Let's Not Meet Again

Guy On A Walking Trail

A few months ago, my friend Jordan and I decided to camp out outside this box office to get tickets to a concert. Her friend Stephen decided to tag along, which made me slightly more comfortable, because the box office was kind of isolated and we had to walk about a mile in the middle of the night to get there because parking in my city is atrocious. Safety in numbers, and all that.

So, we get there at around 3 am, and the place is packed. I should probably mention here that I bought my ticket months in advance, and I was just tagging along so Jordan didn't have to wait alone (she really wanted to see this band). There were tons of people (~500 or so) crammed into a fairly small area and everyone was smoking weed and being loud. I didn't know Stephen was going to be there until that night, otherwise I probably would have not subjected myself to this event.

After about an hour, this lost all novelty to me and I decided to leave with the excuse of bringing them food since I didn't need a ticket and was tired of being there. So, I started the trek back to where we'd been able to park my car.

Between the box office and the church we finally decided to park at, there's this super long walking trail, which in daylight is probably a good place to walk. So, I'm about halfway through it when I suddenly hear really loud footsteps behind me. I look behind me and I see this guy SPRINTING toward me. And I am terrified. I'm not much of a runner, and I'm pretty much petrified with fear, so, naturally, I stop and wait for death to take me because fight or flight is not a response my mind has even been wired to enact.

As I'm standing there, the guy sprints right past me. I watch him run away, give my heart a few moments to start functioning again, and realize I was overreacting. I see a lot of night joggers in my city. It's not a big deal.

Even so, I complete the rest of the walk through the trail a bit more skeptically. I really wish that had been the end of it.

So, once you get past the trail, you still have to walk up this service road that runs parallel to the highway to get to the church. The church I parked at is at the top of this hill.

I get to the top of the hill, proud of myself for not passing out because honestly it was really steep, then I see him. The same guy who ran past me earlier. And he's just standing at the top of the hill. Looking at me.

Now, at this point, I'm beyond horrified, because I tend to be a nervous/twitchy girl to begin with, and seeing this guy who terrified me completely motionless with his gaze trained on me is not conducive to rational thinking.

Turning around wouldn't have done me any good because I would have to go a mile before I got to anyone who could help me. But I also have to get past him to get to my car.

Realizing I didn't have a viable course of action, I did the only thing I could: I kept walking, sincerely hoping he wasn't a murderer.

Once I passed him, I looked over my shoulder a couple times and each time he was in the exact same spot, watching me walk away. I was insanely creeped out, but the more distance I put between us, the better I felt. Eventually, I got to where I couldn't see him, and I was reasonably sure he wasn't interested in killing me. He was probably just some guy hanging out in the early hours of the morning terrifying young girls who are all alone. Maybe a hobby of his.

I made it to my car, and of course, immediately locked the doors, and headed out to the 24 hour restaurant Jordan and Stephen requested. Smooth sailing, right?

Except, as I was pulling out of the parking lot, the same freaky guy had moved substantially closer to where I had parked, and was still watching me. When he started walking toward my car, I noped out of there as quickly as I possibly could, probably not at the posted speed limit. Luckily, when I brought back their food I just dropped it off and immediately drove back to my dorm to go to sleep because I earned it.

So, yeah, night jogger/potential murderer, let's not meet.