This all happened several years ago. I haven’t been able to tell anyone since, but its finally eaten away at my conscious too much that I haven’t made any attempt to warn anyone else. So here it is, why you need to be careful where you get your car repaired.
It all started when I was giving my wife, Emily, a ride home from work. We only have one car between the two of us, so I drop her off, and then pick her up on days that I work too. It was raining, so I turned on the wipers. I couldn’t see any issue with them, but they made an awful squealing noise.
”Maybe we should get this checked out. We might not be able to afford to fix it if it gets any worse.” Emily was the one to suggest it, which surprised me given that she’s usually even more frugal than me. Which isn’t an incredibly high bar, but not a low one either.
”I’m not sure we can afford to fix it now.” It was half a joke, but also half serious. We weren’t exactly starving, but that didn’t mean we had money to burn. And car repairs can get awfully expensive. We’d had to sell our second car because we couldn’t afford to repair it. Which left us where we we were then, since we certainly couldn’t have afforded a new one.
”I just saw an advertisement for a new auto shop in town. They’re offering free estimates, and a fifty percent discount on any repairs they begin within the next week. Plus, there was just something awfully compelling about the ad. Although I couldn’t say what.” Again, that was weird. I certainly had never heard her call an advertisement “compelling” before. But the sale was awfully good, I had to admit. Too good to be true if you asked me, but hey, I’m a cynic.
”Fine, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt just to get an estimate. What did you say the name was.” Perhaps I should have decided something was wrong. But come on, what’s more compelling then a good sale? And so, I decided to go to Dawson’s Auto shop. (Obviously, she did tell me the name while we talked on the way home.)
The next day, I was getting ready to go. I had to take my son with me because I was on a tight schedule to get him to a playdate, and again, one car. Of course, because nothing ever goes my way, the tire was flat. I‘m no mechanic, but I can change a flat at least. So I started on swapping it with the spare.
Just as I finished, a neighbor came up to me, and said, “you know, you should really go to Dawson’s auto shop.” That was certainly a new one. No one has ever approached me to tell me to tell me to get my car repaired, much less at a specific location. I didn’t even know the guy’s name!
I figured he must be an employee looking for a bonus or something, so I just did my best to end the conversation and move on. “Thanks for the advice, but I’m in quite a hurry today.” It’s not as if it wasn’t true. I certainly could have said I was already going there, but something about the exchange left me unsettled. I didn’t really want to tell him where I was going. To be fair though, I feel that about most people. I’m also just a little bit paranoid, so it’s easy to brush off those concerns when you’ve felt them about everyone you’ve ever seen your entire life.
The drive over was thankfully uneventful, right up until we were pulling in. Just as we were there, the check engine light came on. I was starting to get really concerned. We really needed this car. Out in the country in America, is not the place to have two jobs and zero cars to go around. Even more concerning though, was my son’s response.
”Mom, you should go to Dawson’s auto shop.” Now, I’m no expert on children, I only have the one, but I’m pretty confident that ten year olds do not normally go about extolling the virtues of specific auto shops in response to a check engine light.
Nonetheless, what was I supposed to conclude here? That an alien had mind controlled my son to draw customers to an auto shop, or that he had overheard something Emily said and was just repeating it? So, again, I brushed it off.
”Well, lucky thing we’re here huh.” We went in at around the same time as an older gentleman. Both of went to the counter where there was a smiling receptionist. One after the other, we were both told the exact same thing.
“Welcome to Dawson’s auto shop! Please take a seat, and we’ll have someone out to look at your car as soon as possible.” We each did so, and I took care to sit a ways away from him. Nothing seemed outwardly wrong with the guy, but a little bit of caution never hurts. And, again, I’m a bit paranoid.
Once we were both seated, the receptionist scurried off, presumably to let someone know we were waiting. Which left the three of us in the waiting room, with a broken TV. I didn’t mention the TV up to this point, because it wasn’t really important, but it was there, it was on, and for whatever reason, all it was playing was static.
The other prospective customer didn’t seem any more eager to speak to us, than I was to speak to him. So the two of us sat in silence, aside from the persistent crackling of the static, while my son played on his 3ds.
After about thirty minutes, the man fell asleep. Shortly after, two employees came out, and carried him away. I did ask what they were doing, but they said they were going to carry him outside, and wake him up, since it was against policy to let anyone sleep in the store.
I‘ll admit, this was weird. But they sounded calm and confident, so in the moment I just assumed what they were saying made sense. I was awfully tired at that point, and my brain was happy to take any shortcut that would reduce how much I needed to think.
A few minutes after that, my son fell asleep too. Now, I was out of it, but I was still aware enough that I didn’t feel like risking those employees trying to carry off my son. So i picked him up myself, even though he was a bit big to do so these days, and carried him with me as I left. He had to have been awfully tired to not wake up.
First I tried the door we came in through, but it was locked. The, admittedly quite belated, alarm bells finally went off in my head. I was getting out of there. The door seemed sturdy, so I decided to go the way the employees had gone instead. Whatever else was true, I knew I saw a door in that direction from the outside of the building.
It took a bit longer than I felt I should have, but I found the emergency exit. Unfortunately, it was right next to another room which had its door open. And I found out what happened to the man, as I saw him eaten by… I don’t even know how to describe it. All I can say, is that I’m pretty sure I know where Lovecraft got his inspiration.
I also know that it saw me. I don’t even know what that means in this context. It didn’t have any eyes that I could see, so I don’t know how exactly it would see anything. But in that moment, I knew that it saw me.
After that, it all went so quickly. There are so many things that I don’t know. But there are a few things that I do know as well.
I don’t know if it was a dream I had when I fell asleep as well. I was pretty tired after all. I do know that I never remember waking up.
I don’t know what really happened to that man. Can I really trust my eyes when they tell me something impossible? I know that his car wasn’t there when I went outside. Cars don’t drive themselves, so what happened to it?
I don’t know if it would have been better to try to evade their attention, but I do know that I wasn’t staying in there a moment longer. I know that I dashed out the emergency exit, and I know that the fire alarm went off when I did.
I know I drove away as fast as I could, but I don’t know if they tried to pursue me at all.
I know that I tried to give my suspicions to the police, in a way that sounded less crazy of course, but I don’t know if anything ever came of it.
I know that Dawson’s was gone within the week, but I don’t know why. Maybe they were worried their cover had been blown. Or maybe they had simply gotten what they wanted.
I know that I went to a big brand name chain for car repairs instead. I also know that they couldn’t find anything wrong with my car. I can believe that a check engine light was simply wrong, maybe I can even believe that squeaky windshield wipers work themselves out. But I definitely can’t explain how a tire goes flat without having a single flaw, and then reinflates itself while locked in the trunk of a car.
But I didn’t know what to do with what little I did know. So I did nothing. Although I avoided any smaller auto shops for quite some time. But bills add up, and brand names cost money. So eventually I had no choice but to start visiting smaller ones again.
Life continues, so I pretend that I never saw anything. I pretend that nothing ever saw me. I pretend that I don’t still feel it. Watching me. I pretend that I don’t know what I’ll find as I get ready to go to Dawn’s auto shop. The car is acting up, and their ad was incredibly compelling.