Ep.148 – I Used to Drive a Delivery Truck, Until the Incident - Are You Truly Alone?!

To: Harry, my oldest nephew on the cusp of adulthood and looking for his first job. I’ve been told you want to drive a truck and are looking for me to give you a good recommendation to my former employer.
I’m sorry to say I will not do that. Now, before you get angry or hurt, please listen to why and judge for yourself if you really want to pursue this avenue.
I used to drive a delivery truck for a car parts company. It wasn’t a bad job, I spent a lot of time alone with my thoughts while driving to various garages to deliver parts. I also listened to a lot of audiobooks as I drove. It was a wonderful way to pass the time. I could get totally immersed in a book as I was driving endless boring miles.
I never considered myself to be much of a troublemaker. I would go along to get along as they say. Working for just above minimum wage while driving on icy roads to the middle of nowhere garages was what I did all the time. I didn’t complain about it, much. At least not to the boss. But I did my job and I thought I did it well. Apparently, not everyone agreed.
One day I came to work and was shown the new addition to my truck. There was a small box that hung down under the rearview mirror. I asked what it was and they told me it was a camera. What they didn’t tell me was it was actually two cameras. One facing out toward the road and one facing in toward the driver. They were being installed to make sure the drivers were doing their jobs.
Now I had worked for the company for years without a single ticket. I never had any complaints from any of my customers. And I never put a scratch on any of the trucks I drove. So, naturally, I took this camera situation as a personal incitement on my driving and on my moral character.
I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t happy about it, but the company’s stance was essentially, ‘Get over it!’
This was back when jobs were harder to come by and the company said if we didn’t like it we were welcome to get the hell out.
Those of us who needed to pay bills and feed our families decided to keep working and earning a paycheck. After a few months, we mostly forgot the cameras were there and went back to doing what we do, keep our mouths shut and deliver parts. Like we had a choice.
The cameras weren’t the end of the world as we thought. There were a few writeups, but they were stupid people doing stupid things. Me, I followed the rules and didn’t have any problems. I did what I was supposed to and didn’t do what I wasn’t supposed to. I know that’s a strange concept in today’s world.
That changed the day the boss told me I was being written up for having a passenger with me. He recited the rule number in the handbook that clearly stated that no passengers are to be in company vehicles unless approved by a supervisor.
I asked him what he was talking about and told him I didn’t have any passengers. He told me that the main office had a video of me carrying a passenger with me. He even quoted the date and time of the offense.
I thought back and wracked my brain trying to remember if I had stopped and picked someone up on that day. And then I remembered, I’ve never stopped and picked anyone up because I know it’s against the rules.
I thought about getting angry and raising a fuss. I thought about telling them that this was precisely the kind of harassment I expected would happen when these damn cameras were installed.
Then I remembered their stance of, ‘Shut up and deal with it or we’ll find someone else who will.’ That thought made me calm down and let it slide. I chuckled. ‘Someone must’ve gotten videos and names mixed up.’ I thought. ‘No big deal. I know the truth.’
I shrugged it off and threw the write-up away when I got it. My boss told me it didn’t really mean anything anyway. Only major infractions were going to be disciplined. I wondered why he had even told me about it if it didn’t mean anything. Driving in traffic and on snow-covered roads in winter was stressful enough without worrying about the main office saying I did something I didn’t do.
The following week I got another writeup. Once again for having a passenger. I told the boss I hadn’t had any passengers. I told him I follow the rules and he knows that. Again he told me the main office had a video of me driving with someone in the passenger’s seat.
At this point, I was starting to get upset. Being accused of something I did was one thing. But being accused of what I’ve never done and getting written up for it, was just too much.
I asked the boss to see the video. He pulled it up on the computer. I watched as he worked through the controls, confident that I was going to find the mistake or the name of the person who had actually committed the infraction and clear my name.
But that didn’t happen. He pulled up the video and sure enough there I was driving along and in the passenger seat was a large middle-aged man just staring out the windshield like he was along for the ride. My mind was having trouble comprehending what I was seeing. When I pulled myself out of my shocked stupor, I asked the boss what the date was when this happened. He told me and I wracked my brain to come up with an answer to this.
I peered closer at the screen to make sure I was the driver. There was little doubt it was me. I was wearing the grey sweatshirt I wear when I drive. I had one hand on the wheel the other leaning on the window just like I do when I’m bored. I was wearing my ball cap with the logo of my favorite baseball team. It was me. If only I could figure out who this other person was and what was happening to me. Was I forgetting things? Was I having blackouts and not knowing it? How could this person be in my truck without me knowing? It’s not like he was some stowaway hiding amongst the parts in the back, he was sitting three feet away from me.
