It was well past midnight when Joe dropped off his last passenger and decided that he has had enough. The tired taxi driver switched the on duty light off and began driving towards home. He checked the map on his phone and saw that it was a long drive to his wife and new born baby. He could barely keep his eyes open. He took a big gulp of the warm energy drink and kept his eyes open. He didn’t recognise a cemetery being in this area. It was pitch black outside, gave him the creeps. All those old tombstones in the middle of the night made his skin crawl. He was glad that his day was finally over and made enough money to cover the rent for the month.
Joe kept the speed down as he could hardly see beyond his headlights. He thought about pulling over and having a shut eye for an hour but he was eager to get back to his beautiful wife and child.
suddenly out of nowhere a figure appeared in front of him. Joe barely stopped in time to not run over the idiot! I’m fact, it was impossible to stop in time. That didn’t matter now. He thanked his lucky stars and got out to tell this dumb ass off. It was a girl, about thirteen. He couldn’t possibly get angry at a girl alone in the middle of nowhere. The night air was piercingly cold yet she was only wearing a night gown and slippers.
”Are you alright sweetheart?” Joe asked concerned.
”Could you drive me home? My mums waiting for me”
“Yeah sure, get in”
The girl seemed glad as she got into the back seat. Joe got back in and closed the door. He turned up the heat on the dash.
”Where do you live honey?” Joe asked
“My address is 15 Ormond Street Kelly Park”
”No worries, you’ll be home in no time”
Joe was glad that it was on his way home. That little incident woke him up now. He checked the time and it was one fifteen. He could picture his wife waiting up for him as she usually does. He was glad to be out of that random cemetery. He had so many questions as to what a young girl was doing in the middle of a cemetery this late at night but that didn’t matter. He hit the highway and the girl’s house was twenty minutes away.
Joe could see her through the rear view mirror. She casually looked out of the window as the cab darted through the night air. There weren’t any other cars on the road. He just checked on her without engaging in conversation. She seemed alright.
Joe slowed down as he took an exit.
The girl kept quite as she continued looking out the window. As he approached her street, the girl’s face lit up with glee. He was careful as he turned into her street. He finally saw the number fifteen and came to a gentle stop.
”Don’t worry about the fare sweet heart” Joe said. He was happy that the girl was home safe.
”I’ll be a minute with your fare” the girl said gently as she got out.
He waited til she got in the house safely. But he didn’t see the light turn on when she disappeared into the darkness of the front of the house. He gave it a good few minutes when he decided that something wasn’t right and approached the front door. He used his phone flash lights and saw a door bell.
He pressed the bell. No answer. He rang it a few times when the hall light turned on. A woman in her forties opened the door, half asleep.
“Can I, help you?” The woman said
”Sorry to disturb you but I just dropped off a little girl about thirteen or fourteen about this tall with blonde hair… I just wanted to make sure she got in ok”
”I’m… sorry what girl?”
“Well I’m a cab driver and I picked her up just outside the cemetery no far from here and she gave me this address…”
”That’s my Katie…she died a year ago… today’s her death anniversary…” The woman said quivering.