The Traveller

A couple of years back myself and my mother were visiting her sister in the North of the country, a few hundred miles from where we lived. My mum had decided to drive rather than take the train and after staying the weekend, we started our return trip. We left on a Monday morning but as the distance to our town was so great we called in with my mother's friend with the intention of spending the night.

It was a really nice house but is literally in the middle of nowhere; at least a mile from the next nearest house and miles again from the nearest town or shop. As we got close to the house a huge summer storm hit; torrential rain, thunder and lightning. It turned out to be quite lucky we had planned to stay overnight as driving conditions had quickly become dangerous.

The house was undergoing massive interior renovation at the time, which meant my Mum and me would be spending the night crashing in the living room as all the spare bedrooms were out of commission. Once the workmen had left for the day we spent most of the evening on the back porch watching the storm before we turned in for the night. I crashed on the couch while Mum took a leather divan-type sofa that was placed directly under the window that faced the driveway.

Late into the night I woke up feeling very uneasy, as if I was being watched. I opened my eyes but didn't move anything other than my head toward where Mum was sleeping. There was a hooded black figure standing at the window over my Mum, with his hands up to the window as if he was trying to see if anyone or anything was in the living room. The driveway had a very powerful light fixed on a pole at the edge of the front yard. My Mum, exhausted from the driving, was completely out for the count despite the window being no more than 18 inches from her face.

The figure continued to slowly scan the room then stopped suddenly as if he had just seen me. (The yard light was positioned so that no light was cast into the house so the room was completely pitch black). By now the severity of the storm had increased and thunder and lightning was striking frequently. As if on cue, a lightning strike hit and seemed to illuminate the inside of the living room. The figure leaves his vantage point and started walking towards the right hand side of the house where there is another window offering a better view of the living room.

Without saying anything I waited until the figure was out of sight and slid off the couch scuttling into the doorway just off the living room and out of the second windows line of sight. I peek from behind the wall and can see the figure at the second window. By this stage I was freaked and unsure what to do. Lightning hit again and the figure snapped his head right to where I was hiding. I remember being almost frozen, feeling his eyes were locked onto me. He left the second window and headed back toward the first. I somehow managed to move, running to the stairway in the corner of the room that led up to the bedroom of Mum's friends. I burst in and shouted that there was a man outside looking in.

Once over the initial surprise of me waking them in such a panic, the husband, a large man in his own right jumped up, summoned his eldest son who was a couple years older than me, found two cricket bats and marched down the stairs. The rest of the family and myself followed warily. My mother, having been woken by the commotion, met us at the bottom of the stairs having just been passed in the hallway by her best friends half-naked husband, toting a cricket bat and marching out into the storm. I explained what happened but could tell my Mother was in equal parts sceptical as she was shocked.

We waited for what seemed like an eternity in the darkness as no one thought, or perhaps dared, to turn on a light. Mum's friend tried to reassure us it was just a late night traveller who had broken down or got lost. Her husband and son returned after a minute or two. The husband went as far to get changed and check the grounds before he hopped in his car and drove the road a couple miles in both directions.

There was nothing. There had been no sound of a car leaving the driveway or any physical evidence of anyone being outside. This did little to reassure me and I was unable to shake the feeling of being watched that had originally woke me.

We managed a fitful night sleep before we gathered our things to set out the next morning. My mother was convinced I had imagined the whole thing and told her friends so by way of apology. This annoyed me at first although I knew it was the most logical explanation for them as no one else had saw the figure. Looking to forget the whole experience I did not argue the matter. As Mum said her goodbyes I went and snapped a picture of the house before returning to find her waiting by the car and ready to go.

I quickly popped my head in the house to say my own goodbyes and apologised for waking them last night. Our car horn sounded and the husband remarked Mum was getting impatient which is not like her. I shrugged it off at first but the car horn kept sounding with two long continuous beeps and a third and final one which was a good bit shorter.

I went to the side of the house to where our car was parked, it hadn't moved and sat with all the doors closed apart from the passenger door on the driver's side which was wide open. It was as I got close to the car that I saw Mum, slumped over the steering wheel.

Frantically I pulled open the door and tried to shake her awake. I found the pulse on her neck which seemed strong but she seemed to be completely unconscious. I pulled her out of the car and shouted for help as I carried her into the house.

I set her on the same couch I slept on the night before and with the help of her friend tried to bring her around from what we assumed was a random fainting spell. Thankfully she revived quite quickly and within the hour was ready to hit the road. Her friends were more than happy to let us stay for the day but she was keen to get home and I was keen not to spend another night there.

My Mother loves big, expensive steel wristwatches and she was wearing her Brietling Chronomat when all this happened. As were leaving she noticed the time on her watch had frozen at what must have been very close to the same time she fell unconscious.

She didn't remember passing out or even getting in the car and said little about it, appearing to be more concerned over her watch stopping. It was only on the way home the question finally occurred to me for the first time; why had the passenger door been open?

Mum at the house: http://i.imgur.com/000Lb7v.jpg

The Next Morning: http://i.imgur.com/pzmdPMK.jpg