Estimated reading time — 11 minutes

All this started when I got up to some of the usual fresh out of high school shenanigans by making a plan with my girlfriend to hook up and have a private night to ourselves in her dad’s cabin at the lake. The plan was simple: I’d tell my parents I was going up to my grandparents for the weekend, I’d leave home on Friday and show up to the cabin the same day and me and my girlfriend could have Friday afternoon and pretty much all of Saturday to ourselves. We also had a few other bases to cover. She’d tell her mom she was with her dad and vice versa I was kinda skeptical of this, but she assured me they wouldn’t talk to each other to check in due to a really nasty divorce and her bouncing between the two was normal and wouldn’t be questioned, and I’d call my parents and grandparents and say I was stopping at a friends house halfway and if either questioned why I never showed up I’d say I fell asleep and would stay the night. Of course I checked with my friend and he said he was fine with being an alibi so it was set. Thinking back on it, the plan was a lot more complicated than it needed to be, I could’ve just said I was staying at his house the weekend, but hey hindsight is 20/20.

It was about an hour away from both of our parents in different directions so it was kinda out of the way, but that’s an easy obstacle to get past when something so attractive is in your grasp. I said my goodbyes to my parents and started the drive in my dads old truck. I don’t know if I should’ve mentioned this earlier on but I guess now’s the time to do it. I’m a bit of a paranoid motherfucker, not in the schizophrenic way or anything just kinda worried. Nervous that anything could go wrong or constantly keeping an eye out for signs from the universe or God to do the right thing. This paired with a shaky plan for debatably the worst thing I’ve done wreaked havoc on me. I know what I did wasn’t that bad, but it seemed like I was constantly given chances to turn back or to reconsider my choices. Wrong turns, GPS bugging out, or a car stopped in front of a house that I had to pull around. Every open driveway seemed like an invitation to turn around.

Everything went according to plan. I met her there and we did what you can imagine a teenage couple would do alone at a cabin. Got a call at around twelve asking where I was and if I was going to show up and after that was dealt with smooth sailing. It wasn’t until two in the morning that she finally checked her phone and to our horror it was a message from her dad. He said that he’d be going to the cabin with her stepmom early in the morning around seven or eight so they could get an early start and they would swing by her moms to pick her up in the morning. This immediately sent us into panic mode. We would have to clean up the cabin as if no one was there and go our separate ways. She’d go to her moms apartment and either sneak in or stay in the parking lot until her dad came to pick her up and I’d go ahead and drive to my grandparents either sneaking in or waiting outside like her. We put everything back as it was, said our goodbyes, and we both went off into the dark.

I was on a stretch of an old highway alone, nervous as hell that I’d be discovered as I pulled up and had to explain why I’m showing up at three in the morning. I tried to push that out of my mind and focus on the road and the directions on my phone’s gps. All I had to do was make it to my exit and then I knew the way from there. It was just supposed to be 15 minutes then I’d be at my exit. I counted every minute, every mile. It wasn’t there. Just an unending stretch of the guard rail and an impenetrable forest. I couldn’t have missed it. I didn’t know this old highway well, but I knew that the exit should’ve been there. I looked down at my phone to check and see if I somehow missed it or if I was even on the right road. It was dead, completely bricked. The screen saying it needed to be charged wouldn’t even pop up and it didn’t respond to being plugged in. I was fucked, I seemingly had no idea where I was and there wasn’t a thing in sight. Not a single sign, exit, building, or hell even a broken down car. It was just nothing. The same unending stretch or road. Not that it was repeating itself, but it all looked the same. I went down that road for hours it seemed, hell it might’ve been I had no way of telling the time. Just that same stretch of road in my headlights and the black night sky. I was lost and sick to my stomach with pure dread at the thought of me being lost on this highway until daybreak. My mind started to wander to every bad thing that could happen. I could run out of gas, or the truck could break down, or hit a deer. If any one of those happened I’d be more fucked then I already was. I’d be stuck walking this road looking for help, then I’d have to explain why I’m in the middle of nowhere this late to my folks. Then I saw a glimmer of illuminated hope in the distance. Streetlamps all along the highway. I had a small wave of relief wash over me with the hope that there might be a sign or somewhere nearby to let me at least know where I was.

