This is not a ghost story, though no less strange. It is
my contribution, having read “Twilight Zone in West
Virginia” under the August 2004 listing:
A number of years ago, my father was transferred to
Thessaloniki, Greece. The move was rather sudden, so
though I was to study at the Pinewood American School in
Pilea, the best place his company could get us was at an
apartment complex almost an hour’s drive away, somewhere
in the boonies. After a few months, they were able to get
us more suitable accommodation in Panorama, a bare 15
minute drive from the school.
I remember one Saturday morning (about two weeks after
moving in) finding myself bored to tears. The only
friends I had were those I made at school, as I couldn’t
speak Greek & most of my neighbours (though very friendly)
couldn’t speak English, hence, playing with them was quite
awkward. That morning, I wouldn’t have minded the
inconvenience, save that Greek kids take mandatory
military education on Saturday mornings. To top it all
off, my parents couldn’t drive me to some friend’s house
that day, so I stormed out of the house after breakfast in
a huff.
I decided to take a walk, not minding where I went. After
about 10 to 15 mins of this, I suddenly took stock of my
surroundings & found myself in the woods. I did not find
this strange, as I was still getting to know my
neighbourhood; besides, I was still on a sidewalk on a
well paved road. I remember thinking something
like: “Wow! I didn’t know there were woods in this
area! Rather like the one we just left behind!”
After a bit, I found it strange that I didn’t see anyone
at all, nor other buildings or cars. Panorama is a
district of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city,
you see, but what did I know? I thought about turning
back, but as I was still cross with my parents, I decided
to keep going. “Let them worry,” the perverse part of my
then immature mind thought.
Following the road which seemed more & more familiar
(“thank God! I’m NOT lost!” I thought), I followed a bend
& found myself shocked to see the apartment we’d just
vacated. I remember standing there probably looking
rather stupid, I imagine, when I realized its probably just
ANOTHER building that looks identical to the one we’d
occupied… modern, cookie cutter architecture & all that,
you see.
Just as my heart was settling down, it goes into overdrive
again when one of my English speaking ex-neighbours, comes
out, sees me & calls out, asking what I was doing back!
To make a long story short, she takes me to her apartment,
calls my parents & they refuse to believe I’m back at the
old apartment, especially since barely an hour had passed.
Finally convinced I was there, they had to send someone
out to pick me up & drive me back to Panorama, almost two
hours both ways.
To this day, they still ask me how I managed to pull that
one off. No one believes I was able to walk that
distance, convinced I probably hitched a ride with someone
& somehow got to the old apartment in under an hour.
I (half) jokingly refer to that incident as my “Warp Speed
on Foot Day”.
Contact me here: shirovi@yahoo.com
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