Rather odder text message
There are quite a lot of text messages go adrift in the ether, I'm sure... but the moments they pop out can be wierd...
I had a series of strange events happen about 4 to 6 years ago, some of which I've mentioned on various threads in IHTM (although I haven't posted for over a year I would say), but this thread has reminded me of a whole connected bunch of oddness.
Bear with me, this takes a bit of explaining. This chain of events stretched over about 4 months I would say. Spooked me though.
I'll come to the text message in a short while. This all started off with a strange feeling I had while at work. I was tapping away on my laptop and started to develop a very uncomfortable feeling. I got a distinct 'dread' feeling. While sitting in there, trying to ignore this feeling, I had what I can only describe as an idea in my head (I didn't see this as such, I sort-of imagined it without seeing) of a plane dropping out of the sky and onto a building of some sort. I thought it was a school in my 'imagining'.
Now, in the office at that moment, I had my friend Jane with me (who I have mentioned in one of the other threads - interesting how these things happen around similar people), whose boyfriend at the time was working away (he worked in the oil trade) in Dubai, who was due to fly home soon. So although I wanted to mention something to her, I didn't as I didn't want to worry her.
Now, reel forward about a fortnight and the dreadful Concorde aircrash at CDG airport, Paris happened :shock:
As you may recall, Concorde was in flames as it took off, and - terribly - ended up crashing, I believe onto a hotel (although not many if anybody were killed actually in the hotel, unlike on the plane). Vile. This quite spooked me, as I had this feeling about a fortnight before. So I told Jane and another co-worker about my odd feeling the following day. They were interested, didn't poo-poo what I was saying and it was basically forgotten.
During the following summer I went out to see a friend, Pete. I'm a terribly polite person, so I made sure I had my mobile phone turned off almost the whole time I was there, apart from when he went to the loo, turning it on for about 5 minutes at one point earlier in the evening (earlyish on) as another of my friends was in a spot of bother so I was seeing if I had received any texts from her. Pete and I had a bite to eat and a good catch-up at a local restaurant, then went back to his house were I sat chatting with him and his mum. As we sat there, his mums Dog came in. Now I tried to get his dog to go crazy by saying "Pussy cats.. where's the pussy cats", as it used to rather entertainingly go mad when you said "Pussy Cats". However Spice unusually just sat there looking at me. However as I said "Pussy Cats" the second time, a black cat suddenly jumped up from outside on to the window ledge. "Ha!", I said jokingly, "I must be psychic", which Pete scoffed at. I then related to him the oddness around the my feeling a few months before at work - the fact that I kind-of 'felt' something and that I didn't want to tell Jane. He listened, agreed it was wierd. We carried on talking and that was it.
Now, about 20 minutes later I decided to leave. Got in my car, turned on my mobile (I know, you shouldn't need it on in the car), said my goodbyes and drove off. As I drove away, my phone bleeped and a message came in. I looked at it (I know, I shouldn't when driving) and it was a message, from Jane, which said "You know what?". This perplexed me, so I called her (OK, so I shouldn't be allowed on the roads). I said hi, asked how she was ("Fine...") and the conversation went something like this:
Me - "What's up, what did your message mean?"
Jane - "Well, what did you mean by your message?"
Me - "What message?"
Jane - "The one you sent me a little while ago"
Me - "But I didn't send one though, what did the message say?"
Jane - "It said 'I know'. What is it that you know?"
So I said again that I hadn't sent a message - my phone had been off for probably 3 hours or so, apart from that 5 mintes and I definately did not send anything or make any calls. Neither did I receive anything.
I asked when she got it. She said "Oh, about 20 minutes ago or so". As she said this, my hair really, really badly stood up on end, as I was driving. I suddenly realised that about the time she got the message - that I swear I did not send - saying "I know" from my phone, I was telling Pete about my strange feeling in the office and the fact that I did not want to tell Jane what I had felt :shock: :shock: :shock:
I said to Jane that I had to go. Hung up and carried on driving. It was dark now, and I suddenly had an overwhelming feeeling that I had somebody in my car. My hair continued standing up on end all the way home. My eyes were positively streaming as well - not crying - I was just terrified. I kept glancing in my rear-view mirror and I honestly would not have been surprised (but would have been sh-t scared!) to see somebody sitting in the back seat of my car. I called my housemate to see if she was at home (she was) - I really did not want to go back to an empty house. I eventually got home (30 minute drive), parked up and shot round into the house. I only felt 'alone' once I'd slammed the front door shut. I blurted all of this out to my housemate who could see I was visibly shaken. I eventually went to bed, and my recollection now is that I slept OK. However in the morning I saw another housemate and told her what happened as well. I was so agitated that I had to go to the loo to be sick before I went out to work.
All true, and like Shredded Wheat, nothing added, nothing taken away.
I've finally decided - I hate mobiles.