EDIT: I added one thing I forgot to explain and took away some descriptions that would wouldn’t really care about. Hopefully I don’t bore you to death with how I got the job anymore, sorry!
I’m telling you this story to keep you alive.
I started working as a delivery driver for Clay Cross’s Domino’s Pizza when I was about 20. My family didn’t have a lot, and I wanted to buy my first car, so I rushed my driver’s licence, and then was on to my next step - buying a car or a motorbike, I didn’t care which.
I applied for various different jobs, but the first one to contact me was Domino’s and I took the job straight away.
For the most part, the job was easy to do, save from a few weird customers with weird requests or that would complain about the most nonsensical things. One night, though, I was told to do a service in the neighbouring town because their Dominos was closed for refurbishment. I wished I hadn’t done it.
This was a first for me and I was slightly nervous because I didn’t know any of the roads. I know what you’re thinking: turn on the GPS and you’re good to go, what’s the problem?
The problem… is that the roads between my town and Matlock are absolutely dark at night. Apart from your own headlight, there is nothing to light up the road.
As per usual, I waited for the pizzas to be ready, packed them into the motorbike’s box and punched the address into my GPS. The delivery was right in the middle of Matlock, which helped put me at ease. I didn’t have to worry about going into small dark roads to drop the pizzas off, but the way there was still on my mind.
I had two options: go the long way, northbound, and then turn left and cross ten minutes of dark empty roads in the middle of crop fields or go the shorter way, southbound, and cross ten minutes of dark empty roads in the middle of crop fields anyway. I decided on the short way.
The start of the trip was fine, but eventually, any sound of people was replaced by the lonely sound of my motorbike’s engine and any street lights abandoned my headlight to fend for itself. All I could see was the road slithering up to a few metres ahead of me, and then turning out of sight.
I was about halfway to my destination, when I thought I saw something that was not coming from my imagination. I was driving slowly down a steep road heading into the bridge to cross Ogston Reservoir, when at the edge of my headlight’s reach, I thought I saw something move behind a tree. I could have sworn it was a tiny hand.
I stopped for a minute next to the entrance to a new AirBnB type of thing that had the lights on, and tried to have a better look from a distance. When I saw nothing else, I decided this was probably just a kid playing around, even at this time in the night. I turned my bike back on, feeling my heart pump faster at the thought of having to go past the tree I saw these child’s hands go behind.
I turned the handle slightly harder, and just for a second or two allowed myself to go above the speed limit. I was not going to risk being caught off guard. On my way past it, though, I thought I saw a pair of shiny eyes peering at me in the darkness.
I was almost at the delivery address when I put that idea past me and told myself it was just something reflecting the light off my headlight, which my imagination had turned into eyes.
When the delivery was done, I checked my routes again to make sure there was no other option to go back, and started making my way back.
It wasn’t until I got close to the bridge again, that everything took a turn for the worse. As I drove, again, seeing nothing but a small road slithering ahead of me until it curved out of view, I thought I saw something at the start of the bridge.
When I slowed down to a stop and turned the bike towards what I saw, there was a girl. I hesitated at first, all the horror stories coming into my mind, but what if it was just a girl who needed help?
I tried calling her from afar to see if she would turn around, but there was no reaction. She was hugging her knees, bouncing back and forth, half of her behind an electricity post.
I called again and… nothing. No response, no movement.
I decided to approach slowly, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I did. When I managed to get a better view, I saw the girl was wearing a white, dirty and mouldy gown, looking like she had been in the water for ages and had just come out. She was soaking wet, but somehow, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Her hair was blonde, and being wet, half of it was falling in front of her face while the other half was stuck behind her flawless ear. She was shaking all over, her breath coming out in puffs of smoke. At the temperature we were at, I wasn’t sure how she wasn’t dead yet. I would find out later…
I asked her if she was ok, turning my motorbike’s engine off to try to listen for an answer. There was nothing. Her gaze was fixated on the asphalt, like she was in shock. I crouched next to her, lowered my voice and asked again. When she turned her face to me. My heart almost stopped. She was an absolute ten, completely over the scale for me, and I was completely helpless to offer her my help. She had deep blue eyes that, for a second, got me lost somewhere inside.
I asked her if she needed help and where she wanted to go. She didn’t reply. Didn’t make so much as a sound, but I was determined, having completely forgotten about the creepy side of these dark roads.
