Short Horror Stories

The Hitchiker

The sun is falling behind the trees, the light is fading. Sarah, a young girl of only 17, is on her way home from work. Her work is only a couple miles up the road from where she lives. She rides her bike to and from there everyday. Sarah normally works in the morning, but on this particular day she worked a later shift. She works at a small diner as a waitress, not making much but at least it's something to get her by. She lives with her parents, who don't really like the diner but respect the fact that at least she wants to work. She has no light on her bike and did not expect to leave the diner as late as she did. As the sun begins to fade it gets darker, and unfortunately there are no lights along the road. She pedals faster, knowing she will have to ride in the dark anyway. The road is surrounded by miles of forest on either side, and there is no quicker way for her to get home. The sun has now completely set and the darkness fills in around her and on the road. The moon provides some light for her, but not much. She stops and starts thinking of a way to make her journey home a little faster. She thinks of none and continues to ride on in the darkness, even though she can't see very far ahead of her. Cars drive by on the road only every so often as there is not much around the area. As Sarah is riding a set of headlights lights up the road behind her. She can hear a car traveling up the road towards her but does not want to look back. A red pickup truck pulls up beside her and stops.
"Hey," the man in the car shouts to her trying to get her attention,"you need a ride?"
She stops and turns her head to look at the man. He is no older than 35 and has a beard, he is wearing a white beaten up baseball cap on his head.
"No, I think I'll be fine." She says, not wanting to pay any attention to the man.
"It ain't safe for you to be riding out here in the dark, there are wolves around here ya' know."
She figures he is right, as she hears the howl of wolves and the sounds of other animals from her room every night.
"I'll put my bike in the back if that's okay with you."
"Sure, toss it back there and hop in." He says turning the radio on. She puts her bike in the bed of the old truck and gets inside.
"So, how far do you live?" He asks her.
"Just a couple miles up the road some." She says keeping her eyes on the road.
"Okay, perfect, shouldn't take long to get there then." He says. The radio continues to play, filling the silence in the truck as neither of them say a word. They drive for about 10 minutes in silence as they near Sarah's house.
"It'll be the next house up here," She says, as they have already passed two on the way. The radio cuts out and shuts off as they near the house.
"You should slow down or I won't be able to get out." Sarah says. The man continues to drive past the house and on down the road.
"Hey! You missed it, can you turn back please?" She says a bit concerned. The radio flips back on, playing a lullaby that was never recorded, of a monster lurking outside to lure children away in the night. Sarah tries to get out of the truck but the door is locked and she cannot get it to open.
"I had a daughter once," the man starts to speak,"she was murdered, but they never found her body, you look just like her." Sarah fumbles trying to open the door desperately. She finds a year on the window for the year the truck was manufactured. The date was for 1957, the truck was 50 years old but sounded brand new. She looks at the man, his face is rotting away and his arms are skinny and pale.
"Who are you?!" She screams still fumbling at the door handle.
"I-," the man whispers in a low and haunting voice,"am bringing you home sweetie." She turns away and struggles trying to open the door, but to no avail. A darkness settles in around her and she starts to fall asleep. The truck was found a few days later by a tree on the side of the road. The bike was laying around the back of the truck and the truck was old, rusted, and broken down. The man was nowhere to be found, and neither was Sarah. Her body was never found, but there were scratches on the inside of the passenger door of the truck. Similar to that of fingernails, and the radio in the truck was still playing a soft song.
Come home with me tonight
To sleep and rest
You have fallen far from the nest
Don't worry, everything will be alright
I know they hurt you
But you will be saved
So don't misbehave
Or too the darkness you may subdue