The Run on Mother's Day

Amelia woke up early for Mother's Day. It was a cool morning and there were still lots of clouds up in the sky. Amelia was still a little groggy because she was up late last night talking with her mom. They hadn't talked for about two weeks due to varying schedules. When Amelia wasn't busy being a receptionist, her mother was busy at her own job being a nurse at a children's hospital, so they certainly took advantage of every available opportunity to talk. After lying in bed for a while, it was time to get up.

Amelia took a shower and then got dressed. Afterwards, she headed off to the grocery store. There was a lot of traffic on the way out there, which was very frustrating. As soon as she got to the store, she started gathering ingredients. Amelia wanted to make a cake to take to her mom for Mother's Day. She was on a tight budget, so she only bought what she needed which was yellow cake mix, white frosting, sprinkles, flour, salt, butter, milk, baking powder, and eggs. Once she got everything she needed, she checked out at the cashier and went home. Amelia started to work on making the cake and about three hours later the cake was done and packaged, ready to go. After putting the cake in the car, Amelia got some things for the trip including a Mother's Day card and put them in a bag.

By now the sun was out and a lot of the clouds had dispersed. The temperature had gone up considerably as Amelia got on the road. A few turns on roads here and there and finally, Amelia was on the highway and on her way out of the city. She turned on the radio and started running through the channels. Commercials.... YUCK!!! Next channel, more commercials, next..... After going through a few channels, she gave up trying to find something good on the radio. Amelia decided pulled over to the side of the road to get some music to play through her iPhone on the car speakers. She got back on the road as soon as she got the music playing. Amelia admired the scenery as she was traveling on the highway. There was plenty of open road for miles ahead and lots of wide open grassland all around.

Amelia thought to herself, "This area is gorgeous, but with the lack of streetlights, one probably wouldn't want to be here in the middle of the night."

About 45 minutes down the road, Amelia encountered this slow moving transport truck loaded with cars.

She counted them, "One, two, three, four.... 11 cars! Damn that's a lot of cars. No wonder he's going slow. "

Amelia activated her left turn signal and prepared to pass the truck on the left. Her maroon 1997 Toyota Camry sedan went around the truck and then merged back into the appropriate lane after she put some distance between her and the truck.

She continued on, but then the transport truck picked up speed and overtook Amelia.

"Wow really?" she thought to herself.

The truck began to slow down.

"You can't be serious," she says, and then she waits for the right time to go around the truck.

Again, she is now in front of the truck, and the driver starts honking his really loud truck horn.

"Dude, grow up," she remarked to the driver.

Amelia continued on but eventually she had to stop because the "Low Fuel" warning light came on which meant that it was time to refuel. She pulled into a Buc-ee's gas station to get some gas. It took about $40 dollars to fill up the car and Amelia wasn't happy. That annoyed mood quickly turned into a feeling of apprehension when she noticed that the transport truck from earlier was pulling into the truck stop area.

"We all need to get fuel, right?" she told herself before quickly getting on the road.

The transport truck slowly followed behind her.

The road was clear ahead and behind. Amelia's fears were slowly starting to slip away. She turned on the radio and the music continued to play from where it had left off earlier. Amelia noticed something strange on the rear view mirror. There was a vehicle approaching, and it was large. It was the same transport truck from earlier! The truck was eventually right on her tail and then he overtook her and got in front. Her car shook from the wind disturbance caused by the truck passing so closely on the side.

"Hey!!! What the hell is your problem?" she yelled at the driver.

"Freaking immature idiot, and now he's slowing down. You don't want anybody in front of you, yet you want to drive BELOW the speed limit!" she continued.

By now they were in a "No Passing" zone and a very narrow highway. Amelia waited for a passing lane to come up down the road and she took it. As she was passing the truck, the driver decided to go into the passing lane to knock Amelia's car off the road.

"Whoa, Tiger!!!!" Amelia exclaimed as the 21 year old Toyota spun off the road and crashed sideways into a fence. The impact terrified Amelia and she was shaking as she turned off the car.

Two old men came up to her and one of them asked, "Are you alright, young lady?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she told them.

"Well if you need anything, just holler," the other man told her and they walked off.

Amelia started the car and put the A/C on at full speed to cool the interior down. She walked around the car inspecting the damage. The right side of the car had moderate damage from crashing into the fence and the right front side marker light was shattered from the impact.

"Great," she said to herself.

Amelia got back in the car and continued on for a bit before deciding to stop. She went into a small store to use the restroom. While there, she looked at herself in the mirror. There was a faint diesel engine sound and the hiss of an air brake system that could be heard. Amelia looked out the window and almost immediately felt nauseous.

"Not again!" she told herself.

She left the restroom and the young girl at the cashier remarked, "Miss, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Amelia replied, "That's actually a distinct possibility."

The cashier remained silent as Amelia walked off. She got in the car, started it up and just sat there.

"Your move," she said.

The transport truck slowly started to move again and took off. Amelia decided to wait for a while before getting back on the road. She lowered the seatback and closed her eyes, falling into a nice, comfortable sleep. About 30 minutes later, Amelia's cell phone started ringing. It was her mother.

"Where are you? Is everything okay?" she asks.

"Yes, mom I'm fine. I had a little issue, but everything's fine now," she replied.

"See, I told you to stop driving that old car. It was fine when your uncle bought it new, but it's not the nineties anymore," her mother told her.

"The car isn't the issue here," Amelia said.

