While driving in Southern California, Raul has an otherworldly experience.
So it was a Wednesday afternoon December, 2012, and I set off to mom's house. It had been raining, rare for Southern California, so the skies were gray and the road was still wet. I had been driving about two minutes when I felt like I woke up behind the wheel with no idea how I got there and no idea where I was going.
I looked around and could not recognize anything, not one building, not one sign. I did not remember taking a turn off my way, but I thought I must have because nothing was familiar to me. I was totally confused on how I got there and felt my panic level quickly starting to rise. I thought that maybe I was having a stroke, which might explain what was happening.
I did a quick face check in the mirror and checked for other signs of a stroke. No stroke. I tried to see something that I could recognize, something to tell help me get my bearings, but I could not find a thing. This was the same street that I had traveled on for over eight years daily and yet everything looked and somehow felt different.
Then I realized I was the only car on the road. There were no other cars on either side of the street, not even a pedestrian. This is very rare as Katella is a very busy street as it runs along one side of Disneyland, so there is always traffic. Not this day. Not a soul to be found.
I really started to freak out, still driving down this empty road. I kept on driving, still feeling totally lost, confused and disorientated when I looked up at the traffic light to see it turn red. I slammed on the brakes, and because the street was wet, I fished-tailed across all three lanes and ended up stopping in the middle of the intersection.
I looked up and instantly recognized everything around me. I knew that I was on my regular street with everything looking and feeling one hundred percent back to normal. There even were cars and people on both sides of the street that I could have sworn were not there seconds before.
I continued on to mom's house without any further incidents, thank goodness. I don't know if I had a time shift, some kind of paranormal hocus pocus, or what. I really don't know what it was. I just know that it was not cool, that is was in fact very scary and I don't ever want it to happen to me again.
Previous story | Next story
Back to index