Check Your Backseat

[00:00:00] Welcome to Scary Story Podcast.

[00:00:03] Do you feel safe in your car?

[00:00:06] Today's stories might make you rethink that.

[00:00:11] My name is Edwin.

[00:00:12] Here is a scary story.

[00:00:23] I want to say I flicked the poor little kid off my back, but that sounds wrong and

[00:00:28] it is sure to get me fired.

[00:00:29] The poor child took a step back and tripped on a few of the plastic blocks that another

[00:00:34] one of the children had been working on.

[00:00:37] A type of store, she said, where the blocks were actually fruits or something like that.

[00:00:44] The kid took a few more steps backward before falling and I have to admit it was a little

[00:00:49] funny though only a little bit to see it happen.

[00:00:53] The feeling over the warm breath against the back of my head with the occasional surprise

[00:00:58] of finding drool or booger stuck to my hair is something I desperately try to get away

[00:01:03] from but I worked hard for the job and it paid well.

[00:01:07] This was no time to quit.

[00:01:10] I was a lucky one out of the group of employees at the daycare center still.

[00:01:14] I had somehow managed to keep my schedule to work only in the mornings and have evenings

[00:01:19] off but when Marcella quit, I was forced to take some of her hours while they found

[00:01:25] a replacement and I wished with all my heart that they wouldn't get used to it after

[00:01:31] they found out that I was free in the evenings which I usually spent watching

[00:01:35] TV and eating microwavable food.

[00:01:37] I wanted my nights to myself.

[00:01:40] It was weird meeting the parents of the little kids and how different the couples were between

[00:01:45] one another yet it explained every single characteristic of the child.

[00:01:51] Bridget for example, one of the most frail and emotional children in the center had

[00:01:55] a mother who was soft spoken and looked about as weak as the trees they planted

[00:02:00] in her front lawn still with the sticks tied with rubber bands to the skinny trunk of the

[00:02:05] newborn tree to help guide it.

[00:02:08] I'm still not sure if trunk is even the right word.

[00:02:12] Though I shouldn't be making fun of parents, I knew that.

[00:02:16] It was way too easy and as my best work friend says to me, it is beneath me.

[00:02:21] She was one that showed me the ropes when I first started working there and since

[00:02:24] then she has met my family when they came to visit, she has picked me up from

[00:02:28] the airport and has even helped me move.

[00:02:32] I guess I should stop calling her my work friend.

[00:02:35] She got me a good deal for a car recently also after my old metal bucket with wheels refused

[00:02:41] to start on the side of the highway for the 10th time.

[00:02:44] But anyway as I was saying, she did her best to keep my sarcastic comments around the

[00:02:49] kids and parents down to a minimum.

[00:02:52] It worked about half the time.

[00:02:54] One of my go-to phrases was that I should have stayed in school like my parents wanted.

[00:03:00] I felt guilty after saying it especially at work.

[00:03:03] I knew it offended some of my coworkers.

[00:03:05] The exception of Francine, my best work friend.

[00:03:09] Treating the job as a punishment wasn't the best thing to say.

[00:03:13] Those kids, I tell you, they were something else.

[00:03:17] I was close to quitting one time and surprisingly it had nothing to do with the job itself.

[00:03:24] You see, I was leaving work at around 9 in the evening.

[00:03:27] We had new cleaning protocols and it took just under an hour to get everything cleaned

[00:03:31] up and ready for the next day.

[00:03:33] And yes, 9 at night was very late for a daycare center in my town.

[00:03:39] I looked up at the purple streetlight just above my car since I was forced to park

[00:03:44] out on the street.

[00:03:46] The place had its parking lot but it was reserved for the parents to arrive and

[00:03:49] pick up their kids.

[00:03:51] That's sort of a drive-thru thing.

[00:03:54] They still would get out of the car and the place would get jammed up either way.

[00:03:58] I could hear my own footsteps dragging against the cement sidewalk while I was

[00:04:02] scrambling through my pockets to untangle my car keys from the earphones,

[00:04:06] receipts, and gum wrappers without taking everything out with one hand.

[00:04:11] Sometimes there were dollar bills in there and sometimes I dropped them

[00:04:15] doing just that.

[00:04:18] There they were.

[00:04:20] I walked up to the driver's side of the car when I heard footsteps

[00:04:24] coming up behind me from across the street.

