When I was about 10 years old, my dad was dating a woman who lived in a tiny village in a rural area, to get to her house we would wind our way through countless narrow country lanes, some opened up to views of farmers’ fields and some were encased in trees creating a tunnel almost, I loved those tree tunnels so much.
We would drive to her house and spend the day with her, I enjoyed going there because they always gave me lots of chocolates and cakes. As the days came to an end we would say our goodbyes and start the long drive home, back through the country lanes.
Usually, it was dark by that time and the darkness in those lanes was so thick it felt like there would never be light again.
I loved to be scared as a kid and still do, to this day. When I was younger, my dad and I would watch scary films together and go on scary rides. We loved it and we bonded over the scares!
So, back to those nights in the lanes, my dad would slow the car slightly, we never drove fast down those lanes anyway, but he would slow the car slightly, it was barely noticeable to me, then the headlights would go out and we would be plunged into complete darkness for a few seconds which always gained an excited squeal from me and a chuckle from dad.
Back then it felt like it was incredibly dangerous and thrilling, in reality, my dad knew what he was doing and would only do it on straight stretches of road and only for a few seconds.
We loved those country drives and I loved going to his girlfriend’s house. However, that was all to change.
On one of the drives back, my dad had plunged us into darkness a couple of times already, my heart was beating fast and I jiggled in my seat with excitement. The next time he did it, everything happened so fast I don’t know what came first, the lights went off, I screamed with a delicious mixture of joy and fear, the car jolted to a stop and the engine died, and we sat in complete darkness.
I gasped and asked dad what was going on. He didn’t answer. Panic began to bubble up and I reached out to him, my hands landed on his leather jacket, I nudged him, and then began shaking him. He sat silent. I could barely see anything, my eyes had adjusted to the dark slightly, but there was no moon and we were in a tree tunnel.
Panic overtook me and I started crying and screaming for dad. When I heard his voice, the relief I felt was overwhelming. He asked if I saw that?
“Saw what?” I said “I can’t see anything dad, turn the lights back on”
“I saw something before the lights went out” he seemed to be questioning himself more than telling me.
He tried to start the engine, but nothing. His breathing was ragged and quick. He continued to try to start the engine, over and over again, it would just grind and grind but never burst to life. He said he had a torch in the boot, told me he would be right back. I didn’t want him to leave the car, I tried pleading with him to stay and saying we will just get the car going again.
He turned in his seat, trying to calm his voice, and told me we need to move, it was dangerous, if a car comes it won’t see us and could crash into us. He needed to get the torch and have a look at the engine. He told me to stay inside and wait for him.
I watched his shape leave the car and heard the boot opening, rummaging in the boot, and then the boot closing again. I strained to see outside, but all I could see were the dark shadows of trees. I saw the shape of my dad walk to the front of the car and open the bonnet. I watched the light of the torch moving around and eventually stopping and remaining still, it illuminated the small gap at the bottom of the windscreen.
I sat still, listening to dad clunk around in the engine, a chill starting to creep into the car. I tried to calm myself down, but it didn’t work. I was staring at the slither of light at the bottom of the windscreen, willing dad to come back.
I don’t know how long I sat there, but I started getting impatient and even more scared. I opened my door a crack, and called dad. Nothing. My breathing was quick and shallow, I was shivering from the cold, or the fear, I don’t know which.
I called dad again, louder this time. Still nothing.
I scrambled out of the car, tripping over my feet, and rounded the front of the car, where dad should have been, fixing the engine. He was gone. I’ve never felt fear like that before or after. My mind started racing. I looked around the car, thinking he might have gone back to the boot, but he wasn’t anywhere. I made my way back to the front of the car and started trying to work the torch loose from where my dad had tied it to the bonnet. With torch in hand, I scanned the area, calling out to my dad, over and over, trying to calm my breath and keep the tears at bay. Nothing but trees. Nothing but silence.
I knew going into the treeline wouldn’t be a good idea, I couldn’t tell my left from right at the best of times, I stood at the front of the car scanning the trees and screaming for dad. A noise coming from the trees stopped my screams, and my breath hitched in my throat, I stared with the torch shining in the direction of the noise, I was shaking so much the torch light wobbled. The noise was getting louder, I wanted to run back into the car and lock the doors but I couldn’t move. I just stared. Wide-eyed in terror. It must have been shock of some sort. I watched and started to see movement.
Out from the treeline jumped my dad, he shielded his eyes from the bright torchlight, his face was cut and his leather jacket had tears in it, he saw me and yelled at me to get in the car. I ran into the passenger seat and sat, horrified, watching my dad slam the bonnet shut and clamber into the driver seat, breathing heavily and shaking. He dragged the door shut and locked the car. Before I could ask him what had happened, I saw it.
A tall hooded thing came out of the woods at the same place my dad had. The quivering torch light illuminated its features. It was withered and its skin was grey. Eyes hollow, no nose and its mouth was open in a perpetual scream. I only looked at it a second before dropping the torch and burying my face in my dad’s chest screaming and crying. His arms came around me and there I stayed. I daren’t look at it again.
My dad tried in vain to start the car again, it felt like forever before it stuttered and then thankfully roared to life. The headlights came on. My dad told me it was gone.
We got out of there as quickly as possible, I cried the whole way home.
I never found out what happened in those woods. My dad never spoke of that night again. Anytime I would try to talk about it, a look came over my dad and he started trembling. We never went back down that lane and I never saw that girlfriend of his again. If we do ever drive down country lanes now, the lights stay on full beam.