Stories Of Halloween 2017

"Stay At Least 3 Yards Behind Her Or She'll Notice" [10-30]

I live in a semi-sketchy town in the Pacific North West. About two blocks from where I live, there's this bridge over the ocean (with a little beach) where a lot of crime takes place. Lots of things like bodies being found there, rapes, etc. So I got off the bus that takes me to this bridge (it's the closest bus stop to my apartment).

Three teenage boys cross the street towards where I am. I cross the street away from them to get to my building. They cross back. I thought that was weird but whatever. I start taking this narrow path up the beach towards another street, and they're following me. I pick up the pace and glance over my shoulder. I'm a 21-year-old woman and these guys looked maybe 16 but I'm 5'4 and pretty skinny so I'm doing that thing that a lot of women do when they think perhaps they're being followed and weigh the odds of fighting them. This path I'm taking is fucking desolate and no one's around but there's still some light out and I was glancing over my shoulder as they were filling the gap between us.

I couldn't be totally sure they were following me until I heard one boy say, "Stay at least 3 yards behind her or she'll notice." When I turn the corner out of sight, I sprint behind a hedge and wait for them to head out once they realize they lost me. I text my boyfriend that I'm being followed and he agrees to leave work early to meet me where I am just in case. They turn the corner just then and I realize the middle one, the tallest and possibly oldest, has a fucking knife on him. I hear one of them say something like "She's probably on the street over there," and they leave.

My boyfriend meets me soon after. I'm so glad they didn't figure out that I lived like almost right there.