Kwento Ni Nanay

Stalked

......this happened when I was 16.

When I was a teenager, I had a turbulent home life. By the time I was 16, I no longer lived with either of my parents, but instead lived with my brother, Nick, who is two years older than me. He got me a job at the fast food restaurant where he was a manager so I could help him pay the rent.

One night, both of us were at work along with two other employees. I got off work at 11PM. Nick's girlfriend Anne was coming to pick him up when he got off work an hour later, but I didn't want to wait there with nothing to do, and the walk home was down a well-lit main road, so I decided to walk home.

Unfortunately, I forgot that there was an area of the walk that wasn't well-lit, and it was a pretty long stretch. I had just walked away from the building I worked in when I saw the outline of a man walking toward me in the opposite direction. I couldn't see his face in the darkness, but he was tall and lanky, with a distinctive gait. I didn't think he'd actually hurt me, but I figured, "better safe than sorry," and crossed to the opposite side of the road so we wouldn't cross paths directly. After he was out of sight, I crossed back, since that was the side of the road I needed to be on, which will henceforth be referred to as the "right side" of the road.

A few minutes up the road, I was in a better lit area, but it was still pretty dark. I heard footsteps behind me, and turned around to see the same distinctive gait walking on the opposite side of the road, and walking pretty quickly, too. He passed me on the opposite side of the road, and when he was a few yards ahead of me, he crossed the road in front of me and ducked into some bushes.

I immediately crossed the road until I was well past where he was hidden, and then crossed back to the right side. When I was sure he was out of ear shot, I called the restaurant to speak to Nick. I told him what was going on, but that I didn't think the creep was still behind me. As I was saying this, I turned around to see the creep lighting a cigarette, once again on the opposite side of the road from me. I was coming up on a cluster of convenience stores, so Nick told me to go in one and buy something, just to give myself enough time to lose the guy.

By the time I got there, the guy had already crossed to the right side of the road a few yards in front of me again, and I watched him duck behind a building. I went into the convenience store, walked around a bit, and then just bought a pack of gum. I felt like the clerk was suspicious of my behavior, but I actually thought it might be better if he called the cops. He didn't, and I left with my gum.

When I left the store, I once again crossed the street to the opposite side in case the guy was still behind the building waiting for me. There is a historic mansion on the right side of the main road, with a gate and a row of trees separating the property from the road. As I was coming up on it, I saw the creep peek out over the gate to check if I was still coming. I was on the opposite side of the road, but I was still creeped out, and I had had enough of this game of cat and mouse.

I went back to the convenience store and was about to call Nick again when I saw Anne's car pull into the parking lot. Apparently, after I got off the phone with Nick earlier, he called her and asked her to come get me. I got in and explained to her everything that had been going on. We drove past the mansion, and I saw the guy standing still under one of the trees, waiting. I freaked out and yelled, "Oh my God, he's still there!" She pulled into the parking lot of the next store and called the cops. As she was on the phone with the cops, the guy walked right past her car and went inside.

The cops were there in a minute or two, considering we were right next door to the police station. I got out of the car and told them all that had happened. As we were talking, the guy came outside and I pointed him out. One of the cops went to talk to him and came back to me a few minutes later. Apparently the creep had told him that he was just walking to a friend's house. Both cops agreed that my account seemed a little too coincidental, but since he hadn't hurt or threatened me, they couldn't do anything.

Whenever this event crosses my mind, I like to make myself feel better by thinking that he was just screwing with me after seeing that I was obviously intimidated by him after our first crossing, and that he wasn't really planning on doing anything. But when I think of what could have happened to me if he really did have malicious intent, it scares me that I would have been stupid enough to walk 30 minutes home so late at night with nothing for protection.