"The Unknown Rider"

"The Unknown Rider"

By:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I ride the tricycle every day. I just live in a place where walking becomes too tiring after a day in the clinic. One time my wife and I  mutually had hunger pangs a few hours before dawn. Around 2 am on a Saturday night. So we  went to the local 7-11 , got ourselves some  noodles and rode a tricycle back.

Now it is quite normal for some of these tricycle drivers to get one last ride before retiring for the night and it is also normal for someone to back ride( literally stand at the back of the tricycle and ride).The ride seemed  

normal at first as we traveled up to our house until I saw 3 fingers holding on to the side of the tricycle opening. (the roof part which was on my right side). I felt weird for some reason. I didn't know why. I was looking at those fingers and they seemed normal , they were moving from time to time indicating that the human behind the tricycle was adjusting their grip. They looked human , nothing claw like or pale. I started talking to my wife and paid those fingers less attention. It was more or less a 5 minute ride anyway and maybe my weird feeling would pass. It didn't.

When I stepped out of the tricycle I was surprised to find that there was no one standing at the back. I asked the tricycle driver if he picked up a passenger who went down before us. The driver merely shrugged his shoulders. He never stopped. No one got on or off.  It was just the three of us on that 5 minute ride up.

Apparently something else enjoys riding the back of tricycles in our area. I count myself lucky  

that all I saw were fingers. I wouldn't really like it poking its head while we are riding in a not so well lit place.