Dusk settled quietly over the isolated road, stretching endlessly through a barren region of mountains and deserts. The driver squinted at the fading horizon when a figure appeared up ahead. Slowing instinctively, he noticed the hitchhiker—ragged, haunted, exhausted. The driver rolled down his window, leaning toward the shadowed form.

„Wanna ride?”

The hitchhiker hesitated briefly, eyes wide and wary, before climbing silently into the passenger seat.

Miles unfolded in heavy silence. The hitchhiker fidgeted uneasily, his tension growing, eyes darting toward the driver again and again, each glance more fearful than the last. The vast landscape outside grew oddly distorted by the fading light, subtly unsettling in its emptiness. Neither spoke. The driver glanced at him, curious but uncomfortable, sensing a strange wrongness in the air.

Abruptly, the hitchhiker gasped as though suddenly awakened from a nightmare. „Stop! Let me out!”

Startled, the driver pulled over. The hitchhiker scrambled out, stumbling away frantically into the encroaching night without explanation, vanishing quickly into darkness.

„Weird,” the driver muttered, his voice masking deeper unease. He sat confused for a moment before shaking off the strangeness and continuing his lonely journey.

Soon after, fog began to gently gather, first as thin wisps drifting quietly across the road, then gradually thickening into an opaque veil. Visibility narrowed, and landmarks subtly blurred, giving an impression of drifting rather than driving. Road signs appeared indistinct and unreadable, shapes lost in gentle obscurity. The radio softly crackled, picking up vague, distant murmurs he couldn’t clearly discern. A quiet, unsettling sense of familiarity touched him, a soft whisper of déjà vu that tugged lightly but persistently at his nerves, heightening a sense of quiet disorientation.

Panic rose in him. He accelerated impulsively, hoping to escape the fog’s quiet suffocation. A sudden bend caught him off guard, wheels skidding, sliding violently off the pavement into rocky darkness. Metal screamed against stone as his car crumpled.

Silence returned swiftly. Shaken and bruised, the driver climbed painfully from the wreckage. Fog remained everywhere, dense and indifferent, cloaking the landscape in eerie quiet.

Days passed—or perhaps mere hours—in endless wandering. Hungry, ragged, stumbling over barren terrain, he lost track of time. Sleeping on cold ground, his hair grew unkempt, beard thickening into wildness. Dirt caked his features; exhaustion wore him down to a haunting figure, eyes vacant and hollow.

He limped onward, desperate for escape yet consumed by hopelessness.

At last, he reached a road again, recognizing its lonely emptiness with numb relief. Headlights pierced softly through lingering fog. A car approached, slowing gently. Its window lowered, revealing a clean-shaven, neatly groomed driver.

„Wanna ride?” the driver asked casually.

Something stirred faintly in his memory as he slid into the seat, uneasy yet grateful. But as the car moved forward, realization seeped slowly into his exhausted mind. He turned sharply, eyes widening in horror as he recognized himself behind the wheel.

„Stop!” he shouted. „Let me out!”

He bolted from the car, stumbling away into darkness, panic devouring reason. The clean driver shook his head slightly, puzzled.

„Weird,” he muttered.