One Shots || Horror Edition

Traffic Jam (True Story)

The sound of squeaky pencils on white printing paper was a bit annoying. But as an eleven-year-old child you didn't really care. I was in the car. My dad, mom and I went to the IKEA as a little trip outside of the town. We had to take the highway to get there. In total it was a 30-minute ride.

Humming along with the songs that could be heard on the radio.

"What are you drawing sweety?"

I looked up at my mom who was looking over her shoulder from the passenger's seat. Holding my drawing up.

"It's a house with mommy, daddy, big brother and me! Butterflies everywhere and a lil garden!"

A smile could be seen on her face.

"Pretty!"

She turned away after that. I decided to stop drawing and stare out of the window. It was cloudy. Thick clouds covering the sky. Making it difficult for the sun to shine through. At least it wasn't raining today. That's a rare thing here in The Netherlands...

While looking at the countless trees passing by, I heard my parents talking. I wasn't really interested. But I just can't tell my ears not to listen.

"I have a weird feeling"

"What kind of feeling?"

"Just... Something is not right... Can we like, take a different way home?"

"Why?"

"Please... Just..."

My dad stopped at the side of the road. Both they stepped out. I had no clue why. So I assumed they were just stretching their legs. I could hear them talking. But I couldn't understand what they were talking about this time. After a while, they stepped back in and my dad drove away.

"Why the sudden stop?"

"Just some fresh air..."

"Ah,... Okay..."

Not even ten minutes later or the news was on the radio popped up. My dad immediately pushed the volume up to hear about the traffic jams. I hated it to hear the news. Like, I listen to the radio for the music. I don't want news every 30 minutes?!

-for around 1 kilometer. There is a traffic jam on the A12 from Deventer to Apeldoorn. It is caused by a truck who fell on its side. It will take some time before the drivers can ride further. This causes a delay of 45 minutes. On the A50 a car got...-

"I knew something was wrong!"

"M-mom? What's wrong?"

She started to tear up.

"Nothing sweetheart... Noting..."

I let it slide. But I wouldn't forget this...

×××

When we were on our way home. An accident happened on the road we would be on. It wasn't a little accident. But a pretty big one. As an eleven-year-old child you didn't know what it was about. But now I know. It scared me. But at the same time relieved me. If we would be on that road. I don't even know if you could be reading this right now. Because that eleven-year-old child. Was me.

My mom even told me that when she was in the car. She had visions/flashbacks of some kind where my brother and grandma were packing stuff and moving it out of our house. This scared me for life...

•••

Listen to that little voice

You won't regret it