The fog was absolutely insane.
Ethan gripped the wheel as tightly as he could and kept his eyes on the road, the headlights barely being able to pierce through the white haze.
His heart seemed to be pounding a mile a minute.
“This is insane,” he grumbled.
There was no response from the backseat.
He glanced at the navigation system.
The blue dot was still visible and the road continued to stretch on.
Continue for 3. 2 miles.
This didn't make any sense to him.
There couldn't possibly be a road that was that long without a single building or intersection in between.
He tried turning on the radio but all he got was static.
He switched it to another channel but it was just static again.
Even his cell phone had no reception!
“No signal?”, he said in disbelief.
That was completely normal for outside the city but he always had reception inside the city.
A strange feeling of dread crawled up his spine as he peered into the rearview mirror.
The man in the back was completely still, sitting with his hands clasped together and staring out the window, completely as if he had been on this trip dozens of times before.
Ethan shot a glance at him and then forced a grin.
“So… Raven Hill Road?”
No response.
“You live there?”
Nothing.
The man didn't blink a single time.
Ethan stopped trying to get a reaction out of him as the taxi pulled forward, inching along in the thick fog.
Minutes passed, or maybe hours, he couldn't tell.
They both kept staring at the clock on the dashboard, which read 2:13 A. M.
Ethan narrowed his eyes at it in confusion.
He checked the clock again and again and again… And every time it was still 2:13 A. M.
“Great,” he said sarcastically.
He turned his attention to his phone, which also read 2:13 A. M..
Something strange was happening, for sure.
Suddenly something else caught his eye.
There was a small figure standing in the road ahead.
Ethan slammed the brakes, skidding to a halt with the taxi screeching to a halt right in front of the figure.
His heart pounded in his chest as he jumped out of the car, nearly falling over at the sudden stop.
“Are you crazy?!” he shouted at the figure.
The figure disappeared.
Gone.
There was no one to shout at.
No one at all, in fact, except for his own taxi.
Ethan spun around in confusion, his eyes scanning the road until they landed on his own taxi.
There weren't any skid marks either despite the hard braking, as if the car had just magically appeared in front of the figure and stopped, but there was no figure to begin with!
Suddenly a voice spoke up behind him.
“You shouldn't have gotten out of the car.”
Ethan turned around sharply, staring at the man in the back seat of the taxi.
“You… You weren't even visible before!”
The man didn't answer him.
He wasn't even looking at Ethan, just… Staring somewhere else.
Ethan gritted his teeth and slowly climbed back into the driver's seat, his hands trembling slightly.
He locked the doors and turned the ignition, the engine roaring to life as Ethan pulled forward.
Shortly after, they saw lights flickering through the fog.
Ethan sighed in relief.
“Finally.”
It seemed to be a small town, with a few old buildings on either side of the road.
All the windows were lit up, there was a grocery store, a bakery, even a small school.
It nearly resembled an actual town.
Too bad that it was completely devoid of people.
No one was visible outside, not even a pet.
It was as if the entire place had been abandoned.
As they passed by the buildings, Ethan noticed something strange.
Every single clock he passed had the same time on it.
2:13.
“That‘s insane, that’s insane,” he muttered, his eyes wide.
“You mean this place doesn't move?”, the man in the back finally spoke.
“That's insane,” Ethan said, turning to stare at him.
“It's like… Nothing moves at all.”
Silence.
Ethan turned his attention back to the road as they left the town and the fog became even thicker than before.
His eyes drifted to the fuel gauge and his heart suddenly stopped.
It was only half a tank.
“What?!”, he shouted in disbelief, slapping the dashboard.
It took a few seconds but the needle slowly moved back to where it was, half a tank.
“I'm losing my mind,” Ethan groaned, laughing nervously.
Suddenly he noticed something else through the fog.
Another taxi.
It was completely abandoned on the side of the road, the lights turned off.
One of the doors was even ajar!
As they pulled closer to it, Ethan's heart pounded violently in his chest.
It was the same taxi model as his own.
Same color, even the company logo was the same.
He slowed down a bit, looking at the side of the taxi.
The license plate number was faded but still visible.
27.
His own taxi was also number 27.
He looked up at the sight of the abandoned car before slowly tightening his grip on the wheel.
“If you stop,” the man in the back suddenly said,
“you won't be able to leave.”
Ethan looked at him in the rearview mirror.
The man's eyes were locked on his, no fear in his expression.
His foot hovered over the brake as the taxi slowly pulled up next to the abandoned one.
They both continued to look at each other in silence before Ethan accelerated and drove past the strange vehicle, the fog swallowing it up within seconds.
Neither one of them spoke again.
Far far ahead, barely visible through the mist, a small road sign began to appear.
Ethan leaned forward, trying to see what was written on it.
When the headlights finally caught up to it he froze in horror.
It read,
WELCOME TO ASHRIDGE.