Taxi No. 45

February 16, 2008

    It was a dark night when Julie and Chris are walking by the Bayside Road. It has been a cold night and having only a few vehicles passing through this road made it even colder.

    “Sabi ko na sayo! Dapat hinintay natin si Gary doon sa party para may masakyan tayo pauwi. Eh nahihirapan tuloy tayong makahanap ng taxi sa lugar na ‘to. Wala atang dumadaan na taxi dito eh!” complains Julie to his boyfriend. Chris then replies “Jul, it’s getting late na and the party was getting a little boring already. Tapos parang ayaw pa umalis ni Gary eh. Hintay ka lang, may taxi din jan maya-maya.”

    Chris then notices a light from afar behind him. He thought to himself that it could finally be a taxi and that they can finally go home. And as he thought, it appeared to be a taxi after all. Chris then hurriedly waves his hand to signal the vehicle to stop and give them a ride. As the taxi was a few feet away from them, Julie cries out “Ngek! May pasahero na Chris! Puno pa nga ang sasakyan eh.”

 As Chris heard this from his girlfriend, he took a close look to make sure that the public vehicle is indeed occupied and sure enough, what he saw was exactly what Julie told him; the taxi is packed with its passengers. But to the couple’s surprise, the taxi stopped a few meters away from them.

“Grabe naman tong driver na to. Puno na nga, magpapasakay pa.” Julie exclaimed. Chris then started to walk towards the vehicle and as he was doing so, he says to his girlfriend, “Baka dito na bababa ang mga pasahero niya.”

Julie then responds, “Ano? Eh wala namang bahay dito sa paligid ah. Tingnan mo nga. We’re practically in the middle of  nowhere.” As Chris heard this, he looked around and only saw an empty field on one side and a gloomy forest on the other.

    Right then and there, Chris thought that things started to get suspicious. He slowly approached the taxi. When he was near enough, he leaned down to take a look inside. To his shock, he saw no one on the passenger seat or on the backseat. There are no passengers in sight. He couldn’t believe it. There was no way both he and his girlfriend were just seeing things. His girlfriend confirmed it twice already. Even though he started to feel light-headed, he struggled to walk further forward to talk to the driver and possibly shed some light on what they’ve seen earlier.

As he was about to open the passenger door to speak to the driver, he took a look inside and to his horror, neither driver could be seen inside the vehicle. At this point, Chris already felt like his head had already swollen. It was like he is in a trance due to what he is experiencing at that moment. “Ano daw Chris?! Bababa na ba ang mga pasahero niya?” screamed Julie.

Somehow, his girlfriend’s voice snapped Chris out of his shock for a while and he was able to give Julie a look. Yet, Chris couldn’t gather enough strength to speak up. He could only take a deep breath and gulp through his throat. He is already thinking that this is too much for him to handle. Trying to convince himself that all of this are just illusions, he slowly took another look inside the taxi. This time, what he saw was even more horrific. The vehicle is once again filled with people. What’s more bizarre about is that all of them are just looking blankly forward and seemingly oblivious to Chris’ presence. Chris’ eyes started to bulge out in disbelief and as he started to walk backwards, all the people inside the vehicle slowly turned their heads toward Chris. Their eyes are so white; they look like they are glowing. That’s the moment when Chris started to walk anxiously towards his girlfriend. He then grabbed her by the hand and hurriedly walked away from the taxi.

Chris and Julie were only meters away from where the taxi was parked when he decided to look back. The vehicle was no longer there. Now he feels even less safe and all he wants to do is run away but as he turned back to look forward, a very familiar set of headlights pulled over right in front of them. Chris is terrified over the fact that the taxi might have followed them and now he has to confront it again. He can’t bear to see more of those horrific images he has seen earlier.

As Chris was about to run towards the opposite direction, he heard something that made him feel safe again, “Chris! Julie! Get in, I’ll take you guys home.” It was Gary’s car, which pulled over after all. Without any hesitations, Chris took his girlfriend and got in the car.

 In the car, Chris tried to calm himself down. He can’t wait to get out of that place.

“I told you guys na sabay na tayong umuwi. Bakit umalis kayo kaagad?” Gary scolded the couple.