The relief didn’t last long; the streetlamps seemed to be just as endless as the guardrails and trees that surrounded them. Not a damn thing in sight. Even though it was really late, or early depending on how you looked at it there wasn’t a single car. I hadn’t seen a single damn car since I pulled out of that stupid driveway. Nothing but the trees, guardrail, and now these damn lamps. I was getting increasingly more frustrated on top of every other feeling I’d been dealing with. I was still sick to my stomach with a pit of dread in my chest. I was sweating but rolling down the windows didn’t do anything but blow my hair around and piss me off more so I kept them up. My nerves were shot at this point I just wanted out. The radio burst to life with a near deafening static noise that filled the whole cab. I tried to turn it down or find another station, but it was stuck. A surge of anger built up in me and punched the radio twice in an impotent attempt to shut it up. I wiped my face and tried to collect myself, but looking out at the road I noticed the endless road of streetlamps starting to dim and the radio grew quieter and quieter as the lights dimmed. Then there was darkness and silence. Just my headlights and the hum of the truck. It scared me and brought on a feeling of dread that I didn’t know was even possible. Just my headlights, the hum of the truck, trees, the guardrail, and the now defunct streetlamps. It stayed like that a few minutes enough to where I got used to it even though I hated every second. All at once that static from the erupted back at full force as all the street lights lit up in a sinister blood red light.

I was exhausted and the most scared I’d ever been in my entire life. I knew I had to get out of there some way, somehow. I reviewed my very limited options. The thought of getting out and cutting through the woods occurred, but I quickly brushed that off as a stupid non solution to my problem that was probably ten times worse. I could turn around, this highway wasn’t taking me anywhere at this point and I could hopefully get back to civilization at least, even if it meant turning up at her dads cabin early in the morning. Worst case scenario I run out of gas heading back the way I came, but to me that was better than running out going towards nothing. I started to slow down to get ready for a u turn, but just as I was about to start turning I noticed the lights behind me going out. One by one each going out about every second, a darkness consuming the menacing red lights seemed like a monster rushing to tear me apart. I stepped on the gas. I wasn’t going to get caught in that darkness, I somehow knew that it would be the end of me. It was evil just like the red lights. It was far off but not too far off. I’d like to give a rough estimate, but I could never be sure; maybe a hundred of the lamps or so. After the initial shock of the darkness wore off I slowed down to a more manageable speed, I was still running low and the darkness seemed to be going at a consistent albeit still terrifying pace. I felt awful, I felt dead then I began to do something I’d forgotten about until this moment. I began to pray. “God lord Jesus don’t let me die here, don’t let me get caught here please, please forgive me and get me out of this place.” Through tears I was about to blubber out an amen then the lamps started flashing. The streetlamps strobing threw me between my red hell and darkness. The radio’s static switched on and off with the lights. It was disorientating and made me more sick than I already was. I was bawling at this point, I knew I was gonna die. Then up ahead I could see the lights come to an end. It was just darkness, but I had no choice and I went with the closest option that I had. I continued forward.

