Vincent's Midnight Encounter

My cousin Vincent enjoyed life to the fullest. He was a very jovial kind of person who always saw the humorous side of every incident. He could turn a bad story into something that would leave everyone around him in stitches!

Vincent didn't believe in ghosts and if told about a ghostly encounter, he would immediately make up his own 'hilarious personal encounter' which we all knew was a lie because that's the kind of guy Vincent was. His intention was always to make people laugh.

Vincent beleived school was for the birds and it didn't concern him at all that he just made it through each year to the next grade. He ended up being a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none.

During his highschool year a young girl joined the class. A real pretty lass, she hailed from the UK. Her father was sent to the country on a three-year contract.

After a few weeks at school the young girl gave Vincent the impression that he was the love of her life. Vincent, who was not interested in school work, was convinced that the feeling was mutual. Within a few months the young lady had to leave school as her family were moving to a coastal city, many miles away.

Vincent was told by his girlfriend that he was welcome to come and stay with them any time he wanted to. What he didn't know was that she didn't really mean it.

A month later, love-stricken Vincent decided to use the little money in his pocket to purchase a one-way train ticket to the coastal city.

One morning he removed his books from his school case, packed some clothes in the case, stuck his head around the door so that his mom couldn't see that he was not wearing school uniform, and waved goodbye. Two hours later he called his mom to tell her that he was at the station and not at school. He assured her he would be fine and that she should let the school know.

The following afternoon Vincent got off the train and by early evening he had arrived 'unexpected' at his girlfriend's house.

Her father invited him in and told him that she had gone off with her friends to a party and would be home much later. As the evening progressed, Vincent realised that this pretty girl had already forgotten about him. He made some excuse about not needing a bed for the night and said his goodbyes to her parents.

Penniless with nowhere to go, Vincent decided to make the long walk back to the national highway. Once there he would start to thumb a lift back to his hometown.

During those days there was no such thing as freeways and flyovers, just national roads between towns and cities. The usual scene was: The last store at the end of town was normally a general dealer and adjacent to that was a gas station. The last light you passed before driving on the dark highway (no street lights on any national road those days), was the light from the gas station.

Vincent found himself passing the gas station around midnight. With the light from the gas station just behind him he decided to walk a little further and then start thumbing a lift.

At this hour there weren't many cars on the road but he knew some cars would pass by and hopefully he would not have to wait long.

While walking on the side of the road, there was long grass to his left. Out of nowhere two men came walking toward him through the grass. Because the grass was long he could not see their legs.

He wondered where they were coming from and where they were going. Seconds later the hair on his neck became very stiff and he realised these guys were 'floating' toward him. Vincent pretended to look at his watch (he wasn't wearing one) and when he looked up they were gone!

Nowadays Vincent is a firm beleiver!

Hope you enjoyed my story. Cheers.