The Disappearance

My usual Uber time starts around 8PM and ends between 2:30AM-4AM. I choose the night ‘shift’ because there are a lot less drivers after 12AM and my A/C is broken. The night shift is where I get most of my stories from. With good stories ending with a $300 tip from a lucky casino winner and bad stories threatening a rider to tone his behavior down or he’d have to find another Uber. This also includes some strange encounters that leave me confused, speechless or even a little worried. One such encounter starts with a pickup a block west of coast highway in Encinitas. I drive down the street and stop at the designated point in front of what I thought was the rider’s house. After messaging the rider that I have arrived, I look up in front of the car to see a man further down the street running at the car. He stops himself on the hood staring at me a few moments before walking up to the driver side window. He asks me, “So are we doin’ this?” with the kind of look in his eyes that he clearly was on something. Too busy reading his facial expression, I didn’t answer him in time when he continues, “Come on are we burnin’ up or what?” Just as he finished, two of his friends walk up to the car apologizing for his behavior. Upon one of the friends opening the door for the intoxicated man, he yelled “No! I don’t wanna go!” and ran down the block the same friend chasing after him. The other sober rider watched them run off and apologized to me again for her friend’s behavior. I told her I didn’t mind as the two came back and the high rider went in with little resistance, “No wait…I don’t wanna…” He tired out. Just before driving off, I realized one of the doors had not closed all the way. I asked the woman behind me if she could open and close her door real quick but the car was not convinced. Just as she closed her door, the high rider found a burst of energy and ran out yelling he didn’t agree to the Uber ride. This time both the sober friends ran after him and out of my sight. I sat there for about a min when the woman came back and asked if I could drive around the block closer to where they were searching. That key word ‘searching’ worried me. I drove around the corner to find the other sober rider looking over the ridge that leads to the ocean but no signs of our missing rider. I got out of the car and scanned around, the woman looked down this one path and then started talking to her friend. They both told me they didn’t want to keep me waiting, to go find another rider. I shrugged, wished them good luck and drove off. I left wondering what happened to that man. Maybe he did roll down the ridge? Maybe he ran toward downtown Encinitas? I have no idea, but I hope he is alright.