Glitch in the Matrix

April 2017 my band was on a road trip to Roswell, NM of all places to play a gig and I believe it was somewhere in Missouri at night that we stopped at a rest stop. No idea exactly where we were, but I remember saying to my bandmates as we pulled into the lot that “this place gives me a Twilight Zone vibe.” It just had an eerie sort of presence to it, and I like that kind of shit so it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

So I don’t even know what the other two guys were up to. They may have just stayed in the car, but what I do know is that me and the bass player had to go inside and piss.

This is just your normal setup of a parking lot out in front of a rest stop off of a highway. I don’t smoke anymore, but back then I did. Me and the bassist decide to smoke a cigarette first before going inside to pee. He offers me one of his cigs and ensues to call up his girlfriend to update her on how the trip is going.

So I’m just standing there smoking and chilling, and he’s standing next to me smoking and on the phone. We are both out in front of the entrance to the rest stop and we are both facing outwards towards the parking lot with our backs to the entrance of the building.

Suddenly, while still on the phone, the bassist starts casually walking back out towards the van in the parking lot. I see him walk away and his voice grows more distant. I don’t recall exactly how far away we parked. But there’s only one lot and I remember just seeing him walk into the distance in front of me, still on the phone with his girlfriend. This confused me, as I thought he had to go inside to piss. But I didn’t give a shit, and I was finishing my cigarette as this moment unfolded. So I just shrugged and put out my cigarette and immediately turned around to head inside the rest stop building.

As soon as I get inside, it’s completely empty, but you have to walk straight ahead down this hallway to get to the bathroom. I remember there was some sort of Route 66 clock that had a spiral shape or something directly above as you enter this hallway. It just overall...had a Twilight Zone sort of vibe to it. I don’t know how else to explain this experience.

So I’m walking down the hall and I get into the bathroom...and I hear someone in the stall who is talking on the phone. His voice sounds EXACTLY like my bassist. No one else is in the bathroom. I can’t see who is in there, but I’m standing at the urinal pissing and laughing about how weird it is that this guy sounds so similar to my bandmate. But I know for a fact that it cannot be him, as it would be physically impossible for him to have gotten into the bathroom before me when I literally JUST saw him head out towards the car in the parking lot about 20-30 seconds earlier at most. I even said to myself, “now THAT would be ridiculous if it was somehow him”...but even as I said this to myself, I knew for a fact that it wasn’t him...

...Except that it was. Sure enough, a moment later, the stall door opens and out comes the bassist, still on the phone with his girlfriend. I’m finishing pissing so he is behind me washing his hands. I turn around and I see him still on the phone and he’s now walking out of the bathroom. I don’t even think that he noticed me in there with him. But at this moment I am absolutely stunned. And I’m left there in the bathroom by myself wondering wtf just happened. I ended up telling him and everyone about this when I got back to the van, and he also explained that he went through a different series of strange events but I can’t remember the details of his side of the story anymore.

All I know is that it was simply physically impossible that he could have been in that bathroom before me when I literally saw him walk out into the distance towards the van and I immediately headed inside to the bathroom.