When I was 16, I noticed a man walking towards me. Something about him put me on edge, so I crossed the road. Immediately, he crossed over to the same side as me. As he got closer, I turned into the driveway of a house hoping he would continue up the road and I could dismiss my fear as paranoia. But instead, he stopped at the end of the driveway, looked at me and said “I know that’s not your house”. He tried to call me over, saying “I’m not a weirdo, why don’t you just come over here?”. All I could muster in response was a pitiful, “Well just go away then!”
Once it became clear I was not going to move an inch, he wandered off muttering, “God, there must be so many weirdos about”. As soon as he was out of view, my body gave in to the fear and I sobbed on the doorstep. I often wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t followed my instincts and gone into the driveway. But watching my hands shake as I type this, it’s clear that this ‘almost’ experience was enough to terrify me for years to come.
Words by Anonymous