[00:04:28] Miss, I heard a man's voice.

[00:04:32] My hands started shaking as the car keys rattled in my hands desperately hoping

[00:04:36] that this wouldn't be something like what happens in the movies

[00:04:39] and that part when the character drops them and then they get murdered.

[00:04:43] I felt the car lock disengage and I pulled it open and jumped inside.

[00:04:48] I picked the right key to put in the ignition on my first try and the car

[00:04:51] started smoothly, well compared to my old car.

[00:04:56] That's when a man waved at me and then put his hands back on his lap as

[00:04:59] Aline towed me.

[00:05:01] Miss, he said. He showed me his empty hands.

[00:05:06] When he lowered them I caught a glimpse of his beard in case I needed

[00:05:09] to remember this to explain it to the police.

[00:05:12] Brown jacket, average height, striped button-up shirt.

[00:05:18] I stepped on the gas and got out of there looking carefully at the rearview

[00:05:21] mirror. The man hunched over and put his arms to

[00:05:25] his side. He crossed the street back to where he

[00:05:28] came from. I was still so nervous I skipped my visit

[00:05:32] to the 7-Eleven and kept driving down the highway.

[00:05:37] The roads were empty as I thought about the encounter.

[00:05:40] I released some of the grip I had on the steering wheel and I hadn't

[00:05:43] noticed I had tensed up completely, afraid to even blink.

[00:05:48] You hear about these things on the news, you know?

[00:05:51] Person disappeared with their picture and everything,

[00:05:55] followed right by a bad drawing of a suspect and then interviews of people

[00:05:59] who knew me, I mean, knew the victim. My eyes started twitching but

[00:06:04] soon my thoughts went back to the daycare once again.

[00:06:08] Relieved to finally be able to go home, I took a deep breath.

[00:06:12] I could feel the tiny hands of one of the kids on my shoulders

[00:06:16] attempting to climb up on top of me once again.

[00:06:20] But it felt so real. I got goosebumps. Looking back at the rearview

[00:06:27] mirror once again as I got to the garage of my apartment,

[00:06:30] I saw no headlights, no movement, no man with a beard with a large knife or

[00:06:35] a gun by his side. I was safe. The next day, I showed up in the

[00:06:43] afternoon for another evening shift overlapping briefly with Francine,

[00:06:47] thankfully, when I got to tell her about the creepyman from the previous night.

[00:06:53] She was visibly nervous as I knew she watched and listened to a ton of true

[00:06:56] crime shows even though she suggested that I

[00:06:59] reported to the police. She eventually came back to reality

[00:07:03] and said to keep my phone on me and to walk with somebody when it was

[00:07:06] time for me to go. She asked me to call her and stay on the

[00:07:10] phone with her that night when it was my turn to go, which I did.

[00:07:14] There was nobody there though and I made sure to park the car a little closer

[00:07:18] to the center so I wouldn't have to walk too far by myself.

[00:07:23] Over the phone Francine said something strange. Out of nowhere she asked if I

[00:07:27] was back at the daycare center or where I was.

[00:07:32] Silly I said, I'm in the car. Why would you ask that?

[00:07:36] You know I try to get away from that place every single day of my existence.

[00:07:41] She laughed and then stayed silent. What's wrong I started to ask

[00:07:47] when she shushed me right away. What? I asked and then she just

[00:07:51] shushed me one more time. Do you hear that? She asked me.

[00:07:57] Faintly, yes. Fenty I could. It was the sound of one of the kids laughing.

[00:08:05] My arms went cold when I recognized the voice

[00:08:09] and my ears throb to the rhythm of my heartbeat

[00:08:13] blocking out the sound of the laughter once again

[00:08:17] and I felt the pressure against the back of my seat as something kicked at

[00:08:20] it non-stop. I pulled over to the side of that

[00:08:24] empty highway sure that there was somebody hiding in my back seat.

[00:08:29] Francine's call got cut off by accident in the commotion and she was calling back

[00:08:33] just as I was looking for the button to turn on the flashlight feature on my

[00:08:36] phone just to add to my frustration and paranoia.

[00:08:40] I answered her call, I placed her on speaker

[00:08:43] and I turned on the light. I got close to the car shining the light at

[00:08:47] the back seat floor area and I finally got the courage

[00:08:51] to open the back seat door to look under it.

