This story takes place about 10 years ago, when I was working as a shot girl at a club, in a Beach Town.
I was in my early 20s, and worked very part time as a shot girl on most weekends. I didn’t live in Beach Town, but I’d travel for it. I would make the 2+ hour drive because the money from one shift was equal to a week’s pay at any other job I could get. Sometimes, I’d get a cheap motel room, and stay to work a second night, but on a big earning night I’d just go back home for the week.
One such night, I decided I’d earned enough and could just go home. The trip home was mostly rural, lots of highway through woods, and not many cars besides myself. The highway was four lanes, split by a grass median and had street lights every now and then, to mark side roads. For the most part, it was dark and empty except for the occasional deer and random car.
I’d been driving about an hour, and was tired. My ears were still ringing from the club music, I reeked of cigarettes and spilled drinks, and I just wanted to get home. Up in the distance, I could see a street light, on the opposite side of the median.
What caught my attention was what was under the light. I couldn’t really tell, but it looked like a baby carrier. Like a car seat type carrier. I checked for other cars and slowed way down as I got closer, not really sure of what I was seeing. Once I got close though, my stomach dropped. I was certain. It was definitely a baby carrier. But, it was angled in a way I couldn’t see the inside of it.
I drove ahead a little , cut through the median at an emergency lane, and made a U-turn to go back and look more closely. My heart was racing, I had my windows down, and my ears were straining for the sounds of a baby crying. But, as I got up beside it I still couldn’t see what was in it. It was turned away from the road, but positioned perfectly under the light. I crept further forward and closer to the edge of the road, turning and craning my neck to see inside it.
Something in my gut was telling me to not leave my car until I was sure. It didn’t seem right, at all. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end, and my breathing was quick and panicked. Then I could see, after creeping up a bit more. It was empty. There was no baby.
When I lifted my gaze, however, there in the wood line just beyond the light, was a shadow. The silhouette of a man, standing in the trees. I couldn’t see his face, but I felt like we were making eye contact. Then, he stepped backwards and disappeared in the darkness.
I felt like ice had dropped into my stomach. I was shaking as I slammed my accelerator and peeled away back to the city. I’m certain that if I had gotten out to investigate that carrier, I wouldn’t be alive today.