Night it Rained

The Night it Rained is a scary story for kids. A version of this story appeared in the book In a Dark Dark Room. It is based on the urban legend of The Vanishing Hitchhiker.

One rainy night in October, a man was driving past the cemetery. He saw a young boy walking in the rain. The man stopped and asked the boy if he wanted a ride.

The boy approached the car. His face was pale, his clothes were wet and he was shaking like a leaf. He opened the door and got into the passenger seat without saying a word.

The man felt sorry for the boy, so he gave him a red sweater to keep him warm. The boy’s teeth were chattering and he was still shivering.

When they got to the boy’s house, the man stopped the car. The boy got out. The man told him to keep the sweater and said he would come back for it the next day.

“What’s your name?” asked the man.

“Timmy,” the boy replied.

The next day, the man went to the boy’s house to pick up his sweater. When he knocked on the door, a woman answered. The man introduced himself and asked if she was Timmy’s mother.

“What’s this about?” she said.

The man explained that he had given Timmy a ride the night before in the pouring rain and had given him a red sweater to keep him warm.

The woman stared at him and her eyes welled up with tears.

“I’m sorry, you must be mistaken,” she said. “My son Timmy died almost a year ago.”

The man apologized and left. He was very confused and his head was spinning. He drove to the cemetery and found Timmy’s grave.

Lying on top of the grave was his red sweater.