[00:08:55] There was nobody there.

[00:08:58] Is everything all right? She asked, sounding angry with me for some reason.

[00:09:03] The car was approaching so I got back in the car and locked my doors.

[00:09:07] Yes, I told her. Everything is all right I think.

[00:09:14] Francine managed to change her schedule to match mine the following night

[00:09:17] and I appreciated that. It was really cool to see how someone

[00:09:21] would notice if I disappeared for a couple of days.

[00:09:24] Ever since I moved to this city I had been worried about just that.

[00:09:28] Everything went smoothly until right by the end of the shift.

[00:09:32] About half an hour after the last kid was picked up and we were cleaning up.

[00:09:37] I looked past the tables and through the window when I noticed it.

[00:09:41] The silhouette of a man coming up toward the building.

[00:09:45] I ran toward the door to lock it and yelled out for Francine

[00:09:49] was on her way to grab the keys for the cleaning supply closet.

[00:09:53] She dropped him and then she ran toward me. He's outside I yelled.

[00:09:58] Francine looked out the glass door and froze in place.

[00:10:02] Francine I called out expecting her to move.

[00:10:05] To my surprise she reached for the doorknob and unlocked it.

[00:10:10] I didn't know what to do. I debated going over to her to pull her away

[00:10:14] from the door and yell at her for doing such a dumb thing to us.

[00:10:19] Then I saw her do something else. She swung the door open as a man with a

[00:10:24] beard and the brown jacket stepped up to her.

[00:10:27] His eyes turning toward me as they spoke.

[00:10:32] Henry Francine finally said to me it is Henry.

[00:10:37] I looked toward him my heart still racing.

[00:10:41] He did look a little familiar to me.

[00:10:44] I seen all harm in asking Francine told him looking at me and then stepping

[00:10:48] back toward me. Harm in asking I looked at both of them.

[00:10:54] Henry broke the silence with a sob.

[00:10:58] I can rebuy the car from you he said please I need it back.

[00:11:04] Francine helped explain to me what happened.

[00:11:08] Henry was the father of one of our kids who stopped coming to the center

[00:11:12] after an accident. Eventually he passed away

[00:11:17] but Henry wanted to buy my car and buy it back apparently.

[00:11:22] Francine told me how he was the owner of the car that I had bought

[00:11:27] and that Henry had sold it to make ends meet after losing his job from the

[00:11:30] grief he experienced after the loss of his son.

[00:11:34] Henry interrupted with a burst of tears sobbing through his words as he

[00:11:38] mentioned how special the car was to him and his wife.

[00:11:42] The trips and photos they took with little Mikey

[00:11:46] the photos he had outside the car on his first day of preschool.

[00:11:50] Yes I try to tell him of course I let him have the car back

[00:11:53] I had no idea he told us about the songs Mikey used to like to listen to in

[00:11:59] the car the way he remembered even the most

[00:12:02] mundane things of his family road trips and even running errands.

[00:12:07] I looked over to Francine as she wiped away her tears

[00:12:12] thank you he said calming down on his own

[00:12:16] I miss his tantrums and his silly games but it will be okay

[00:12:22] sometimes I close my eyes and I hear his laughter still

[00:12:26] the way he kicked at the back of my seat on our way home in the evenings

[00:12:31] he hated being in the car at night it was late and I was starting to worry

[00:12:55] my girlfriend started picking me up from work because my car was in the

[00:12:59] shop and it had been there for about a week

[00:13:02] but I still worried about her driving around late at night

[00:13:06] I was out of my job at one in the morning but I had somehow managed to end my

[00:13:09] shift early and leave at 11 well it was early for me

[00:13:15] to make matters worse the area where I worked was not the safest

[00:13:19] with lots of factories and processing plants nearby the area was a hot spot

[00:13:23] for criminals along with those unfortunate

[00:13:26] ones who were forced to live in their cars and had nowhere else to

[00:13:29] park there were usually the victims of these

[00:13:32] bad people I was chased at one point when I thought

[00:13:36] that writing my bicycle to work would be a good idea

[00:13:39] so I had first-hand experience despite all of this my girlfriend agreed with

[00:13:45] a smile like she always did she kept all of the

[00:13:48] doors locked and made sure to check her tires and stuff before

[00:13:51] doing the 15 minute trip to where I worked we joked about the passenger

