Let's Not Meet Again

I Met Him From The Internet

I am a woman currently 28-years-old, this story takes place when I was a naive 17-year-old. This story still haunts me to this day and I am extremely careful with the people I associate with on the internet now.

When I was 17-years-old, I was intrigued in computers and everything the internet had to offer. I soon found out about Yahoo chat rooms back when they were used primarily. I would talk to a few people on there, including a friend I made which became a friend in real life even to this day, so I didn't think anything bad would happen to me, no one ever thinks that, especially on the internet.

As I continued talking with my friends, I met this one guy named Daniel. At the time, he was 28-years-old. Him and I became friends very quick and I felt like I could tell him anything, like I have known him forever. Our conversations would last forever and I ended up telling him more then I probably should ever tell him. One of the conversations I had mentioned that I was trying to go to school to become a Computer Engineer and was trying to find a job in the field to better suit my understandings. He then told me that he had his own company with computers and that he was trying to find some help. As a naive woman who was trying to find work in my field, I wanted to take the offer. I talked to my family members about it and despite their reasoning, I took the job offer. The job was located in New Jersey and I was in Texas.

So, I got on a plane and headed to New Jersey to start my new life. Once I got there, I was approached by him and his mother who then took me back to his house, which he lived with his mother in the basement. I should of stopped there, but I didn't think much about it. Everything was amazing and I was helping out with his business that he was trying to get off the ground. While I was barley making any kind of money from this, I decided to get a second job. I started working for Radioshack and absolutely loved it.

Fast forward to about 6 months later, this was when things went from good to worse. He was still trying to get his business off the ground, but kind of started slacking at it. To make extra income, I would help others that needed help with their networking and computers. It was a way to get out of the house since I was not aloud to leave the house without his knowledge or consent. I just figured he was protecting me since I still was unfamiliar with this city.

Things started getting worse out of no where when he would tell me how to eat my food and to be a "proper" lady. He would yell at me if I accidentally scrapped my fork against my teeth and little things like that. He would hack into my laptop (which I paid myself with the money I saved) to keep an eye on me and see who I was talking to and what I was doing. Anytime that my family members would call me, I had to talk to them in front of him. Things started getting so bad that I started staying at work longer hours just so I didn't have to go home.

I would never mention this to my co-workers because I didn't want them to pry into my business. It wasn't until later that they found out on their own. One of my co-workers has a huge crush on me and always worried about me when it was time to go home. He knew that I would rather work a double shift then go home, and that made him worried. I honestly wished I stayed in contact him him, he was one of the best friends a girl could ask for.

I started getting into MMORPG games since they took me out of the reality I was living in at the moment. I met this guy on there and it made me feel good to have someone talk to me finally. I never meant anything I told him, it was just an escape for me, but Daniel found out about the stuff I would say to him and said that I was cheating on him, which I never did such a thing. I would log into my laptop and he put a CMD prompt that stated that he knew what I was doing and I hurt him.

Until this moment, I never believed he would go psychotic on me or even hurt me. I figured he would just yell and me and try to scare me. One day, he got so fed up with it all and grabbed my cell phone and broke it in half. He looked at me and said "Now you have no way to tell your family what you did to me." I was litterly terrified at this moment. He threatened me a little more and I started crying. I figured that was the end of it, but I was completely wrong.

I decided to try and sleep the horrible night away until I was awoken by pain in my leg. You know that feeling when you leg falls asleep and it is all tingly and feels weird, that is how I awoke. I looked around, trying to comprehend what was going on when I saw him with his hand up in a fist as he swung at me again. He told me I was lucky that this was all he did, that he will call one of his girl friends to take care of me. I ran up stairs and was crying my eyes out to his mom, that was when I realized that they were just as terrified of him as I was. I knew I HAD to get out of there.

The next day, I packed a small bag and told him that my work would allow me to do some book work while it was slow. It was a bag of some clothes I could find in a hurry. I got to work and told my co-workers what was going on, they gave me a phone and I called my grandfather who got me a flight to Texas as fast as he could. I was so grateful for him and everyone at work.

The guy who had a crush on me took me to the airport with a gift that he made me. He got me a IPod with music he figured I would like and a card with his picture in it, which I still have to this day. It was a great gift, especially to take my mind off of everything. All the way to the airport on the train, I was terrified that he would stop me somewhere along the way. I didn't calm down until the plane was off the ground. I let out a huge sigh and was finally at peace knowing I was away from him finally.

When I got to the airport in Texas, I was greeted by my family members. I called Daniel and told him that I was in Texas and I didn't want to be with him anymore. He laughed it off and said "There is no way you could get back to Texas that fast, come home now!" I assured him that I was not coming back to him and I was in Texas, my mom got on the phone and told him the same. I don't know what him and my mom was talking about, but she got very angry and told him to never speak to me again and hung up. I wish I could say that that was the last time I ever spoke to Daniel, but it wasn't.

My mom got me a new cell phone in replace of the one Daniel broke and some how Daniel got my number. He would call me and threatened me. One time, he called me and my mom answered and put it on speaker. He said "You better put her on a plane back to New Jersey or I will come down there and get her myself!" I almost had tears in my eyes, even thousand miles away, he still scared me shitless!! My mom replied with "I will wait for you to come and get her, there is a body bag with your name on it." I was so grateful to have a mother like her.

After that, the calls became less and he wasn't harassing me as much anymore. It took about 2 months for him to finally stop calling me completely and I was able to move on with my life.

I do not talk to people the way I use to anymore and I watch what I say to ANYONE now.

Daniel, Let's not meet ever again!