at my phone which was long dead.

‘Think; think fast what needs to be done now’ I asked myself.

My car was hurled by the impact when the tanker collided with the rear end. My heart jumped into my throat, when I realized it wanted to kill me. I prayed that my car should not give up on me now. The car was badly hit. It trembled and would not pickup speed. The tanker hit the car again and this time the car lunged and turtled upside down. The engine was dying and was I dying with it too? I lost my consciousness with that last thought.

I became painfully aware that my body was fastened to the seatbelt and I was bleeding. I struggled with the seatbelt and it finally snapped. The car windows had already shattered. I could hear no sound outside other than the cricket in the fields. I crawled out of the window, some of the shattered glass pierced through my skin. I yelled with pain. I stood up with my knees trembling.
‘I was alive’ I gasped for breath.

The tanker had vanished and the road was empty. Blood was dripping from my forehead so I pressed the handkerchief to my head. Walking took a lot of effort, but I had to find help. Every step I took, I realized I could have been dead. I did not see any reason why someone would want to kill me.
‘Why would someone want to kill me?’ I asked aloud.

Though I did not know the answer I knew one thing for sure that the night had been one paranormal manifestation.
As I kept walking, abruptly chilled air surrounded me. Some lights blinked ahead on the road. A dark huge shadow started to rise from the ground. The monstrous shadow took a form of the tanker right in front of my eyes. I could not believe my own eyes. The tanker slowly started moving towards me. But there was no driver inside.
‘What was this? A ghost?’ I blinked my eyes as the tanker’s headlights blazed.
I covered my eyes with my hands. I stood there paralyzed unable to move. The tanker now moved speedily towards me. I knew within seconds, I’ll be dead.

A violent force knocked me out and tossed me high in the sky. I could clearly see the stars in the blue sky. I came crashing down and hit the ground hard.

My head was throbbing; it took all my strength to open my eyes. I was on a bed in a white room. A smiling doctor said something I could not understand. Then he tried again, ‘You are lucky, you survived the car crash. Your car toppled over a boulder. I wonder how you did not see it.’