I need a ride

Nathan and Heather, newlyweds, were on their way to spend their honeymoon in Northern California in a beautiful stay by the sea. They rode their car in the early evening and hoped to arrive before darkness overtook them, but a wave of fog obscured the highway and slowed their progress. They were some distance away. An hour and a half from their destination, when night fell and settled on the beautiful forest road. Anyone who tries driving his car on that road will see how winding, curved, and narrow its roads are, but Nathan was driving slowly and carefully.

In one of the narrow lanes of the road, the newlyweds noticed a young woman standing by the side of the road alone. She was wearing a white dress and raising her thumb to indicate that she needed a ride.

"Good luck trying to get a ride on a night like this," Nathan muttered in a low voice.

"Stop the car and turn around." (His wife, Heather, said) "Please, she's alone in the dark. We have to help her and give her a ride."

"We are two hours late," Nathan said wryly.

- Please.

Nathan gave in to his wife's insistence and pulled to the side of the road and turned back. As they approached the girl, they lowered the car window and noticed her worn white dress and her pale, thin face.

-Do you need a ride? ..The wife told her.

"Oh, thank you. I have to go home. I'm late, and my parents might be very worried about me." The girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, answered.

- where is your home ? ..Nathan asked her.

"At the bottom of the road, about 10 miles away," she said as she got into the car, "There is a crossroads and an abandoned gas station. On the other side, I can see a white house with a large garden. My family is waiting for me there."

When the car started off again and resumed its path north, Nathan tried to strike up a conversation with the girl, but the young woman was silent and sitting very quietly in the back seat of the car. So the newlyweds thought she was asleep. About 15 minutes later, the couple noticed a vandalized service station, which was dark. Completely deserted of any light or movement.

-This is the station? ..Nathan asked the girl.

No answer.. Nathan repeated the question but did not receive any answer. He turned to wake the girl, thinking that she had fallen asleep, but he found in front of him the face of his frightened wife, who said a sentence that made Nathan shake from shock:

-Nathan.. She's gone!

- What do you mean ? How could she go! .. Nathan answered in confusion as he entered his car on the road leading to the white house.

They were blocked by a light and the shadow of two people, an elderly couple who asked Nathan and Heather if they could help them with something.

- I don't know. We were driving our car and a young girl who rode with us intercepted us.

But the elderly man interrupted Nathan as if he already knew the answer:

- She asked you to take her to her house... and she gave you this address.

- Yes !

- Then it disappeared... right?

Nathan nodded in astonishment.

- Sir, you are not crazy and you are not imagining, nor are you the first people to be exposed to such a situation. That girl was our daughter and her name was Diane. She died 7 years ago, killed by being run over on the road by a car whose driver fled after his action, and no one has identified the perpetrator to this day. ..I don't know what to tell you, but I think her ghost will not rest until they find the killer.

Nathan and Heather were speechless. They were silent until the old man's wife offered them to come in and have some tea to get rid of the shock, but Nathan thanked her and refused on the pretext of being late in arriving at the inn. After exchanging an uncomfortable farewell, the newlyweds left the place and drove the car in Complete silence.