Jeepney Ride

Ed's Note: This is one of my favorite short stories. I found it on the net. It's a MUST read :)

-Pandemic

It's funny when certain events in our lives occur and we blame it all to bad luck. What's funnier is the things that we do to counter the flow of bad energy that causes these so called bad luck or bad events. At least at that time I thought it was funny, until my friend shared her unlikely experience.

This story is about my friend and her scary jeepney ride going home. For those of you who don't know what jeepneys are, they are a popular means of public transportation in the Philippines. They were originally made from US military jeeps left over from World War II and are well known for their flamboyant decoration and crowded seating.

My friend went home late after finishing their school project, now since she lives within the vicinity of the U.P. Diliman campus (University of the Philippines) it was perfectly safe for her to take the jeepney instead of taking a taxi in going home during late hours. It was about midnight when she took the ride home, and she could not help but notice the driver kept glancing at her through his rear view mirror and then he would turn to her. (Now all jeepneys have their own route and do not take any turns and they have to stick to their route or else there is a big chance that they would run into some cop trouble). What's odd about this jeepney ride besides the eerie glances that the driver gave from time to time, he was also taking turns in corners that he was not suppose to. Afraid of what the drivers plans are, she was even more afraid of her surroundings because it seemed as if she was in the middle of nowhere already. So instead of going down, she just stayed on the jeep. On the last turn that the driver made, she noticed that they were back on the route that they were suppose to be in the first place.

Before reaching the end of the terminal, the driver turned to my friend and said, "Im sorry if I scared you or startled you! It was not my intention".. "Could you do me a favor and BURN all your clothes when you get home".. Wondering why my friend asked why he was acting very strange. The driver explained, "The reason why I kept glancing was because your head was not attached to your body when I looked through my rear view mirror." "That is why I changed my route awhile ago, hoping we could get away from the bad energy present in that area, and thats why I want you to BURN your clothes when you get home because I think its still with you."

Upon arriving home, still shaking from fear, my friend took all her clothes off and burned them as quickly as she could. A few days later she found out on the news that the jeepney driver died a day after the incident. It turned out the warning was not for her but for the driver.

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