When I was in junior high school, I was in a gymnastics club.
On that day, I was on an expedition in a microbus with other members of the club for a game in another prefecture.
The game ended without incident, and we headed back home after reflecting on the game and cleaning up.
On the way home, we took a restroom and dinner break at an interchange on the expressway, and were on our way back to our hometown smoothly.
I got off the highway and started driving on the prefectural road leading to my hometown.
My town is surrounded by mountains and is rich in nature.
Therefore, even though it is a prefectural road, there are only guardrails on both sides.
The road is almost completely devoid of outside lighting, out of consideration for wildlife.
Most of the team members were asleep due to the comfortable bumping of the bus.
I was also sleepy, but I could not fall asleep due to the excitement of the game.
Looking out the window, of course it was pitch black and all I could see was a guardrail with a reflector attached to it.
The one of menmber sitting next to me was also sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake him up, so I just stared blankly out the window.
I don’t know how long we had been driving, but I suddenly felt something strange.
There is an exterior light and a mirror attached at a gentle curve.
(Hmm? What is this strange feeling?)
At that moment, I see an expressionless head with long hair moving on the guardrail at the same speed as the bus.
A chill ran through my entire body.
I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. Even though it was pitch black, I could see the movement of the head’s face and hair.
Someone’s little cry made the head disappear.
As it disappeared, it certainly looked at me with a grin and laughed.
Then I heard a whisper in my ear.
Even after the head disappeared, the fear continued.
But the people around me were still sleeping, breathing comfortably as before.
(What was that…)
and then a thump on my head from behind.
I looked up and saw that it was my senior who was a year older than me.
Her face was pale.
I think I was the same.
She said, “That is….”
I said, “Yes…”
Both of us “……….”
Senpai: “…let’s forget about it…”
I said, “Let’s forget about it.”
After that, I didn’t tell anyone about this, and of course I didn’t have such a conversation with my senpai.
I spent some time wondering if I would ever forget it, but surprisingly, what happened on that road and
The fear gradually faded from my memory, and by the time I was 19 years old, five years later, I had forgotten all about it.
Until one phone rang…
My phone rang.
It was the news that that senpai had died in a traffic accident…
It was the first time that a young person close to me had died, and I was quite shocked.
I went to the wake and felt my blood run cold.
It was at that place that senpai was killed in a car accident…
Senpai had a fight with her boyfriend that day and had to rush to a party.
During the compa, senpai`s boyfriend called her and said they made up.
I was about to ask the man who had not been drinking to drive her to his house.
Both of them died instantly.
That day was my senpai’s birthday and we were celebrating turning 20.
She went down that prefectural road to celebrate with him after making up with him for even an hour.
People around me said, ‘I’m glad you were able to make up with him and leave on a happy note, at least for a little while.”
But I couldn’t stop shaking.
I recall the words of the head at that time.
“I will come for you when you are 20 years old.”
Ten years have passed since then, and I am still alive.
I was haunted by those words when I was 20 years old, and I even took a leave of absence from school.
I was so afraid that I became a recluse until my 21st birthday.
Now I am happily married and have a beautiful child.
I wonder if my senpai saw the head that came to pick me up that day when I was 20.
I wonder if the man who was driving also saw it…
I have not gone down that road since my senior’s death because I am afraid to go down that road under any circumstances.
That is all.
