When I was 18, I moved to a town called Smith’s Grove, it was a small town quite with houses a mile apart and some small shops as you got closer to the downtown area, I guess you can say it was just your typical back water town in the middle of nowhere. I lived in a house that had a decent sized property and a bedroom with a window that overlooked the creek, after a week of being settled in my mom suggested I get a job to learn responsibility I guess it was her way of getting rid of me but I saw it as an opportunity to get away from her, you see me and my mom never got along so when I had the chance to leave I took it. I grabbed my helmet and set off on my bike heading for town I applied at several shops in the area including a small ran down looking McDonalds with no luck. After days of no answers and me being at my mom’s throat I decided to go to the creek to clear my head.
I was playing by the water when an older man approached me, he said with a smile “hey there I saw you in town the other day was you looking for a job” I looked up at the man startled “yes” I replied with a nervous tone. The man glared at me for a few seconds before saying “Well have you ever worked at a gas station before?” “No sir” I replied. “Well, I own this station about 4 miles up that way its right on the edge of town it’s called Pete’s if you’d like the job, I’m looking for an overnight person my last one well… disappeared.” I looked at the man and took one step back “What happened to them” The man stepped up to me only feet away at this point “Oh well, don’t worry about all that you won’t have to worry” he said grinning. I looked at the man with more curiosity this time and for the life of me I do not know why but I said, “Sure I’ll stop by tomorrow at 5?” the man said see you then and with that he walked back into the woods.
Now I know what you all are thinking why would you take a job that sounds so sketchy? well I was desperate. The next day I had my mom take me to the address the guy gave to me, the place looked decent to my surprise a medium sized building surrounded by 3 pumps and a shit ton of woods on both sides finished off with a bathroom on the inside and isles filled with chips drinks and a cash register at the front to complete it. It was just your typical basic gas station, nothing to fancy.
I went inside to see an older looking man working behind the counter “Welcome to Pete’s” the guy said with a groan. I walked up to the counter and told him “Hi I’m looking for the owner I have a job interview.” The man glared at me for a second before calling back to Pete.
The interview was simple and before I knew it, I was hired. He put me to work instantly, and my training was simple. The next few hours went by fast and before I knew it, I was alone in a gas station 7 miles away from anywhere or anything. About 4 hours went by and I haven’t seen a customer in site. I glanced at the time on my phone.” 2:45 am ugh” I thought to myself. Just as I groaned the sight of white headlights appeared snapping me out of it. To my surprise, the customer never came into the gas station. Thoughts of confusion filled my mind as I went back to playing on my phone.
As my mind became more and more occupied by the game on my phone, reality began to hit me. As creeped out as I was becoming, I knew I still had a lot of work to get done. As I reached into the cooler filled with donuts, I heard the ringing of the store phone. “God damn it” I said aloud running back to the phone. “Hello Pete’s Gas Station this is zander how can I help you?” “hello”? oddly, there was no response on the other end. I let out a groan and said out loud, “stupid kids”.
I turned my attention back to getting the donuts ready for the morning shift, when I was interrupted again. This time by the sound of the bell on the door. It had started raining now and all I seen was muddy footprints on the recently mopped floor. “Hello” I called out slightly annoyed. once again, nothing but the buzzing of the old overhead lights. I shrugged it off and chucked it up to be my imagination and how tired I was. I grabbed the mop and came back to the spot only to find that the footprints were gone. Confused I left the mop there and finally got the donuts out of the cooler.
I made my way to the oven and put them in setting it to 300 degrees and turning around to see a gun aimed at my face. The man was wearing a black trench coat and ripped jeans. As his dark eyes stared vigorously into mine, he yelled “bring me to the safe”. I’m thinking to myself God damn first night here and I’m already getting robbed. I walk the man back to the safe when he yells “No not that one this one”, and points to an iron safe on the wall. In that moment for the first time, I realized I had not seen this safe before. “I don’t know the code” I explained, as he looked at me with furry in his eyes. “Stand aside” he said pushing past me in a rush. With one tap to the side of the safe it opened for him, and papers fell out. He turned to me and pushed past me again and out the front door into the warm July night.
I quickly pushed the alarm and called the manager explaining I was robbed, and papers were taken from a hidden safe on the back wall. He practically yelled at me through the phone and said he’d be there in 10. The police arrived shortly after him and did a full search of the property. The police also took copies of the security tapes, but nothing ever came from them there was no man said the detective in a later interview.
I’m 37 now and at the time of writing this I know longer live in Smith’s Grove. When doing my research on the town and the gas station in particular there is not much to see or find, in fact I could only find what looked to be an old news article that documented a fire in 2011 of the station, every other piece of history relating to the station or town was gone or just simply did not exist.