The lamps and guardrails gave way to a dirt road surrounded by trees. I watched as the last of the red lamps went out and was consumed by the darkness. I wasn’t necessarily relieved, but the threat of immediate death was gone for now. The radio was letting out a low hum, not offensive but not encouraging. I was still scared out of my mind but without a wall of black death chasing me I could sit back and try to collect myself. I slowed down slightly and hoped and prayed that some familiar safe place was at the end of this road. I felt my chest tighten and that same feeling of death, despair, and dread came over me as I saw a red light in my right mirror. Then ahead of me to my left, then my right. It was fading in and out at different positions in the woods. It was popping up everywhere. The volume of the radio fluctuated depending on how close the light appeared. It had to be messing with me now. This thing had to be torturing me for some sick pleasure. I sped along hoping for some salvation. Then the radio’s hum was interrupted by something I still hate and can never hope to understand. In a voice that wasn’t quite robotic in a tone like a news broadcast a woman’s voice rang out. “Two dead, two dead on the hiiiiighway.” Over and over again in the same exact way with the same exact rhythm. Every single fucking time. It was like a series of knives stabbing me in the heart and lungs. I lost it and I started bawling again, I couldn’t help it. I knew I was dead already and it got worse and worse. The lights stopped appearing randomly around me and seemed set in the same place no matter how far or fast I went. “Two dead, two dead on the hiiiiighway.” Over and over it seemed to grow slightly louder each time. I was out of it at this point just a husk stepping on the gas, then a yellow mangled sign appeared in my headlights. It read DEAD END. The possibility of this hell having a sudden end hadn’t occurred to me. To make things even worse the fuel light dinged and my heart somehow sank farther than it already had. I was so distracted by the fuel light and the sign that I didn’t notice the surrounding red lights were gone and it was one solid light behind me on the road and gaining fast. “Two dead, two dead on the hiiiiighway” grew louder and louder until it was all I could hear. If I reach that dead end I’m either crashing and dying or meeting that red light. I made it up in my head that I had to turn back. It was the only option in my mind that wasn’t going to kill me immediately, at least I hoped as much. I could see the dead end up ahead. It was a solid wall of trees and the dirt road ended abruptly. I hit the brakes as I jerked the wheel to the left making a turn. The red light beamed through my windows as I did it. I had to close my eyes and duck my head to keep it from blinding me. A large force hit the side of the truck accompanied by the loud clang of metal. Eyes still closed I could hear, I could feel this thing crawling on the outside of the truck. I fell apart, I threw up in my lap and pissed myself. I was so unbelievably terrified all I could do was keep my head down, eyes closed, death gripping the wheel with the petal to the floor. “Two dead, two dead on the hiiiiighway” still blared as I could hear and feel this thing’s weight shifting from the roof to the hood. I was locked into place bawling with sheer terror. Then it started to tap at the window. Stab would be a more appropriate word. I could hear the glass crack as it tapped along to the same rhythm of “two dead, two dead on the hiiiiighway.” It felt like an eternity trembling there. I didn’t care if I ran out of gas or crashed and died, I just couldn’t look at that thing. “Two dead, two dead on the hiiiiighway” and that god awful tapping that seemed to last forever will haunt me for the rest of my life. Then at some point it just stopped.

It was a minute before I realized the tapping and radio was gone. I didn’t know when it happened but I could never be sure it was gone. I was just speeding along, eyes closed, and no idea where I was going. I wanted to stay like that forever and hope the direction I was going in was home and that this was all over and that thing was gone for good. Then the thought that any second I could crash and die occurred to me. Images of me crashing and dying a horrible death mangled and burning was all I could think of. After all this hell I couldn’t bear the thought of being home free and then crashing. It could be gone. It was probably gone. It took me a second before I could open my eyes. I was staring into my lap. Pants pissed and covered in vomit, same as the floor. But the unmistakable illumination and glow of daylight filled the cab. My head shot up half expecting to see lamps or some monster ready to pounce, but it was the highway. In fact it was my exit. I jerked the wheel over into the exit lane and up the ramp I went. Happy tears welled up in my eyes. I was safe. Right as I reached the stop sign at the top the radio let out one last death moan. “One dead, one dead on the hiiiiighway.” It shook me, but it just encouraged me to get the hell out of there more. I pulled into the nearest gas station and filled up just enough to make it to my grandparents. I was a mess when they saw me and I told them everything. I told almost everyone everything and to my surprise they believed me for the most part. I guess because of how shook up and deadly serious I was. Then it hit me “One dead, one dead on the hiiiiighway.” My girlfriend. I called to see if she was alright and again to my surprise she was. Everything was perfectly normal for her and she was at the cabin again with her dad. I explained everything and she was worried for me, but she’s had to distance herself a bit from me, because of our scheme and her folks were worried about me being around her after my “incident.” Which is fair enough, but this happened the evidence was everywhere. My tank was empty when I got off of that road, there was a dent in the back from the impact, the windshield had a pinhole crack from the tapping, and not that I would know but my Dad said that the mileage was way higher than it’d be if I’d just went to the lake and my grandparents. I’ve driven that road since and looked at maps and there’s nowhere like that to be found and definitely no way to end up on a road like that from the highway I was on. I’ve got so many questions that I’m sure I’ll never have the answer to. The one that hits me the hardest is the voice on the radio saying “two dead, two dead on the hiiiiighway” and “one dead, one dead on the hiiiiighway.” I don’t know if it meant me and my girlfriend or me and that thing, when I left was I the “one dead” or was whatever that thing was. I’ll never know anything for certain but this. That thing, that place, those lights, the darkness was evil.

Credit: Joseph DeCarlo