"Then what is it?" her mother asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," she replied.

Amelia's mother simply said, "Alright, well just call me when you get here, and remember, I'm always a call away whenever you need me," and then they hung up.

Amelia got back on the road and continued on cautiously. She looked hard at the road ahead, trying to see anything out of place, but there was nothing. Amelia had been driving at about 55 MPH, but then she started to relax, and bumped her speed up to 75 MPH.

Amelia continued on the road without further issues, but then all of a sudden, she felt something push the back of her car. The transport was back yet again, and the driver wasn't happy! The driver of the truck seemed to be getting more violent with every subsequent encounter. Amelia had to bring her car up to full speed just to get away from him.

As soon as she was able get some distance from the truck, she pulled up a map on the car's computer. She found a found a cliff edge not too far from her current location. She slowed down the let the crazy truck driver see her then she sped up into the area where the cliff edge was, before quickly preforming a 180 degree spin. This left the tail end of her car near the edge of the cliff with the nose facing her attacker. The truck driver started honking his horn as he was approaching Amelia. At the last minute, as the truck approached her, Amelia spotted a forest to her right and went towards it at full throttle. She was almost too late as the truck grazed the left side of her rear bumper before driving off the cliff. Amelia was able to regain control of her car before she crashed into some bushes. She was able to back out of the bushes, but her headlights and front bumper were smashed. She was lucky the impact didn’t cause the airbag to go off.

Amelia called 911 and explained the situation to the Police. They had trouble believing her, but they sent an officer to her location. An officer was on the scene within 20 minutes. He identified himself as Officer Wilson. He asked Amelia for her Driver's License and Insurance Card. She presented him with the requested documentation.

"Have you made any contact with the driver of the truck?", asks the officer.

She said she hadn't because the driver was exhibiting extremely dangerous behavior. He called for backup and ordered her to step out of her car. As soon as the backup arrived, Officer Wilson and a second officer went down to the crash site. What they found at the bottom was really disturbing. The cab of the truck was heavily damaged, but there was no sign of there ever being a driver inside the cab. Did the driver escape? It was unlikely as both cab doors were smashed shut from the impact and there were no signs that anyone had try to force them open from either the inside OR outside. Something weirder? The driver's seatbelt was still buckled, and there were glass shards everywhere from the broken front windshield, but there was no sign of anybody ever being in the truck. No blood, no nothing. And the weirdest part of it all was that both doors were still locked from the inside. The two police officers came back to Amelia and she asked them if the driver was alright.

Officer Wilson replied, "He didn't make it"

Amelia stood in silence. The other officer asked her if she needed medical attention and she declined. He then proceeded to ask if her car was drivable and she checked it by driving it around in the field to see if it was safe to drive. She said that she thinks the car should be fine. Officer Wilson told her to leave the area immediately if she doesn't need anything. Amelia wasted no time getting back into her car and taking off.

EPILOGUE:

Several hours had passed since the Policemen had sent Amelia on her way after the whole ordeal of the truck crash. The sun was starting to set, and Amelia had finally arrived at her mother's about two hours prior. Her mother came out to the driveway and was in shock when she saw Amelia's car. She ran to Amelia and asked her what had happened and whether or not she was alright. Amelia explained the situation and then her mother gave her a big hug afterwards, stating that she was grateful that nothing permanent had happened to her.

Amelia responded by saying, "Not everyone was as lucky."

The two went inside the house. Meanwhile back at the crash site, the area was closed off with policemen running an investigation and all of a sudden, the crashed truck vanished.

One of the officers yelled, "SIR!!!" and Officer Wilson went over to the cliff edge and couldn't believe what he saw.

"What happened to the truck?" he asked.

One of the officers replied, "Sir, the truck just vanished. It was here one second, and as soon as we were able to force one of the doors open, it just vanished."

Only the impact of the truck hitting the ground remained.

"Well I guess there's no reason for any of us to be here now is there?" Officer Wilson had asked.

His partner was at a loss for words but simply uttered, "No."

Officer Wilson finished by sharply saying, "And gentlemen? You will make your reports, and then speak nothing of this incident to the public. The last thing we need is to create any social unrest.”

Photo Sources:

Image 01: http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2015/05/homemade-funfetti-layer-cake/
Image 02: Selfshot
Image 03: https://www.rcgauto.com/carriers/car-transport-trailers-trucks/
Image 04: https://www.autoevolution.com/cars/toyota-camry-1997.html#aeng_toyota-camry-1997-22-4at-131-hp
Image 05: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2017/11/16/251171/katy-buc-ees-to-be-recognized-by-guinness-world-records-for-massive-car-wash/
Image 06: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=2001+camry+top+speed&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSlQEJFpZGxOHtM64aiQELEKjU2AQaAggVDAsQsIynCBpiCmAIAxIolhiXGJgYzQzGDJcNuRXuDMsMkg2JJrgmuyaDIdky3DKLJvE8oTPTPBow5fDrljJmbhzele1pFgiQx4VmGIW3Z-W2YV76VJEZP23OrMh8c1xUbQ2MN7EKFYkLIAQMCxCOrv4IGgoKCAgBEgTMNakADA&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3tPrwoPDbAhVmjK0KHVk9B1QQwg4IJCgA&biw=800&bih=967#imgrc=FpZGxOHtM66DEM:
Image 07: http://wtov9.com/news/offbeat/gallery/vote-for-the-best-state-trooper-patrol-car