[00:13:56] side door and how it didn't open from the handle

[00:13:59] so someone from the inside had to open it we ended up calling it an accidental

[00:14:04] security feature but still she was known to me

[00:14:08] and her friends as fearless going through sketchy areas and was not

[00:14:12] afraid to talk and cuss at strangers especially those who found it easy

[00:14:17] to bother a pretty girl all by herself in the car

[00:14:21] but something felt off that night I had been waiting for about 15 minutes

[00:14:27] already and when I stepped out into the parking lot area to take a look at the

[00:14:30] streets I saw no cars I heard no movement

[00:14:35] and saw absolutely zero signs of life

[00:14:39] I looked to the other side of the street and it was the same thing

[00:14:44] then I looked behind me when I heard a car door closing

[00:14:47] it was one of the guys from Bilkin Industries coming out of his car

[00:14:51] poor guy I knew the feeling when your break is over and you have to run back to

[00:14:55] scan your badge the worst I grabbed the area of the pocket

[00:15:00] of my pants to check for my cell phone and then took it out of there

[00:15:04] no missed calls no text messages has she forgotten to come get me

[00:15:09] her name popped up on my recent calls list and I was just about to tap on

[00:15:14] her name when I saw headlights out into the distance

[00:15:18] I let out a sigh of relief as I ran back to the empty security booth to pick up

[00:15:21] my backpack it was leaning on its door

[00:15:25] then I ran back to the side of the road I saw her face inside the dark car

[00:15:30] probably from looking at her phone even though everyone had begged her

[00:15:34] not to text and drive that's how she ended up with a broken door handle

[00:15:38] by the way she looked over to me and smiled

[00:15:42] nervously and I stepped out into the street

[00:15:45] when I noticed something move in her back seat

[00:15:49] I looked immediately in that direction and scanned the area behind her seat in

[00:15:53] the passenger sign those tinted windows were doing their

[00:15:56] job and I couldn't see anything at all

[00:16:00] I looked back at Brittany's face as she froze completely

[00:16:03] looking straight ahead something was wrong

[00:16:08] I reached for the passenger side door and grabbed onto the handle and

[00:16:12] just like that with ease it opened

[00:16:16] that's when it hit me there was no way this was her car

[00:16:21] the door handle had been broken for years and when she dropped me off

[00:16:25] it only opened from the inside I leaned my head down to get a closer

[00:16:30] look at her but she turned her head away from me

[00:16:34] was that a tattoo on the side of her neck

[00:16:38] I took a step back and then another I felt dizzy and with a sudden urge to

[00:16:43] throw up the sound of the backseat door opening made me open my eyes

[00:16:48] wide but I couldn't get my legs to react in time

[00:16:52] I could see a person with dark pants and black shoes stepping out of the car

[00:16:57] I looked around as I felt my world spinning and shocked as I tried to

[00:17:00] understand what was happening but just then I saw another set of

[00:17:04] headlights approaching in the distance without warning the car right in front

[00:17:09] of me started speeding away and this time my legs reacted

[00:17:12] so I started running to try to catch up to it

[00:17:15] girlfriend was in trouble my heart was beating so fast I thought I would

[00:17:19] jump out on my chest then heard the familiar double

[00:17:23] honk from behind me I saw my girlfriend's face to the

[00:17:27] windshield as she waved at me dazed I walked over to her car

[00:17:34] hey weirdo hop in she said not noticing how freaked out I was

[00:17:41] she asked me why I had been so quiet during the ride home

[00:17:46] I chose not to tell her

[00:17:49] I never found out what happened it never happened again

[00:18:03] as promised with those in the email newsletter and social media

[00:18:06] this episode contains an additional story it is coming up right after this

[00:18:17] it was getting late and one of the only places that was open was Taco Bell

[00:18:21] so that's what we bought the actual parking lot to the beach was closed

[00:18:26] but cars made a habit out of parking around it right outside of the gates

[00:18:30] and along the street where the sand was so that's what we did most of

[00:18:33] the time it was becoming somewhat of a routine sitting

[00:18:37] and eating in the car talking about random things while

[00:18:40] listening to the waves crash out into the vast darkens of the ocean

[00:18:45] this beach was packed during the very specific time of the summer

[00:18:49] usually near the end and that's what we didn't think about when we spent

