My name is Jonathan Rice and I live in a small town called Newton in England, UK. I am 29 years old and since my 18th birthday, I am working as a local taxi driver. My biggest desire was to continue my deceased father's steps and study philosophy but I had no appropriate financial resources to back up my wish, unfortunately. All of that led me to a job of taxi driving as I got my driving license at a young age and my family desperately needed some extra funds at the house. That's why I had no other than to start working as soon as possible. My sister and mother needed support, especially at her sister's growing and finishing school as she recently got into puberty. And we all know how that period looks like. Luckily, I can't complain about my younger sister's behavior at all, on the contrary. Majority of the girls of her age going party every night, getting drunk, searching for adventures, trying to find and experience love, and all the staff. But Evelynn is not like them. I like to call her Eve though, it is cute a little bit, isn't it?
She is a person who likes spending time reading books, watching scientific movies, and shows. She was always interested in exploring the unknown and trying to find what is beyond human life, beyond imagination. Just the same as me. Although she is young, she can understand a lot about it, and I am glad about that. Often people will make prejudices on you if you tell them anything out of the ordinary. I suppose that's just the nature of mankind. But on the other hand, I am happy there is someone close to me who can understand the paranormal world and above all, understand what is its purpose and why does it exist. When you become aware of it, it is a lot easier to cope with it and simply accept its existence.
I started to get interested in paranormal activities at a very young age. I don't know why, but something always attracting me when it comes to that stuff. I have always been willing to listen to stories of the elders about their experiences of that kind from their past. While other children were scared, I would just prick up my ears every time and absorbing their tales like a sponge. I can't explain why the case was like that because it is normal for a child to be scared of the stories like that. I must admit that I can't understand why am I the exception. Maybe God wanted me to be. No one will ever know. Either way, stories of ghosts, unusual encounters, inexplicable events, and experiences of one kind have always had an immense impact on my understanding of that world. The stories of the elders just woke my imagination even further and since then, I am willing to find the truth that lies behind it. My parents never mentioned that they had any experiences of that kind though. Perhaps that's good for them. But I had a beloved grandmother, grandfather, and a couple of friends who liked to talk about their previous experiences with the unknown. Of course, they are the biggest reason why I started to get interested in all of that.
Currently, I am living with my girlfriend which I love with all of my heart. We are together for 5 and a half years and I think that we will expand our family shortly. At least we are working on it. What do I plan is to ask her to marry me as we simply cannot live without each other. I am so grateful to God for finding a person like her who always understands me and supports me in everything I do. Without the support of her and my whole family, I do not doubt that I couldn't survive the weirdest thing that ever happened in my life. Even today, some of my closest friends still don't believe me, but I can't blame them. What works in my favor is a fact that I have never been suspicious about anything my grandmother and grandfather were talking about. I knew they had no desire to harm anybody or try to scare them, especially because I was a kid then, and not the only one for sure.
People should be aware that every time they experience something that cannot be explained, others will try to make them laugh at them. I presume that's the safest way for a human to not accept it and simply avoid fear. Because people do fear the unknown, that is a common thing in our lives. So, probably they will just make fun of you and try to find out some scientific proof of what could be the cause of what you experienced. Frequently, people find a solution in telling you were drunk that day, maybe even drugged or that simply you somehow imagined it. But I must say I rarely drink and I certainly never used any drug. The case of my imagining it I should not even mention because I am not that kind of a person and everyone knows that very well. The truth is I had only a couple of experiences I can't describe with any common words. But one of them left an indelible mark on my entire life and completely changed my perspective on it. Since then I couldn't understand how far can it go. Although I knew a lot about horror stories, many cases, mystery experiences, and so on, I couldn't dream that something like that can happen to me.
Namely, it all started 4 years ago. I was working on a night shift that day. As usual, there were not many clients to drive, especially because of the nice weather. Who would pick up a taxi on a nice summer night, right? In a lack of interesting things to do, I called my girlfriend just to chat with her for a little bit and kill some time. She was at my mom's house and had dinner with her and my sister. The last thing she said to me was "I don't know why but I have a bad feeling that something will happen, honey, be cautious please." She had a habit of being worried often without any specific reason. I calmed her down and wished her and my family good night. Unfortunately, she was right at that time.
