Let's Not Meet Again

I Was Unknowingly Engaged To My Stalker

This happened sometime between Sept 2009 to 2014 -- I was 17 at the time. There's definitely a backstory but to prevent spoilers -- I'll leave that till the end.

Unlike most people in my High School graduating class, I knew what I wanted to do as a career and I was ready to get out and begin a new chapter in my life. When I started college in September -- I was still dating my high school boyfriend at the time but that quickly fizzled as soon as we started going to our separate schools. It wasn't long until I met Derek. I had actually met Derek a few months before the start of school when the college arranged a meet-and-greet of new students. We only talked briefly and all I knew was that he was from the same city I was but went to a school on the opposite side.

Our program was divided into two sections -- the first half would take all the classes in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Derek was in my morning classes. He seemed really sweet, handsome and funny. We clicked right away and it wasn't long until we had started dating. There were no warning signs in the beginning and everyone seemed to really approve of our relationship -- my parents included. That's saying a lot since they're incredibly hard to impress. We were inseparable during our first year of college.

Just before second year, we find out that we're split in separate sections so we can all get to know the rest of our program better. But right on the first day, Derek surprises me my telling me that there was a mix up with his schedule and they moved him back to my section. I guess now, that might have been my first red flag that something was up but I was just so happy I get to see him every day again.

Fast forward to the end of the school year -- we graduate and start working in our fields. We end up saving enough to rent out a basement apartment close to train stations where we commute to work. Everything is a dream come true for me -- good job, good boyfriend, good life. Not long after that, Derek proposes to me on December 2011.

On February 2012, Derek gets a call from his work and tells him that he has to travel abroad for a week on a project. We say our goodbyes and I head back home. The next day -- I decide to clean up our floor since I was expecting my mom and my sister that night. In our bedroom, we have a two-door walk in closet and they split perfectly dividing my side and Derek's side. I roll my eyes as soon as I look at Derek's side cause he tended to keep things untidy and unkept on his side while mine was neat and even color coordinated. As I move and shuffle stuff around I see a big box (kinda like the ones you see people carrying after they've been fired from their jobs). Being the curious person I am, I pull it out.

Once I open the box, I immediately see notes and developed photos. As I rummage through the photos, I see pictures of us on vacation, during graduation and some candids he snapped of me on campus. Every now and then, I'd even find ones of me sleeping on our couch or in bed. I thought it was weird but endearing -- he was the love of my life after all. It was what I saw in the next few photos that send a chill to my spine to this very day.

The next pile of photos started out normal enough -- I knew most of them were from our college days. But then I noticed photos from our Orientation Day -- you know, when I first met Derek? Only they were from far away. Most were obscure and blurry but there's no doubt that it was me. I was wearing my Zelda shirt on that day and I remember lending it to my cousin after that who lost it so I know that I had never worn that Zelda shirt again since. Kept going through more pictures and I see photos from me in high school! Around school, around my old job, at friends' parties and with my ex-boyfriend. The last photo was of me staring out my bedroom window in my old house. I could tell -- even from the picture -- that I was at least 15 at the time. It was then that it hit me.

Remember my backstory? Well, back in high school -- right around the time I was 15 -- I kept getting that sinking feeling that I had eyes on me 24/7. I would feel something or someone look at me and it even got to the point where I was getting calls in my house in the middle of the night. I would get random IMs from "Anonymous" or "WatchingU" saying how I looked so pretty and how he couldn't wait for me to be his. I never told my parents, cause I'm stupid and the only people who knew my stalker were my best friends and my HS ex -- who actually saw a figure staring at us when he had driven me home one night. He tried to chase him -- but to no avail. I would get Twitter and Facebook requests from my stalker -- all with the same creepy messages. All of them only stopped -- yup, you guessed it -- as soon as I met Derek. Creepy enough, stalker's last message to me was the night before orientation that said "See u soon xx".

As soon as I pulled myself back into the present -- I told my mom and my sister everything that happened and they helped me pack my stuff up and move into my sister's house. Thankfully, he didn't know the address and my parents had moved out of my childhood home as soon as we had all grown up. I blocked, deleted and removed every trace of him on my social media and changed my number. My friends refused to give him any information about me and our college buddies had threatened to hurt him if he ever came close to me. He started coming to my work and demanding to see me but I had already told my boss who had let security to never allow him in our premises. For a full year and a half after that -- I was picked up by friends, my parents or my sister anywhere I went in case he came for me. I recently found out he had been fired from his job, moved across the country and is in jail for soliciting sex from a minor.

So Derek, PLEASE LET'S NEVER EVER MEET AGAIN.