Back in 2020, the pandemic was still causing all kind of chaos. I started driving for Uber to make ends meet, I was laid off from my retail job and needed quick income.
The thing about ride share gigs is you see all kinds of people, especially when you are working late nights like I was.
There were often encounters drunk passengers, weared conversations, but none of that compares to what happened one Friday night in October.
It was a little after midnight and I had just dropped someone off at a hotel near the outskirts of town, my app pings almost immediately with a new request, the pick up location was about 6 minutes away in front of a bowling alley that was part of a Stripe mall pretty standard stuff, the name on the ride said Derek, I accepted and it and started heading over.
The area was quiet when I arrived, just a few dim parking lot lights, no cars in sight and the bowling alley looked closed. But there was a man standing alone under one of the lights wearing a grey hoodie, he was tall, maybe 6'2 with his hands in his pockets, head down like he was looking at his shoes as I pulled up, he looked at me, but didn't wave or move.
I rolled down the window and said "you Derek?", he nodded slowly walked over and got into the back seat behind me, I started the trip and asked him if the destination in the app was correct, an address about 20 minutes away in a residential neighbourhood I'd never been to.
He said, "yeah, that's right" in a quiet calm voice. I remember thinking he sounded a little off, not drunk or high just sort of flat emotionless, but I didn't think too hard about it.
At the time, I started driving, and he didn't say anything for the next 5 or 6 minutes, I glanced at him in the rearview mirror now and then, and every time I looked, he was staring straight ahead. Not out the window or at his phone, just at the back of my head.
I try to break the silence by asking how his night was going, he paused there and said, "just needed to get out of there". I asked out of nowhere. He said, "doesn't matter", so I didn't push it.
We drove a little longer about 15 minutes and I realised we were getting closer to the destination, but the address was in a really isolated part of town, no streetlights, no backyards, and lots of trees. As we approached the address, he suddenly leaned forward and said, "actually, can you pull into that driveway right there?" He pointed to a house on the right.
The house was dark, no light show inside around it looked cold and abandoned honestly, it had an overgrown lawn and paint piling on the side, there was also no car in the driveway.
I said, "is this your place?" And he said, "just pull in" , I hesitated, but turned into the driveway and he got out and started walking towards the house.
He didn't go to the front door he walked around the side of the building and disappeared from view. I sat there for maybe 2 minutes trying to decide what to do the ride was technically still going, I didn't want to drive off and get penalised. But I also felt like something wasn't right. My gut told me, this guy wasn't just heading inside to grab something.
Finally, I ended the trip manually and marked it as complete and started to back out of the driveway. But before I could shift into reverse, I saw him walking back towards the car fast; his hands were empty and he had this strange look on his face, like he was angry or excited, I unlocked the door because I didn't want to make it a confrontation, but something in me was screaming, not to let him back in.
He opened the rear door got in and said, "take me to the other place".
I asked "what other place?".
He said, "just drive, I will tell you".
I said "you need to put it in the app". He didn't answer, he just stared at me in the mirror. I said again, "I can't take you anywhere unless you put it in the app", he didn't say a word after a few second, he told me to drive to where I picked him up.
I didn't want to argue anymore. So I started heading back towards the strip mall. The whole way there, I felt the pressure in the car he wasn't talking. But I could feel him watching me, the hairs on my arms were standing up, he was still staring at the back of my head.
At one point I tried to lighten the mood. I said, "rough night", he replied, "you could say that".
I asked "if everything all right?" and he said, "not yet".
I didn't ask any more questions when we got back to the strip mall; I parked under the same light where I picked him. But I could see anything he leaned toward and asked "you ever wonder how you're going to die".
I froze, I laughed awkwardly and said, "not really something I think about"
He didn't laugh, he just leaned back in his seat. And after a few seconds, he said, "I think about it all the time", then he opened the door and got out without another word. He didn't close the door right away. He stood there for a second half-and-half out of the car, then he looked at me and said "you picked the wrong guy up tonight", he shut the door and walked off into the darkness behind the bowling alley.
I sat there for a minute, too shaken to move, eventually I drove home constantly checking my mirror.
When I got home, I looked at the trip details again. The name had changed it no longer said Derek, it was blank, no name, no profile picture, no trip history, it was like the ride never happened.
I contacted Uber support to report it, but they told me the trip data was unavailable. They said, sometimes that happens, if the app crashes, or if the rider cancels mid-way but I know what I saw, I know I completed the trip, I know the man got in and out of my car and I know he said what he said, "you pick the wrong guy up tonight".
I have never seen him again and I hope I never do, but every time I get a ping on app and a dimly light parking lot or have a silent passenger in the back seat. I remember that night and I remember that feeling that something terrible could have happened that maybe he changed his mind at the last second or maybe he was never planning to do anything or just wanted to scare someone but I still wonder what he meant. And if he ever found the right car.