Let's Not Meet Again

The Red Pickup Truck

This happened to me when I was in high school, when I was around 16 years old and although I may not have been in immediate danger it still shook me up.

I lived in a small desert town in California at the time, where there wasn't much in forms of entertainment if you were under the age of 21. The main population of the town is either elderly or gay, so any teenagers that lived there were kinda ignored. I hung out with an interesting group of girls who were not into drinking or recreational use of drugs, which was a pretty rare thing where I was from. We were the honor roll kids, but that didn't mean that we didn't get into trouble from time to time.

We enjoyed urban exploring, breaking into abandoned buildings. There were a lot of abandoned country clubs and shut down outlet malls in the area, where we spent a lot of time. There were a couple of times we could have gotten into some serious trouble with law enforcement, but we were at that age where you feel invincible, like nothing could possibly happen to you. Sometimes, the places we went to weren't abandoned though, just closed or having construction done. Those places were sometimes harder to get into, but we're closer to populated areas and generally safer.

One night my friends and I had, as usual, nothing to do. We decided to pool our money together and buy snacks; half a watermelon, assorted candy, a jug of Arizona Iced Tea, and hang out at the playground of the closed preschool. Now, the preschool was out of the way, next to an empty sand lot that stretched into the desert. It only connected to this one road, which people would rarely use cause it lead out of town. We thought it was a great place for the 4 of us to sit and not be bothered while we ate and talked.

The playground attached to the preschool was small, intended for toddlers, had a short brick wall around the front with much taller walls along the sides. The back wall was the tallest, must have been over 9 feet with a street lamp overhanging, the light of it spilling into the school's driveway. All we had to do was hop over the 4 foot wall in the front to get in. We had to be cautious that night because for some reason there were cars coming down the road, which I previously mentioned people rarely used. Patiently we waited for a car to go by, crouched along the wall, then once the headlights no longer had the preschool in view one of us would hop over.

I remember throwing the snacks over at one point, and when I threw the jug of Arizona Iced Tea one of my friends failed to catch it and the lid popped off from the impact. A small geyser of tea flew up into the air, and we all laughed. I was the last to go over the wall, mostly cause I was not very athletic and was more likely to fall than land on my feet. I waited for another car to pass before jumping over so I wouldn't be seen. It was a red pickup truck, I remember distinctly. I didn't think too much of it and hopped over after it passed.

With the way the street lamp that hung over the playground was set up, the light actually didn't illuminate the playground but the roundabout driveway in front of it, leaving us in shadow. Which was perfect, as it meant no one would see us even if they looked into the playground. We quickly found a bench to sit on and started eating our junk food, talking quietly, trying to keep our laughing from being too loud. We were sat for maybe 30 minutes when we noticed that a car pulled into the roundabout driveway. We went silent, and ducked as the headlights turned our way. The car drove back onto the road and out of sight. We assumed that the person probably wanted to turn without driving all the way to a stoplight and left it at that.

Another 5 minutes and it happened again; a car drove into the driveway. We assumed it would be for the same reason, that they wanted to turn around, but the car stopped. It idled for a good while, maybe 2, 3 minutes. My friends and I got nervous, we didn't know what someone would be doing at a preschool in the middle of the night, besides us, obviously. I noticed absently that it was a red pickup truck. Finally, the person inside the car got out, leaving the car on. He walked straight up to the 4 foot wall and stared into what could have only been from his perspective, darkness. Above us there was a overhang to provide shade for the bench we were sat at, giving us an even greater cover of darkness, so he could not have seen our now crouched forms. The strange thing is that with the way the light was, we couldn't see his face. I could make out that he was an older White male, probably in his late 30s, with a shaved head. He was wearing a button down shirt and slacks. But I could not see his face.

The man continued to stand there, seeming to stare at us.

He said nothing, which freaked us out the most; if he was there to tell us to leave, why didn't he say anything?

And if he couldn't see us, why didn't he leave?

I could hear the pickup still idling. I wanted to escape, but he was standing smack dab in the middle of the smaller wall. What if he grabbed one of us? One of my friends touched my arm to get my attention and, without any words, motioned to where the 4 foot wall connected to one of the side walls on the left. On the other side of that wall was an empty lot that lead into the desert. That wall had to be around 7 or 8 feet, but if you stepped where the shorter wall connected to it you could get leverage and jump over.

I was scared; I was not fast or athletic at all.

What if I fell or couldn't pull myself over the wall?

I didn't want to keep sitting there with this strange man staring at me anymore though. The same friend that got my attention before got us all to look at her and she held up her fingers to count down; we were all going to try to get over the wall at once. When she got to one, I bolted, leaping on top of the shorter wall and vaulting myself over the tall side-wall without worrying where I landed. I somehow ended up landing in a roll instead of on my feet. I sprung up and started running towards the nearest light source, a Ralphs. I didn't stop until I was in front of the store, and that's when I looked around and realized that my friends were with me. All 4 of us had made it out.

While we stood in front of the Ralphs catching our breath, some of us letting out nervous laughter, I noticed a car pulling up into the parking lot. That same red pick-up truck. The windows must have been tinted, cause once again I was unable to see the person that had been watching us. We couldn't go inside the store, it was closed. There were still cars in the parking lot, probably belonging to the employees closing. I don't know why we didn't call for help, maybe we felt as though we would get in trouble for being where we shouldn't. The red pickup didn't stop, but instead circled the parking lot several times. Each time the car passed us I felt like he was going to get out and snatch one of us. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he gave up and drove away.

We took to running right away, to the nearest friend's house since we all lived so close together. Once we reached our destination, we all collapsed on the lawn. We talked about how freaky the whole experience was, but after an hour our minds and conversation went elsewhere. But I can't help but wonder what that man was doing there in the middle of the night, and what his intentions were.

So, ambiguous man in the red pickup truck, let's not ever meet again.