“That person wasn’t there,” I told the boss.
“The camera says he was,” the boss said. “I don’t know what to tell you. I wish I could believe you. You’ve been one of my best drivers, but we’re starting to get into repeat offenses. The company is going to take action soon.”
“Take action against what?” I said a little louder than I intended. “There was no one there. I don’t know who has it out for me or who is playing this little photoshop trick to get me in trouble, but I swear on a stack of Bibles that man was never in my truck.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” he said.
I thought crossed my mind.
“Can you see where I pick him up?” I said.
The boss eyed me.
“You said I have him in my truck, I must pick him up somewhere. Can you tell me where?”
He looked at the computer and began rewinding the video.
The miles rolled backward and the man just sat there watching the windshield, then suddenly he disappeared. He stopped the video and ran it forward at normal speed. I came to a stop sign and the man jumped in.
“Pause it,” I said. “Where is that?”
He looked at the GPS information that was embedded in the video.
“The corner of Hamilton and Wright.”
“What’s there?” I said.
He looked at the map.
“Nothing.”
I leaned over and saw the same thing, there was nothing around there for at least a half mile.
“That’s on my normal Thursday route isn’t it?”
“Looks like.”
I sat back and thought.
He shot me a grim look.
“You know this is out of my hands.”
I stared at him, shocked that this falsehood was going to end up costing me my job.
“You’re my boss,” I said. “How can it be out of your hands?”
“The main office wants to make an example.”
“Out of me?”
He nodded slowly.
“Should I be updating my resume?” I said.
“I would if I were you.”
I got up, hung my head, and turned to walk away, then paused.
“Would you do me a favor?” I said.
He looked at me skeptically.
“Depends on what it is.”
“Could you call the main office and ask the person who monitors the trucks to call me if this ever happens again?”
The boss rubbed his chin as he thought.
“I guess that could be doable.”
I nodded and started toward my truck to load for my run.
As I drove away from the terminal my eyes kept darting toward the passenger seat as if I was somehow missing someone climbing into the truck and sitting beside me. That was the way my entire run went that day. I was so distracted I nearly rear-ended a car at a stop sign. I looked over and the signs said I was at the corner of Hamilton and Wright. I looked to see what was there and didn’t immediately see anything. I leaned forward to see what was beside me and paused. There was a small graveyard. It wasn’t big enough to register on the map. There were maybe thirty gravestones altogether. It didn’t even have a fence around it.
I was pulled from my thoughts by the car behind me honking their horn. I pulled out and started down the road, lost in the thoughts that were chasing each other around my head.
‘A graveyard,’ I thought. ‘There’s no one I can see. Could it be a… ?’
I didn’t want to finish the thought. I was never into that kind of thing and never really believed in it.
When the phone rang I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“Hello?” I said.
“This is Carl, I monitor the cameras in the trucks.”
“Look, I know I nearly hit that car, but I’m just a little distracted today.”
“What, no that’s not why I’m calling.”
“Ok, you just bored and needed to talk to someone?”
“No, your boss told me to call you when I saw you with a passenger.”
“Yeah, so?” I said looking over at the empty space beside me.
“You have a passenger.”
My entire body turned to ice.
“Say that again,” I said.
“You have a passenger,” he said.
I stared at the empty seat.
“Where?” I said.
“He’s sitting in the passenger seat, right beside you,” he said sounding a little annoyed.
“Carl,” I said. “That can’t be right. There’s no one beside me.”
“That’s not true,” he said, his voice rising. “I can see him plain as day. He’s wearing a red ball cap, overalls, and a plaid shirt.”
I was staring at the seat. When I looked back at the road, there was a truck stopped in front of me. I stood on the brakes hearing them scream in protest but not slowing my truck enough. I knew I was going to hit him. I swung the wheel over as hard as I could, feeling the truck start to tip, then swung back as I slid to a stop on the berm of the road.
I looked at the truck sitting beside me, breathing hard not only from the accident I’d just avoided but also from the news Carl had given me.
“Ok, Carl,” I said in a lower voice as if I didn’t want my imaginary passenger to hear. “What is my so-called passenger doing?”
“He’s just staring straight ahead.”
“I’m going to try something,” I said. “Tell me what he does next.”
