Let's Not Meet Again

Creep In The Crocs

Just today my cousin, Amelia, and I were talking about an incident that happened to us a few years ago, so I thought I would post it as my debut on here!

Backstory: Amelia and I are very close and 2 years apart - I'm the older of the two and have always had a very strong personality. She is a little bit more meek/passive so our friendship has been a beautiful thing! Because she is more like a sister to me than a cousin, I have always been very protective of her and am a very vigilant person by nature.

In April of 2013 our favorite band, Paramore, was having a show in Houston, Tx (not where we live.) We decided to book a hotel room for the night and road trip it over to Texas for the show. We left right after our college classes let out (I was 24 at the time, she was 22) and hit the road. We booked a room at the Holiday Inn, I believe it was, which sat directly behind the Toyota Center, where we thought the concert was. We make great time, get there, get dressed and leave early enough to grab a drink before the show. As we cross the street to the center, we realize there's no one around. It's a total ghost town, in fact the only person we see is a police officer sitting in his car on the corner of the street working on his computer. It's then that we realize this is not the right venue for the show. The actual venue was a much smaller center about a mile away so we figured, what the heck? We'll walk it out - burn off those alcohol calories.

We make it to the show with no problem and have an amazing time. We also had a few amazing drinks. What we did not have when we left, however, was good decision making skills.

Not being from the city, we didn't realize the extent of the homeless people in that particular area. Since our hotel wasn't too far away we thought we would be fine walking back instead of getting a taxi - never once considering maybe that could be a bad idea. Middle of the night. Pitch black out. Unfamiliar city. Homeless people around every corner. It's probably fine.

And it was fine... at first. I would like to pause for just a moment to say let the record show I have absolutely zero sense of direction. I live my life using my GPS on my phone. As long as blue dot stays on blue line all is right in the world and I will be okay. The only person worse with directions than me is Amelia - she was totally dependent on my ability to follow my GPS.

Anyway, we are about half way to the hotel when I turn to look behind me (to make sure we aren't being followed) only to discover a man walking that had not previously been there. At this point he was maybe 100 feet behind us and I chalked it up to just another concert goer walking home like us. We kept walking and just to be sure I was only being paranoid, I told Mia to turn right at the next corner. So did he. We began turning at every corner while trying to stay on the path to the hotel and every time we turned he was never far behind.

The next time we turned was when I realized he was gaining on us. I looked at Mia and said "Don't turn around and don't freak out but we're being followed. We need to pick up the pace. If at any point I tell you to run, you run and you do not stop NO MATTER WHAT until you get to the hotel. And if anything happens remember that your elbow is the strongest point on your body - use it." She looked straight ahead very solemn and nodded and we stepped up the speed.

We had no more than taken 5 steps when all of a sudden we heard the sound of running behind us - we turn and look and here comes this man, barreling down the sidewalk, closing in on us, screaming his lungs out. "YOU LITTLE BITCHES BETTER STOP!"

...Nope.

Mia and I take off running as fast as we can down the dark streets, and I know that we won't make it to the hotel before he catches up to us. The hotel is about 2 blocks ahead of us, and 3 blocks to our right when we hit an intersection and make a last ditch effort to lose him. We make a sharp right, and start skirting around the Toyota Center when we see in the distance the most beautiful form of sanctuary - cop car from earlier.

Adrenaline takes over and we book it to the car screaming for help and practically pulling the officer out of his vehicle. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHAT IS GOING ON!?" he demanded.

"We're being followed! Please help us!" "Being followed? By who?" "HIM!" We turn and point and right at that moment we see the man fly around the corner and come to a shuddering stop. As soon as he sees who we are with he whips around and runs back around the corner out of sight. What I remember most clearly is that he has bright orange cargo shorts on and crocs.

The officer called in the description of the guy and asked us where we were heading before offering to drop us off safely at the hotel. We agreed and Amelia got to experience her first ride in the back of a cop car haha she was so concerned over the lack of door handles in the back seat.

We made it safely back to our hotel but I truly don't know what would have happened had that cop not been right there and intervened. We never heard anything else about the man but that's alright by me.

So creep in the crocs - no. Just, no.