I (27F) was driving home late with my boyfriend (29M). We took a shortcut I didn’t like—old rural road, barely any lights, nothing around except fields and trees.
He said it would save 20 minutes.
It didn’t.
Around 2:10 AM, the car suddenly died.
No warning. No sputter. Just… silence.
We rolled to a stop right in front of an iron gate.
A graveyard.
Of course it was.
My boyfriend tried starting the car again. Nothing. Dashboard flickered once, then went dark.
He laughed nervously and said, “Battery probably.”
But then we heard it.
A knock.
From the back of the car.
We both froze.
He turned around slowly and said, “Maybe it’s the trunk latch loose.”
Another knock.
Harder this time.
Like someone was asking to be let out.
We got out immediately.
The air outside felt wrong. Heavy. Still. Like even the wind had stopped moving.
My boyfriend walked to the trunk.
I told him not to open it.
He said, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
He unlocked it.
And paused.
Just stared.
I asked him what he saw.
He didn’t answer.
Then he quietly closed it again.
Locked it.
And said, “We need to leave. Now.”
That’s when I noticed his hand shaking.
I asked him what was inside.
He said, “Nothing. It’s empty.”
But the trunk knocked again.
Three times.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Like it knew we were listening.
I refused to get back in the car.
He told me we had no choice. We were in the middle of nowhere.
I said I’d rather walk.
That’s when he snapped.
Not angry. Not loud.
Just serious in a way I’d never heard before:
“If you walk away from this car right now, don’t look back at it.”
That sentence made my stomach drop.
Because it didn’t sound like advice.
It sounded like a rule.
I asked him what was going on.
He finally said:
“This car wasn’t empty when I bought it.”
I thought he was joking.
He wasn’t.
The trunk knocked again.
Then stopped.
Dead silence.
Like whatever was inside had decided to wait.
My boyfriend got in the driver’s seat anyway.
Told me, “Get in or don’t. But don’t stand near the car.”
I backed away instead.
He started the engine.
It turned on instantly.
No hesitation.
No dead battery.
Like nothing was ever wrong.
Before driving off, he looked at me one last time and said:
“You’re going to hear it again tonight. Don’t answer it.”
Then he left.
Just like that.
Car and all.
I walked home on foot for over an hour.
And I swear on everything… halfway back, I heard a horn behind me on that same empty road.
Once.
Then nothing.
So AITA for refusing to get back in the car?
Or should I have left when he did… and never looked at that trunk at all?