[00:18:53] almost 20 minutes looking for a parking spot

[00:18:57] we finally found one farther down the road and close to one of the hills

[00:19:02] there were three of us in the car but our buddy Jeff was always on his phone and

[00:19:05] he didn't really talk much so we always forgot that he was there

[00:19:10] but anyway we started eating and talking about random things and before

[00:19:13] we knew it the fog started rolling in and all we could do was hear the

[00:19:17] waves crashing against the rocks and some chatter off into the

[00:19:20] distance of those who had gotten out of the cars

[00:19:23] usually nobody got rowdy around there but it was so unusual to hear so

[00:19:28] much laughter and yelling coming from behind us

[00:19:31] we simply blamed it on the last weeks of summer and soon we barely even noticed

[00:19:36] it anymore it was the silence that we noticed however

[00:19:42] we never quite figured out when everything went quiet

[00:19:45] but even the waves took a break for a couple of minutes

[00:19:49] but then Jeff from the backseat suddenly jumped up toward my seat on the

[00:19:53] driver's side and held on to the headrest

[00:19:56] did you hear that he asked almost in a panic

[00:20:00] we asked him what he was talking about but

[00:20:03] that's when we saw shadow pass directly on my side of the car

[00:20:08] from the back to the front disappear into the fog in front of us

[00:20:14] there were no other cars in front of us and the figure was moving too slowly

[00:20:18] and smoothly to be a runner or a cyclist

[00:20:22] plus the thing was completely silent

[00:20:28] Scott who was right next to me was freaking out and he asked me to start the

[00:20:32] car and to get out of there I was shocked that everyone else was

[00:20:35] panicking except for me I swear to get scared with just

[00:20:39] about anything so I started the car when I saw a

[00:20:42] pair of headlights and a bright light aimed at my car from behind me

[00:20:47] then over a loud speaker I heard the strong turn off your vehicle

[00:20:52] it was a police an officer shined his flashlight and aimed

[00:20:57] right at Jeff and then right on my face as I lowered my window

[00:21:03] is everything all right he asked I've replied with the nervous

[00:21:07] yes then he asked what we were doing but he found the

[00:21:10] Taco Bell bag and hot sauce packets so he walked to the hood of the car

[00:21:15] without expecting an answer I don't know why I get nervous around cops when

[00:21:20] I didn't do anything wrong he walked over to Scott's side of

[00:21:25] the car and asked him to lower down the window

[00:21:28] when he was rolling it down the police officer became startled and shined his

[00:21:32] flashlight off to the side of the road by the rocks in sand

[00:21:36] are you all alone he asked us yes just us I reply

[00:21:42] he looked concerned at his step back toward his car

[00:21:45] that's when we all saw it shadow coming up from the rocks right to

[00:21:50] the side of our car and strayed toward the officer

[00:21:55] he quickly turned around and shined the light toward it while we all sat there

[00:21:59] merely shaking unsure of what we should have been doing

[00:22:03] the officer ran straight toward our car again and asked us to roll up our windows

[00:22:07] and leave though he was surprisingly cool about it

[00:22:10] when he said it he told us that weird things had

[00:22:13] been happening right where we were parked and then he had gotten several

[00:22:17] calls about it Jeff likes to say that he heard the

[00:22:21] officer call for backup when he tells the story but I don't remember that

[00:22:25] happening what I do remember as clear as

[00:22:29] day was that as I was pulling away from the

[00:22:33] parking spot I looked over to the right just as we were passing the hill

[00:22:40] the fog only let me see what was right in front of me and to the sides of us

[00:22:45] which is how I was able to see the flickering lights off to the side of

[00:22:48] the road as we got closer I saw the shape of a

[00:22:52] wooden cross against the ground candles flowers

[00:23:00] stuffed animals and pictures someone had died there

[00:23:16] what did you think about this episode let me know

[00:23:19] requests for additional stories came through our discord community and

[00:23:22] instagram as long as you're listening I'm happy

[00:23:25] to write additional stories and share them with you on here

[00:23:28] I read every single reply scary story podcast is produced by me

[00:23:34] Edwin Covarrubias you can get notifications on new episodes by

[00:23:38] tapping the follow button on the app you're listening on

[00:23:41] or by entering your email over on scarystorypodcast.com

[00:23:46] until next time thank you very much for listening