Seeing there was no one around, I decided to take a quick nap. After an hour or two passed, some girl knocked at my window and asked for a ride. First thing I immediately noticed was that she was wearing a white wedding dress and some nice shoes. Only that. By her looking I could suppose she was about 20 years old girl. Any common reason for her wearing it, in my opinion, was that she had probably been to some wedding party. I thought at one point that she was a bride at that wedding. I opened a door, of course, and let her in. She was so beautiful, I have to admit. Immediately some nasty thoughts were running through my head but I quickly focused on my job. She had some transparent, blue eyes and nice long, brown hair. She laughed at me and said: "Don't worry sir, I am just coming back from a costume ball and this is my costume." I replied with a smile too and asked for her destination. When she mentioned the address, I became aware that it will be a long ride. As a taxi driver, I knew all the streets and corners very well so I knew it will take at least half an hour to drive her home. Yeah, she was not from Newton. She told me the address that is located in the nearest town to the one we've been to. To get things worse, suddenly from a nice and warm summer night, the weather changed to worse, and eventually, the rain showed up. After a couple of minutes, the lightning rays appeared in the sky too. I was confused and a little bit shocked but I didn't attach the importance to that very much.
Some time has passed and we started to get to know each other, by every single minute. She told me about her plans for the future, even told me about someone who she likes very much but that love wasn't bilateral. She was not happy because of it. As an older one, I tried to bring her solace and told her she has enough time to find true love. She smiled at me and accepted my opinion. A road to her place was very tough for a drive. As we were approaching her place and left the border of Newtown only sand and mud were on the road. Shortly thereafter I noticed we passed by a local graveyard. It took a while to pass it whole because of the constant rain which was making the plashes and mud on the road even more. What I could remark was that she fixed her sight at the graveyard while we were passing by. It looked like she was looking at the same spot a whole time. That was the first weird thing I experienced with that girl.
Nevertheless, as soon as we moved away from the cemetery she turned around at me and muttered -"we are close". As a ride moved on, I realized there were fewer houses and lights on the streets by every corner. I pleasantly asked her:
"Excuse me, do you live in an unsaturated part of the town?" -She just confirmed it by nodding with her head. Only a couple of turnovers later, she told me to stop. –
"We are here, thank you for your kind words. Adam, excuse me but would you like to get out with me tomorrow night? By the way, I am Monika."
I must say that I wasn't expecting that at all. Confusion on my face was visible, especially when I realized we stopped near the graveyard's back gate. In addition, she told me that her house is across the street. And really, there was an old house across the street. A house looked a little bit old and eerie, I must say. I was not aware that the road was literally in a zig-zag way. Maybe because of the rain, I can't tell you for sure. But after a little hesitation, I accepted her invitation and added:
" I am Jonathan and don't make your costume dirty please".
We agreed to tomorrow's meeting at the local restaurant. If nothing else could b seen some houses nearby and a restaurant from that spot which was nice to see comparing to things I have previously seen. All in all, a girl paid for the ride and I got back to my town and went to the taxi center to tell my superiors about my finishing the night shift. Soon after I came home.
On the following day, with the morning coffee, I told my girlfriend, mom, and sister what has happened the night before. Of course, they were in awe after they heard my story. My girlfriend even praised that girl's costume of the wedding dress by saying: "Nice idea for the costume". As she is full of understanding and believes in me 100%, I knew she will not try to make any unnecessary jealous scenes about it. We all agreed that I should go to meet that girl. The daylight slowly began to disappear and a moon came up. It was time for me to go and meet with Monika. I got a weird sense of some strange restlessness as soon as I turned on my car. My private car, not a taxi one, of course. As I got closer and closer by every crossed mile, I started to be a little nervous. Stomach cramps began to torture me and I got something like stage fright. Even today I can't tell why was that happening. But, I somehow managed to overcome all of that and got prepared for the meeting. I was curious to find out more about this girl and her life. And finally, I reached the restaurant we agreed to meet in. Because there were still no signs of her I decided to get into the facility and order some drink. Almost half an hour has passed and she was still nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, she came. But guess what, she was wearing again the exact wedding dress from the night before. I thought "okay, this is more awkward than I might suppose". Monika entered the restaurant with a big smile on her face and approached my table. Of course, immediately I was curious about her wearing the same clothes as the previous night. So, I asked about it again. She just told me that she feels comfortable wearing it and I just had to accept it.
