Followed

It all started with a normal day at work. I worked at a small grocery store at the time and my duties consisted of gathering shopping carts in the parking lot and bagging groceries, normal minimum wage stuff.

It was rainy that morning and of course, I was assigned to carts all day. About 2 hours into my shift I saw a man rushing to get his groceries into the car, it was pouring. I ran over to him and started helping him with his bags,

"It pouring!" I said, "mind if I help you get out of the rain?"

"Yes! thank you so much!"

As he was closing his trunk he looked at me with a very surprised look on his face, he lowered his eyebrows, looked me up and down, and smirked

"Are you a new hire?"

"No, I've been here for a couple of months"

"Oh, you are very pretty," he said in a weirdly sensual tone.

"Thank you! Have a good day!"

I shut it down, I was not interested. As I was walking back to the store to hide until he left, I could feel him watching me while I walked away. Nevertheless, I continued to work, not really thinking about it. After my lunch, I was at the register bagging groceries and I notice that same man from earlier walk in. I pretended I didn't see him and just kept bagging, he came up to the register and got a single chocolate bar. I didn't give him a bag. He stands towering over me and says

"Arent you going to bag my item?"

"Oh sorry, I didn't know you wanted a bag for one thing"

I put his chocolate bar in a bag and told him to have a good day.

"When are you off work, sweetheart?"

"Ah, man I'm not comfortable giving that information out"

He returned with "that's okay, you've been here what, 5 hours? You probably get off around 6 or 7 right?"

He smiled, winked at me, and walked away. Disgusted, I went to my manager and told her what happened, she told me not to work the lot anymore and to ask someone to walk me to my car. So by the end of my shift, I had a male coworker walk me to my truck and we scanned the parking lot, looking for this man's car. We didn't see him so my coworker went back inside and I started my truck. I called my mom to tell her about what happened and once she answered I left the parking lot. Literally, the second I turned onto the road I saw his car pull onto the road behind me. I told my mom I thought he was going to follow me and she just told me to drive around a bit to try and lose him. I drove around for about 20 minutes just going in circles around my town. I hit a red light and he pulled up next to me and started yelling something to me out his open window, I, of course, pretended he wasn't there but I could still hear what he was saying

"You would bear some good kids for me! You'd make a great slave for me little lady!"

He then started being very explicit about what he was going to do to me if he caught me. I told my mom I was going to call 911 and if I wasn't home in an hour then call the police. While I was trying to dial 911, the man speeds ahead of my truck and starts brake checking me. Frantic, I wait for the closest intersection and turn up the block. My phone fell under my seat while I was turning so I decided to go to the nearest open establishment and run in and hide and have someone else call 911. The closest open business I could find was a convenience store at a gas station, I pull in, park, and run for my LIFE into the store. I tell the clerk what's happening she takes me to the break room and locks me in there.

While processing that I might have survived this ordeal, I hear the doors of the storefront start violently rattling, and before I knew it the clerk was locking herself in the break room too. She was on the phone with the police and they were on their way.

We were silent. Cowering in a dark room, I found myself feeling guilty for wrapping another woman into our worst fear. My thoughts were racing through what I said to him, did I lead him on? No, I just told him to have a good day, has he been following me for longer than tonight? How did he know what car I drive? Are the police going to get here in time?

Are we going to die?

Finally, the small room is illuminated with red and blue lights from the crack under the door. We hear a voice over the intercom telling us it's safe to come out. Shaking the clerk takes out her keys and opens the door, we walk out and give our statements.

After the police leave, I turn to my unexpected savior and profusely thank her. We cry, hug, and she walks me to my car. The next night I went back and brought her some food and an Amazon gift card.

I have been in a near-fatal car accident, 10 feet away from a mountain lion in the wild, and I'm a survivor of sexual assault. I can tell you, reader, with total honesty, I thought that was the end of my line. Thank you for reading, stay aware, be cautious, stay safe.

Story Shared by: willowkitson