If you knew me in high school, you knew I did everything I could to NOT go home. This even meant driving around at random, as pathetic as it may sound. Regardless, it made for some fun adventures in the long run.
On this particular night I had my hot Asian friend John along for the ride. I believe it may have been October at the time, we were either in 11th or 12th grade, but he wanted me to take him to some scary places. At first I think he wanted to visit a cemetery but I had to discourage it due to an incident that had happened earlier that year. That’s gonna have to be a story of it’s own this October.
First I drove him out to Clermont right at midnight, which at this time had no lights or buildings. In fact, there was the Kangaroo gas station at a light then it was creepy dark for MILES with dirt roads that zig-zagged through groves and woods. Grinning to myself, I took a dirt road I was familiar with and waited for the panic to set in.
“Where are we going?” John’s brow knotted as he stared out the window into the bleakness of night and shadowy orange trees.
“I don’t know. You said you wanted to go some place creepy.” I laughed, “Nothing beats a dirt road in the grove. I thought that’s what you wanted?”
“Yea, but…” There was the shudder, so I stopped the truck and put it in park. “Why’d you stop!”
After letting him sweat bullets, I finally offered, “Well, this is as creepy backwoods feel as you can get. You want to go home?”
“Yes!” Shaking my head, I started the way back to the other side of Winter Garden.
I lopped us through the backroads as we laughed it up in our conversations. We were nearly to his house when I saw a bent up sign “Cemetery this way” so I took the turn.
“Where are we going!” He was shifting nervously in his seat. “My house is that way…”
“You said you wanted to see a cemetery at night, there was a sign to go this way,” I had an evil toothy grin on my face as I spoke, “So let’s go see!”
“No, no I’ve had enough, your’re a crazy redneck girl, Val.” We were both laughing, but as I turned around the bend I came to a stop and up on the hill there was a vehicle blocking the way.
I think we both paled. It was way far off, but as we observed, it was a pickup parked sideways on the old backwoods road and two men were tugging at something in the back. We looked to one another and lipped “What the F***” and as we turned our focus back we watched as they dragged a body sized item out, across the road and disappear in the woods. At this point I hit it in reverse and turned us around.
“No more drives around midnight, ok?” I said as we hit the main road.
“Agreed.” And that was the end of taking random roads at night for me.
Lord only knows what was really happening with that truck and its occupants and “cargo”!
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