“Eh eto naman kasing kaibigan mo, Gar! Gustong-gusto nang umuwi. Kesyo bored na daw siya doon.”, explained Julie. Then Gary said, “Di nyo ba alam na delikado dito?”

That statement caught Chris’ attention and he said “Di mo lang alam Gar! Hindi ka maniniwala sa nangyari sakin doon.”

Gary looked at his friend with heed and said “Anung sinasabi mo?” “Pare minulto ako doon!” cried Chris.

“Ano ano ano?” yelled Julie. Chris turned to look at his girlfriend and told her “Yung taxing pinara natin, paglapit ko, nawala ang mga tao sa loob pati ang driver. Tapos napalingon lang ako saglit, pagtingin ko uli, may mga tao na naman sa loob. Puro puti ang mga mata nila pero naramdaman kong nakatingin sila sa akin. Muntik na’kong himatayin dun sa takot!”

Julie was shocked to hear this and could only hold her hand up to cover her mouth and utter the words “Oh my God…” and when she could finally gathered herself back together she screamed “Chris huwag mo’kong takutin ng ganyan! Ayoko ng ganyang biro!”

After that, the couple simply heard “I believe you.”  Gary claimed to his friend. Even though he was certain with what he saw, Chris understood how the story could be so unbelievable so he stared at Gary and said “Talaga? How could you be sure?” “I know you, man. You don’t have the creativity to make this stuff up!” said Gary with a grin and proceeded to say “Plus you’re not the first one to experience that.”  “What do you mean?” asks Chris.

“Some of my classmates back in college covered this story once so I pretty much have an idea of what you are talking about. Malamang ang nakita mo tonight ay ang kinakatakutang ‘Taxi #45 ng Malaya Company.’ About five years ago, nadisgrasya dito mismo sa Bayside Road ang Taxing yun. Ang driver pati na ang apat niyang pasahero, patay nang sumalpok ang sasakyan sa puno. Pagkatpos ng disgrasya, marami nang mga kwentong kumakalat na may mga nakakakita pa rin ng taxing yun. May iba sinasabing nakita nilang bumangga ang taxi pro nawawala naman pag nilapitan. May mga kwento rin na tulad sayo, humihinto ang taxi pag pinara tapos pag sasakay na ang pumara, magpapakita yung mga namatay na pasahero. At meron pa. Minsan pag pinapara ang taxi, pinapasakay mismo ang pumara. Tapos bago pa makalabas ng Bayside Road, hihinto ang taxi. Pag tatanungin na ng nakasakay kung ano ang problema, lilingon ang driver pero makikita ng sumakay na walang mukha ang driver. Sinubukan na ng mga classmates ko na tanungin ang Malaya Taxi Company about sa Unit #45 nila pero ang sabi ng kompanya eh nandoon lang daw sa garahe nila ang taxi at di na magamit dahil total wreck na.” tells Gary. “Kung yun nga ang taxing pinara mo Chris, passlamat ka na lang na yun lang ang dinaanan mo.”

Chris took a deep breath and said, “ Diyos ko. Di talaga ako naniniwala sa mga ganitong bagay, Gar. Eh nanginginig pa nga ako hanggang ngayon. Ewan! Ngayon ‘pag iniisip ko yung nakita ko, parang bangungot ang pumapasok sa isip ko. Hindi ata ako makakatulog ng ilang araw nito. Yung mga mata nila, ‘di yun maaalis sa utak ko. Para silang umiilaw sa puti”

Gary quickly responds to what he heard from Chris, “Sabi ng iba, kaya daw ganun angmga mata nila kasi huli nilang nakita sa daan bago namatay ay high beam headlights ng isa pang sasakyan. Sabi nila baka nasilaw dun ang driver kaya sila nadigrasya.”

Julie then buts in, “Chris nahihilo ata ako sa kwento ninyo. Akala ko sa movies lang nagyayari ang mga ganun. Buti na lang hindi ako lumapit doon. Thank God things like those don’t happen to me pero Chris, nilalamig talaga ako ngayon. Nakakapangilabot talaga ang taxing yun.”

