The vanishing hitch hiker
Another true* story of hitch hiking. Years ago, in a time long before mobile phones, when I had only just started full time work, I was driving on a lonely country road late one rainy night when I was startled to see a young woman walking along the side of the road, with no coat or umbrella. I immediately pulled over, leaned across the front seat to open the passenger door, and asked her if she wanted a lift.

Without a word, she got inside. It was obvious that she was cold and soaked to the skin. Luckily I had a jumper on the back seat so I reached back, grabbed it and offered it to the girl, who was shivering. She whispered thank you and draped the warm jumper over her shoulders, then told me in a quiet, trembling voice that she had to get home that night to see her parents.

As we talked, in the faint light from the dashboard I noticed that her face and hands were scratched and bleeding. When she caught me looking at her injuries she explained that her car had slid off the road and into a ditch. She had stood there for what had seemed like hours, hoping for help; then she decided to walk the rest of the way to her parents' home. I told her that it was no problem to take her right to her parents' front door. Despite of her bedraggled appearance, I could see that she was very beautiful, probably about my own age. She pointed into the darkness in front of us and said that the house was only a few miles ahead.

As I was getting up my courage to ask her for her name, she pointed to a house down a short, dark lane. She asked me to stop, and quickly got out of the car. I protested that I would be happy to drive her the rest of the way, but she was already running away into the night, so with a heavy heart I carried on my journey. As I drove on, I realised she was wearing my jumper. That would be my excuse to drive back to her home and formally make her acquaintance.

The next day after work I drove to this mystery girl's house and knocked on the door. In the light of day the house appeared small and cold, almost huddling down into the bushes around it. I was surprised when an elderly woman opened the door, but I explained how I had given a girl a lift to the house the night before. The woman stared at me, then invited me to come in. As stepped into the hallway I noticed a framed portrait of a girl, the beautiful young girl from the previous night, and I asked the woman if her granddaughter was home.

Following my gaze to the portrait, the woman began to weep. Her darling daughter, she said, was still trying to come home. I listened incredulously as the woman told me that her daughter had been killed in an car accident more than 40 years before. She had been walking home late at night when a car had knocked her down and driven off without stopping. Her lifeless body was found the next day by the side of the road.

I listened to the story, feeling very uncomfortable, and soon made my excuses. As I left the old woman I decided that she must be crazy. The hitchhiker I had picked up that night was no more than 19 years old and very much alive.

Driving home I passed a small country church with a tiny cemetery, and something blowing in the wind caught my eye. I entered the graveyard to investigate, and there was my jumper, draped over a tombstone that marked the final resting place of a young woman who had died 40 years ago.

*for certain low values of 'true'
(Smale is stuffed, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 13:38, 12 replies)

I was getting a lob-on halfway through reading that.
The ending needs more work though if you are going to send it into Razzle.
(Baggenfrock get fucked, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 13:44, closed)

sPOOky.

(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 13:52, closed)

Seems plausible
if you are mental
( Harpago ¯\(°_o)/¯, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 14:06, closed)

Yawn
You should probably change "As I drove on, I was wearing my jumper" because I think at this point in the narrative she's supposed to be wearing it.

Then again, who cares, really?
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 14:18, closed)

Whoops
fixed
(Smale is stuffed, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 14:21, closed)

Yeah, I know that girl.
I fucked her.
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 15:28, closed)

yeah, 40 years later

( rachelswipe with a fork, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 15:29, closed)

this is at least 6 more true than everything else on qftw

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 16:12, closed)

bitch lied to you, she said her car went into a ditch but her mum said she was hit by a car. 'Fraid you can't trust her so not really girlfriend material. Also dead.

( 2 Can Chunder Word to your mums, I came to prod bums, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 16:12, closed)

Also imaginary

( 2 Can Chunder Word to your mums, I came to prod bums, Tue 26 Aug 2014, 16:52, closed)

I remember seeing Parkinson years ago where Telly Savalas told exactly the same story.
Lying slaphead. You should sue.
(zebideedoodah likes florence but prefers venice, Wed 27 Aug 2014, 1:18, closed)

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/mental-health-services-explained/Pages/accessing%20services.aspx

(Moag_R_Brainbow kicks the mods dog to death out of pity, Wed 27 Aug 2014, 16:54, closed)