When I asked her if I could help her, she finally reacted and slowly smiled the most beautiful smile I had ever seen and nodded. I had no idea where she wanted to go or how she got there, but I thought I could take her back to work and call the police from there so they could find out more.
I helped her up, carefully, like I needed to keep her intact, this out of control protective instinct taking over.
Everything changed when I started driving again. At first, she wrapped her arms around my waist like it would have been normal and I could feel her chin touching my shoulder lightly, making my heart go faster. Then, she squeezed my stomach a little tighter, but I ignored it. She was probably just nervous.
When I felt her nose sniffing around my ear, and her tongue sliding up the outside of my ear, I recoiled, almost losing control of the motorbike.
As soon as I pulled away, her grip went impossibly strong, cutting my breathing away from me, making me gasp for air. I managed to shake her off and looked over my shoulder for half a second to see what the hell was going on and what she was doing.
What I saw made me lose control of the bike and throw us both off over one of the farm’s walls. Her beauty was now completely gone, replaced with a rotten face and mouth, muddy hair and a pointy tongue. That was not the girl I had picked up.
When I hit the ground, I thanked all the saints. I had landed on tall, fluffy grass, sliding over it until I stopped. I stood up in a panic, and with the bike’s dying light, saw what still terrifies me to this day. The girl was standing between me and the wall, the bike on the other side with the wheels still rolling. Her face had turned into a burned mess, her lips completely cracked and bloody and her deep blue lake eyes turned into grey, dead marbles that were fixated on me, almost taunting me.
She licked her lips, like she was about to have me for dinner, her hair still wet and dripping over her face, but now turned into dead brown, dishevelled hay strings piling up around her head.
When I was going to ask her what the hell was going on, she launched herself my way, her arms stretched, her bones cracking loud enough for me to hear them. She screeched so loud that it made me tremble and almost made me deaf. I closed my eyes and threw my arms in front of my face as she trampled every blade of grass to get to me.
When I uncovered my face and looked around, she was gone. There was no trace of her now ugly face. Not until I felt sharp pain across my back and her giggle right to my ear.
I felt my heart almost jump out through my mouth when I heard it. I jumped forward and flailed my arms around, feeling pain shoot across my back and something hot sliding down, losing balance and all the strength on my legs, falling on my back and facing her now demonic smile while she laughed and danced swaying from side to side and taking her white drape off, exposing all her rotten body to me, some pieces looking like they might fall off as she pissed all over herself.
At this point, I had accepted whatever was about to happen. I couldn’t get up and run fast enough. With each step she took towards me, a giggle accompanied each grass crunch until she was standing right over me completely naked. I could see dead skin coming off her everywhere, pieces of dry blood lining the inside of her legs as she slowly crouched over my crotch with a wide smile on her face and wild eyes fixated on mine.
I know… how am I still here?
The moment I felt her skin touch me, I heard a loud bang from behind me. I closed my eyes and covered my ears, but not enough to avoid hearing her screech echoing all over the fields. Then another loud bang, louder even, like whatever this was, was coming closer, and another screech.
I felt this thing climb off me and felt the ground tremble as it scattered away.
Then, a firm hand grabbed me by my Domino’s jacket and lifted me off the ground. When I finally opened my eyes, this rough looking man was looking at me straight in my face.
He asked me if I was ok, and as soon as I shook my head yes, he called me a stupid boy and threw me towards my bike. Then he shouted at me to go. In other circumstances, I might have stayed to help, but I was so traumatised that all I did was thank him shakily and rush towards my motorbike, my legs wanting to give up on me right then and there.
I made it back to the shop safely. I had three massive scratches on my back, my shirt completely wet with blood, and the place on my ear that she licked was burnt. I had to throw half of my clothes away, because wherever she touched wouldn’t disappear with washes and smelled like rotten sewer.
I don’t know what happened to the man who saved me. If you’re out there, please message me. I would like to properly thank you.
As for the thing, when my nightmares finally went away after months, I decided to understand what the hell it would have been, and the most likely thing I could find was that this was one of the witches burned at the stake in the area about five hundred years ago. Some people know that she waits around the bridge at night, to try to attract young men and consume their souls and that you’ll be ok as long as you don’t try to help her. They avoid telling other people, because they are afraid someone will go looking for the witch and find her. I will never forget how beautiful she was when I approached her first. She was an absolute ten… but she was a murderous witch.
This is my advice: if you are a driver around here, and are told to deliver to the Matlock area… just don’t. You’re better off missing out on the money.