“Julie, just relax and lean back. It’s gonna be ok. Malapit na tayong makalampas sa Bayside Road. Wala pakong naririning na sightings ng taxi outside this road.” says Gary as he glanced at Julie through the rear view mirror.

As they were exiting the Bayside Road, Gary adds one more story he remembers about the cursed taxi, “May isa pa. Hindi lang yung taxi mismo ang nagpaparamdam sa mga dumadaan doon sa Bayside. Pati na ang mga namatay na pasahero nito ay naghahasik din ng lagim. May nagsasabing nagpapakita daw ang mga pasehero sa mga drivers ng mga sasakyang dumadaan doon. Makikita mo daw sila sa tabi ng daan na parang pinapara ka. Tapos ‘pag nakalampas ka na, magugulat ka na lang pag lingon mo sa rear view mirror. Makikita mo na lang na nakasakay na sila sa likod.”

“Anak ng… Eh anung gagawin ng driver?!” screams Chris.

“Marami sa mga drivers, lumalabas sa sasakyan at tumatakbo. Kaya maraming nachochop-chop na sasakyan diyan sa Bayside kasi iniiwan na lang.” Gary glanced at Chris and looks at Julie through the rear view mirror as he continues, “Meron namang mga driver na malalakas ang loob at pinapabayaan na lang daw. Pero may nangyayari sa mga pasahero ‘pag pinabayaan mo lang silang sumakay. Nawawala daw sila isa-isa at nangyayari ito habang may dumadaan na sasakyan. Ang sabi ng iba, yung Taxi #45 ang nakakasalubong mo kaya’t nawawala yung mga multo sa likod ng sasakyan mo. Parang isa-isa silang sinusundo.”

“Grabe! Gulong-gulo talaga siguro ang mga kaluluwa nung mga namatay kaya’t ganun na lang sila kung pagparamdam.” says Chris. Gary nods at his friend and says “Sa tingin ko kaya nila ginagawa yung dahil ‘di nila maalala kung ano ang nagyari sa kanila. Paulit-ulit silang bumabyahe sa Bayside para maalala at matanggap ang sinapit nila. Kaya kung pakikiramdaman o pakikitaan ka man, pabayaan mo na lang. Isipin mo na lang na para mo na silang tinutulungan.”

Gary, Chris and Julie finally reached Julie’s house so the couple were dropped there. Gary escorts them to the door and bids them goodbye. Julie has entered the house and Chris shook Gary’s hand and said “Thanks man! Because of the things you’ve said, I kinda feel better about what happened tonight,”

Gary smiles and tells Chris “Don’t worry. All three of us shared your ordeal tonight. By the way, nakita ko rin sila ngayong gabi…”

Chris’ jaw dropped and whispered “What?!… How?! Where?!”

“Relax! I think I handled it pretty well. Just don’t tell Julie about it.” says Gary.

Chris then asks, “Ha? Bakit?”

Gary responded, “When I saw them, they were already inside.”

Chris’ eyes widened and Gary continued “Yes. They were inside my car but just couldn’t scare the hell out of your girlfriend. Kaya alam ko kung bakit siya nilalamig kanina. And don’t worry. You’re here now in her house. You’re safe and secured. We’re kilometers away from the Bayside Road. You have nothing to be scared of anymore.”

Chris then felt weakened with terror and sat on the porch steps where he and Gary were standing. Gary glances at his car and tells Chris “Yo I need to go! See you around.”

As Gary was walking away, Chris screamed “Whoa, Gar! Ayaw mo mag-stay?” Gary continued walking to his car and just yelled “No! I still have to go back!” Chris quickly replied “Wh.. WHAT? Sa Bayside?! Bakit?! Naloloko ka na ba? Umuwi ka na kaya!”

As Gary was entering the car, he looked at Chris with a serious look and said, “Trust me.” As Gary was driving away, Chris found the answer to why his friend needed to go back to the cursed road. A very familiar sight appeared before Chris. At Gary’s backseat, Chris saw that there was one more passenger that was left and looked at Chris with those same blinding, bright eyes. Gary needed to drop off one more passenger.

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