Time Dilation, a Shadow Hitchhiker, and Vagrant Prophecy (I think...)

Strange happenings today.

First, I lost an hour in a 3 minute walk.  I had woken up about 8 and my first class was at 9.  Slow going, but I was out of bed by 8:20 and ready with about 7 minutes to spare.  No worries.  Just a quick jaunt across campus.  So I gathered my books and set off.  And three minutes later, I strolled a bit late into my class.

Except it wasn't my class.  I came in to unfamiliar students and an unfamiliar instructor.  Awkward silence followed as all eyes turned to me.  A hasty apology later, I was out in the hall checking my watch.

10:06 A.M.

I left my room about 9, so that meant I had lost about an hour in the three minutes the walk took.  And I have no idea how.

The second strange phenomenon I witnessed was on the Interstate.  I was on my way home for Easter.  I was going a bit slower that perhaps necessary, but the clouds (and the forecast) just screamed rain and before today, I hadn't ever driven on the Interstate in the rain.  Paranoia guided my hands.  It seemed like there was a hitchhiker standing at each exit I passed.  At first it struck me as odd since I hadn't seen a hitchhiker ever before in my life before March this year.  It took a while before I realized what was really so unusual about it: they were all the same person!

The rain finally hit and forced me off the road in a small town.  While waiting for the rain to subside, I heard a tap on the passenger side window.  I looked over from my book to find the hitchhiker standing outside the car.  There wasn't any apparent menace (unlike that last Faceless Lady) so I rolled the window down just a crack.

"Can I help you?"

"There isn't time."

Then he reached through the solid safety glass as though it were water and touched a fingertip to my forehead.

A starry sky.  A room full of sleeping people.  The first faceless lady standing atop a car.  A gentleman with arms raised against a backdrop of a raging storm.  Myself in the same position.  A pack of small dogs surrounding a skeletal figure, mostly chihuahuas.  The hitchhiker's voice echoed "You are armed for the night ahead."

When I came to, the storm had subsided (for a while at least) and the hitchhiker was gone.  I pondered (I love that word) the vision on the short drive home.  I still don't know what they mean.

An analysis must follow.