I hesitated for a moment then reached my hand slowly across to the passenger’s seat, I waved it back and forth in the empty air. As I did, my hand felt cold, as if I had just stuck it into a freezer.
“Oh my God,” Carl said.
“What’s happening?”
“Your hand, it’s passing right through him.”
“It feels cold.”
“Wait a minute,” Carl said. “He’s doing something.”
“What?”
“He’s looking at your hand.”
I immediately pulled my hand back.
“What’s he doing now?”
“He’s looking straight at you.”
I felt the blood drain out of my face.
“Holy shit!” Carl screamed. “Get out of there! Get out now!”
I fumbled with the door latch, somehow forgetting how to open a door, when it opened, I tumbled out of the truck. I looked back inside, still not seeing anything, when I put my phone back up to my ear.
​
“Now wha… ?” was all I was able to get out before my world went dark.
I woke to a white room, beeping machines, and hoses stuck in my arm. I looked around the room and saw a bouquet of flowers that were starting to wilt. A nurse walked into the room with a syringe in her hand.
“Where am I?” I rasped causing her to jump.
“Oh my God, you scared me,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because you’ve been in a coma for three weeks.”
“What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?” she said.
I slowly shook my head.
“You pulled over on the side of the road and jumped out of your truck right into traffic,” she said. “You got hit by a car and sustained several life-threatening injuries.”
“Am I ok now?”
“You should really talk to the doctor about that,” she said.
“Please,” I rasped, grasping her hand.
She looked around as if someone was listening, then leaned close to my ear.
“As far as I know, you should make a full recovery,” she said. “They just aren’t sure about your mental state.”
“Why?”
“I heard you were babbling on about seeing things when you first came in.”
“Like what things?’
“Like a gho… “
“How’s the patient?” an authoritative voice said.
The nurse straightened and backed away.
“He’s awake and seems to be progressing,” the nurse said straightening her uniform.
“Good, good,” the doctor said. “Let’s see how you do in a day or so. Maybe we can have a little talk about when you first came in.”
I nodded and tried to fake a smile.
The following day I received an unexpected visitor. He was a small man, not too far out of his teens by his appearance. He knocked quietly at my door and started to turn around to leave when I said.
“Can I help you?”
“Um… yeah, maybe, I don’t know,” he said.
“Ok, let’s start with who are you?”
“Oh, sorry,” he said stumbling forward and nearly falling on top of me as he held out his hand. “I’m Carl.”
I shook it slowly.
“Carl?” I repeated. “Like Carl from the company?”
He smiled.
“Like Carl who told me to jump out into traffic and nearly killed me?” I said tightening my grip.
He winced and wormed his way out of my grip.
“Yeah, about that,” he said. “Sorry, by the way, but I wanted to explain.”
“Explain what?” I said sitting up so I might get another chance at him.
“This,” he said holding up his phone.
“It’s a phone,” I said sarcastically. “I’ve seen them before once or twice.”
“I’m sure,” he said. “But it’s what’s on the phone that you need to see.”
“Ok, what’s on it?”
He fiddled with the phone for a moment almost dropping it twice, then turned it toward me.
“What am I looking at?” I said as the screen shook.
“Give it a minute.”
The screen settled down and I saw it was a recording of me in the truck. I was mesmerized at the sight of the person sitting next to me. I watched as I waved my hand back and forth through his torso. I saw him look at my hand, then look at me. His face suddenly changed. His smile turned malevolent as it grew impossibly large. The grin extended nearly to his ears and his teeth grew three inches to where he looked like a shark about to attack. His fingers grew into claws and his eyes disappeared into his head, turning as black as the abyss.
I saw him reach for me as I fumbled with the door latch and he swiped his claws at me as I fell out of the door. He leered out the driver’s side window at me but stayed in the truck and slowly faded away.
When Carl pulled the phone away sweat was pouring off my forehead.
I looked him in the eye and said, “I forgive you.”
He smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
We sat in silence for a long moment.
“What did the company have to say about that video?” I said.
“It was deleted off the server the following day,” he said.
“So that’s the only copy?”
“Yep,” he said holding up his phone.
“Do me a favor?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Delete it.”
“Are you sure? This is the proof that you weren’t lying.”
“I’m sure. I don’t ever want to see that thing again.”
***
I quit driving a truck for a living after that.
I never again drove past the corner of Hamilton and Wright. I’ll go miles out of my way to avoid it.
I suggest you do the same.