Bonus story

Bonus Story: What was in the tunnel

I'd like to tell a ghost story on Twitter to commemorate the completion of "Phenomeno." Please lend me your TL for a while. The story is named " What was in the tunnel."

I heard this story from my friend T in college.

T had a family friend, Mr. N, whom T had known since he was in elementary school. It seems the man often spoiled him. One day, however, uncle N was involved in a car accident and was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Surprised, T went to visit him, and was surprised to find him in better shape than he was expecting. T was so relieved he forgot he was in the hospital and started pleading, "Uncle N, tell a scary story!"

Usually, N would say, "All right, all right, I'll tell you one," and start telling a lot of stories, but that day, he fell silent.

After a while, N curtly said, "I could tell you one, but I don't know if now is the right time."

T was still curious and continued pestering the uncle, but the man was unyielding.

"Maybe one day, when you're older."

When T became a university student, he had a chance to meet uncle N for the first time in years.

He hadn't forgotten about uncle's promise, so he asked, "That scary story you told me about when you were in the hospital long ago? Can you tell it now?"

The uncle, who had been cheerful until then, suddenly clouded his face and said,

"Well, I can tell you, but you should know that I haven't wrapped my head around it myself yet," he said.

It happened on the day of the accident. Mr. N had gone golfing with four coworkers. On the way home, Mr. N was in the front passenger seat with one of the coworkers at the wheel and two bosses in the back. However, just as they were approaching a particular tunnel, they were caught in a traffic jam.

They stared at the tail light of the car in front of them, "It's not moving. Must be an accident..."

Just after those words were uttered, something strange happened.

Suddenly, the whole area went completely dark. N said that all the lights in the tunnel had gone out, and it was so dark he couldn't even see his fingers.

".......Ugh," an unfamiliar voice, not one of their own, could be heard in the darkness.

"Power outage....?" asked someone sounding slightly frightened. It was pitch dark, but Mr. N soon realized that something wasn't right. If the lights in the tunnel went out due to a power outage, why would the tail lights of the car in front of them go out as well?

For a while, an uncomfortable silence prevailed. Mr. N said that the reason no one said anything was because they all felt the situation wasn't exactly normal.

Only the sound of ragged breathing echoed through the car. However, inaction wouldn't solve anything, so Mr. N used the lighter he had found in his pocket.

As soon as the flame ignited...

"Ugh!"

The four of them simultaneously screamed. Behind the windshield, lit by the light of a lighter, several bloody people were clinging to each other. Some of them had countless shards of glass stuck all over their faces. Startled, N dropped the lighter, the fire went out, and the car went back into darkness again.

"What the hell was that?!" the boss's trembling voice resounded from the back seat. "Should I try again?" asked Mr. N, but no answer followed. They were scared shitless, not wanting to see that horrible sight again. They were only human after all, with pitiable expressions on their blue scared faces at that.

However, Mr. N took the lighter and tried to light it again. That very moment, a loud horn sounded from somewhere. In just a moment, the tunnel lights were on, and there were no cars in front of them. Before long, the traffic was clearing up, and they realized the car behind was vigorously honking its horn.

The colleague hurriedly drove off. After a while, he said, "...What the heck was that I wonder?"

"What were those bloody people we saw I don't know till this day," Mr. N told T with an awkward smile.

After hearing this story from T, I went on a certain occult site and made a thread about it, but didn't receive the reaction I was expecting.

"What's scary about it?"

"It's so common I heard it a million times already."

Those were the replies I was getting.

I felt down and was about to leave the site for the day when someone with a nickname Yoishi wrote their reply.

"The story omits the real ending."

What?..

"Hey, didn't you notice?"

N-notice what?..

"The story starts with the uncle N getting in a car accident, right?"

I don't know why, but the moment I read the message, I felt goosebumps all over my body.

"It means he got in an accident soon after seeing those bloody people in the tunnel."

"And he was so badly injured he was hospitalized."

"Someone who's usually more than willing to tell a scary story has been immensely shocked by something."

"Well, that's because... he knew that the "bloody humans" they saw looked exactly like them from the future."

I couldn't take my eyes off of this person's strange handle name and their messages.

"Who the hell are you?" That was the only question on my mind, but I couldn't even ask it.

"Listen..."

"Next time you see Mr. T, ask him."

"Is the car that Mr. N was driving still around? And..."

After a short pause, the next message arrived.

"If any of his colleagues or superiors are still alive."

The end.

Thanks for your time!

'Phenomeno' is a collection of similar stories (although there's about one heroine mixed in there).

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