We ordered a bottle of nice, fresh, red wine. The atmosphere at the restaurant was perfect and the service was at the highest possible level. As the glasses of wine emptied one by one I was feeling more relaxed and opened towards her. I started to talk to her about my family and some private things I wouldn't usually do. I felt like she managed to enchant me with her charm and nice, smooth face. I liked her and how her behavior looked like mine. Her manners impressed me more than I thought. "If I am just a little younger"… those were thoughts that couldn't run out of my head at that moment. We were laughing a lot and it seemed everything perfect. But the best part was still to come. She started talking to me about a man whom she is loved and how he disappointed her. She was ready to marry him. Unfortunately, that never became a reality for her. Out of the blue, I spilled a little wine on her wedding dress.
-"Oh, sorry for being clumsy, I didn't mean to."
-"No problem, it can happen to everyone. I will be back in a minute."
I thought that she will probably go to a bathroom and try to wipe the stain from the wine. But the minutes were passing by and she still didn't come back. I went to the toilet to check if she is fine. But the toilet was empty. I got frozen for a moment but soon got to my senses. I decided to ask the waiter about her. He told me that he saw some girl in a wedding dress running through the door. My first impressions were I somehow insulted her. As I saw last night, her house was not far away from the restaurant. I paid for the wine and sat down thinking for a little bit. My first reaction was to get into the car and try to find her to see what is going on. I reached the back gate of the cemetery that was nearby. And boom, I saw something that I will surely never forget, no matter how much I want to. A white wedding dress that was hanging on one of the tombstones at the graveyard immediately caught my eye. Just imagine what a sight it was. I fell on my back and my vision started to be blurry. I thought about how someone harmed Monika. It was like in the scenes of the worst and the most terrifying horror movie. My eyesight got back to normal and I headed towards that tombstone straightaway to see if I can find her. I felt numb and couldn't move at all. I was feeling like I am a snail or a tortoise. Somehow, with all the strength and courage I had at that moment, I reached the grave. And the sight just blew my head off. There was a stain from the wine on the exact spot I spilled on Monika's dress. I couldn't believe my eyes. My heart started pumping like crazy and I felt it will pump out of my chest. I came closer to see the picture of the person which the tombstone belonged to. And yes, there was a young girl on it. I noticed that the girl looks identically the same as the girl I was speaking with a couple of minutes ago. It was Monika. All I could do was to run away from that spot the fastest my legs can take me. I decided to go to her house and check if it wasn't maybe her twin sister. It was the only reasonable explanation I could give to myself. Although it was late, I had no other choices. I remembered that the house is literally across the street. You can't forget it. I think that the castle of Count Dracula looks nicer than that house.
But, you can't judge people by what they possess, right?
I knocked at the door but no one responded. Then I ringed at the doorbell a couple of times and apparently, some older woman showed up.
–"Excuse me for coming this late but I have to check something with you Ms. I was at the restaurant with a girl called Monika and she said that this is her house. Is it true?"
-Oh, my dear boy, you are not the first one asking the same question. Many like you were coming here asking about her... Do you see this poster?"
I am getting goosebumps even while I'm writing it. It was a poster of a deceased girl called Monika. I recognized her on the picture on it. At the same moment, I simply lost my ability to speak. My tongue was heavy like a stone. I couldn't believe my own eyes and ears.
-"Son, that is my daughter which unfortunately passed away exactly 5 years ago from this day. She got killed at her wedding ceremony by her fiancé. It was a big tragedy. We all believe that she never managed to rest in peace because of it. Since then, every year on this date, events like this started to happen. We believe that she is trying to find him and get revenge… "