Bom the car headlights and revealed a teenager waiting by the side of the road. By this time the sun had already disappeared into rolls of mist on the horizon, and all that was left was a lingering glow. It's an uncertain time, the time that hangs between day and night, and strange things can easily happen. Bom stopped the car to allow for the hitchhiker to climb into the backseat.

At this time there were three people in the car, and two of them were sleeping. Bom was necessarily awake, being the current driver, having taken over from Dara who was currently in the passenger seat, taking a nap after driving all day. They were returning from visiting family in the hometown for the holiday season. Dara would have preferred to have been the driver the whole way, since she didn't trust anyone but herself, but Chae-rin was sick, so they had to keep going into the night and she couldn't drive while tired. Reluctantly she had allowed Bom to take over.

Chae-rin was asleep in the backseat and had been for some time. She had complained of feeling light headed after leaving the village, and asked if they could go home quickly. Not long after they had left she fell asleep and had not woken since.

A small bump in the road caused Dara’s eyes to snap open. She awoke to see that it was dark already and the mist on the horizon seemed to have crawled closer. Bom was still at the wheel, looking as content as ever. As she rubbed her eyes back into focus Dara noticed that there were now two faces in the backseat: Chae-rin, with her head rolled onto her shoulder, and another unfamiliar face: round and framed by a sharp hair cut. It appeared to be a girl of about sixteen and she was wearing a school uniform.

"Who is that?" Dara whispered.

Bom didn't take her eyes off the road. "It's the hitchhiker I picked up."

Hitch...hiker? Dara pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to gather her thoughts. It felt as if the fog from the road had crept into her brain. Bom had picked up a hitchhiker. That was the first rule of long driving trips that they had once established... never pick up hitchhikers. There were all sorts of strange folk around these parts.

"She's just a kid," Bom said, as if she could read Dara's thoughts. "She says she got left behind on a school trip."

The girl leaned forward so that she could speak to them. "My name is Gong Minji," she said.

"And you got lost on a school trip?" said Dara, trying to get the story straight.

"The bus left without me."

The girl sounded innocent enough, Dara decided. It was no good getting lost in a place like this, especially when the fog was so thick.

They continued their journey in silence for the next couple of kilometres, until Minji spoke up again. "What's the matter with your friend?" she asked. Dara turned around and she gestured to Chae-rin, who was still asleep.

"She's just sleeping. Tired, I suppose."

Minji nodded. "You better turn at the next left," she added.

"Sure thing," Bom replied and flicked the indicator on.

"Wait a minute," Dara said. "That's not the right way, we need to go straight to get back onto the highway."

"Gee Dara, we gotta take the kid home first right?" Bom clicked her tongue and Dara felt a bit guilty.

"Yeah, you're right. We'll take Minji home first."

Minji smiled brightly to show there were no hard feelings. "Don't worry miss, it's only a short way. It won't take long."

The car became silent again, until Minji spoke up to give Bom another direction. As they continued, they moved farther and farther from the main highway, and onto smaller roads. The sky was dark now. With every kilometre Dara could feel her sense of unease increasing. They surely shouldn't have gone this far down.

"It's not long now," Minji said cheerfully. "There's a house not far from here with two stories and a gate. It's a doctor's house."

They had arrived at a township now, and buildings were coming into view.

"Is that where you live?" Dara asked.

Minji did not reply to this. She paused for a moment and then said, "Your friend is very sick."

Dara was struck by a sudden panic, and for a second she believed that the hitchhiker was actually some messenger of a dark sort, who was sent to bring bad news. Her voice turned to a higher pitch. "A doctor's house? Where is it, tell us!"

There was no reply. Dara craned her neck to look around at the street they had come down, but it was dark and hard to see. She turned to the backseat and saw Chae-rin, who was sleeping deathly still.

Bom stopped the car. They had arrived at a house with two stories and a gate. "I guess this is it," she said. "Better check if Chae-rin is okay."

They both stepped out of the car and tried to wake their sleeping friend. Her face was hot to touch, and wet with fever. She did not have many warm clothes, apart from a large scarf that was wrapped around her neck. By the time they had lifted her from the backseat, a few people had come to stand at the front of the house.

"Is there a doctor here?" Dara called.

A man with glasses came to the front of the crowd. "I am the doctor who lives here," he said. He took a careful look at the three girls, in particular Chae-rin who had started to rub her eyes. Bom and Dara were holding her up on either side. "You had better take her to the hospital," he said gravely.

"We don't know the way, a school girl brought us here." Dara told him. She suddenly realised that she didn't know where Minji was, and she hadn't noticed her leaving the car. It was as if she had vanished.

The doctor nodded. "My daughter, I suppose."

"We don't know where she went, I'm sorry." Dara felt embarrassed for having to say it like this.

"She went missing on a school trip," the doctor said plainly. "That was some years ago now. Every now and then she tries to come home."

A cold wind seemed to blow throw the street and Bom and Dara bowed their heads respectfully. Before they could ask him anymore, the doctor returned to the house, with a sad and slow step. But there was not much time now to ponder the puzzle of the hitchhiker, and when they received directions from a passerby, they left for the hospital quickly.

Chae-rin had contracted a virus in the village, so it turned out, but with careful treatment she recovered within a number of days. When she was well again, they picked her up and drove back to the city, this time in clear day light.

"Did you pick up a hitchhiker on the way back from the village?" Chae-rin asked on their way home. "I have a memory of another passenger in the backseat. It was a girl. If I remember right she said I looked cold and she gave me a scarf."

Dara put her sunglasses on and wound down the window. "Nope, no hitchhikers."

Chae-rin laughed. "I must have had a vivid dream because of the fever."

She didn't think any more about it until she was unpacking her bags at home. On the top of her clothes she found an unfamiliar scarf, one she had no memory of ever buying. Slightly puzzled, she put the scarf away. Every now and then, she recalled the girl who given it, but the hitchhiker was never spoken of again.