As The Raven Dreams Podcast - Scary Stories For Dark Dreams - Volume 11 | ATRD Podcast

Episode Date: September 8, 2024

Today we have more than 2 hours of True Horror Stories with a lovely late night ambience. This is part of the "Scary Stories for Dark Dreams" series, which is a collection of stories put together for the sake of sleep or simple background noise. This collection includes The following true scary stories: Gas Station Horror Stories, Scary Teacher Stories and some Terrifying Retail Stories. So, turn down the lights, tune in, and let the haunting tales of everyday people take you down that dark and creepy road. Remember, these aren't just stories... these are true experiences that remind us that our world can truly be scarier than fiction. Support the channel for Early Access AND more! Patreon ➤ https://patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Join ➤ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkW0ihdMHfBUjQrMKjRto6g/join Or Check out the Merch Store! ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Much Love, and Sleep Well... ----- #TrueScaryStories #AsTheRavenDreams #RedditStories ➤ Stories include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Viewer discretion is always advised. ➤ ALL Audio of this Podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format, without explicit permission ➤ If you like any of the following stories, consider subscribing! - Dark Web horror stories, creepy lets not meet stories, stalker stories, Glitch In The Matrix Stories, Unexplained Horror stories, Paranormal stories, cryptid encounter stories, Crazy ex lover stories, creepy neighbor stories, quantum immortality, true scary stories from reddit, or any other True horror Stories! ➤ And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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for you're made, and the appellate If you have a true scary story you'd like to share with the podcast, go to as the ravendreams.com and click the button to send it my way. Also, if the platform you're on has the option to rate the podcast or leave a comment, please consider doing so. And as always, thank you. I used to work for a small electronics repair and sales shop that was directly connected to a small coffee shop. By directly connected, I mean that it was pretty much one business. There was just a wall with a cut-out door frame separating us,

and they were both owned by the same couple. The idea was that we could potentially offer our repair services to the people that liked to sit at coffee shops, or sell them new devices like chargers, mice, and such. For the most part, I don't really think the businesses had, a lot of crossover when it came to the clientele, with the exception, of course, of cables and chargers. We were located fairly close to a hotel, and we were a decent work spot for people that wanted to do work at a coffee shop that wasn't Starbucks. We had high-speed Wi-Fi, at least for the

time, and back then there weren't many places that offered free Wi-Fi yet. As mentioned, one of One of the services that we offered was device repair. This included computers and cell phones, and we were pretty good about getting things fixed and back to the clients within a day or two at most. The time that I worked there, I fixed a number of systems. And while it was always mildly humorous to see things that were adult in nature on a system that was given to us by a little old lady, I never did. judged anyone based on what they did on their systems. A lot of people look at adult content,

even those in their late 70s, so I would just chuckle to myself and continue on with the repair. However, there was a policy both within the company and personally that if we ever found illegal content on a system, we had to report it. I don't want to say what content specifically, but I'm sure that you can guess what I mean. Thankfully, that never really came up, and we'd never had to contact the police about anything we found. One day, whenever I was working, a guy came into the store and asked me if I knew how to fix computers that were locked.

I wasn't really sure what he meant, so I asked him if he was just locked out of the system or if something else was going on. He then placed a laptop on the counter, opened it, and showed me what he meant. His system was actually locked out by a crypto locker. For those that don't know what a crypto locker malware is, it's basically a virus that locks you out of your system and files and tells you that, in order to get to your files, you have to pay them X amount of Bitcoin.

And then they'll give you the pass key to unlawful. unlock it. They are pretty aggressive computer viruses, but depending on which one you got hit with, you can get around some of them if you know what you're doing, assuming that it hasn't completely encrypted your drives. I told them that it was a possibility, but that it was going to take more than a few hours and quoted a two-to-three-day repair time. We usually didn't quote days like that, but we also didn't usually get crypto locker cases. The guy seemed to think about it for a few moments, glancing at me and then back to the laptop,

tapping his foot quickly while mulling it over. He then asked me how much it was going to cost, and I gave him the standard quote, but then mentioned that depending on how bad it was, it could be a bit more. He nodded and then agreed to leave it with. with us. I wrote up the paperwork. He quickly signed the quote and page and then thanked me for my help. I said, of course, and told him that I would call him if we were able to get anywhere with

the recovery. The day went on as normal, and after a few hours, I decided that I would take a look at this laptop while I had some downtime. I got it booted up and connected to what I needed to connect it to, and then started attempting the recovery. To my surprise, this was a very basic malware, and it hadn't really done any actual damage to his files. It was more of a permanent overlay that was just blocking the screen. It basically just looked like I could go ahead and copy his files over, just do a full clean Windows installation, and it would be good to go.

When I got to this point, I went ahead and called the guy that left it at the store. The conversation went like this. Hello? Hey, this is my name from the store. You left your laptop here earlier today for repair. I wanted to let you know that I was able to get into the files, and we should be able to get this done today. Would you be able to come pick it up tomorrow?

You got into my files? His voice changed a bit, sounding a bit more concerned. I was able to get to them, yeah. I have them copying over to an external drive right now, and then I'll just do a clean install of windows, and you should be good to go. He then went silent for a few moments, like he was thinking of what's to say to me,

and then hit me with a, What did you see? I paused, a bit confused. You mean like with the virus? No, I mean in my files. What did you see in my files? This question was one that I was dreading. If he was asking me what I saw,

then it was likely that he was hiding something illegal. I mentioned that I hadn't really seen anything that I was just copying them over to a drive, but then mentioned that I would have to say, to scan them to make sure we got rid of the malware. He then asked, What is your policy if you find illegal contents in my files? It was at that point that any uncertainty was removed from my mind.

I mentioned that it was policy to report the illegal content to the police. As soon as I said that, he hung up the phone without saying anything, leaving me just sitting there staring at this laptop as it was backing up. I wasn't really sure what to do, because I personally had not seen anything illegal yet, but the way that he acted told me that if I had clicked through his documents, I most likely would. Part of me was holding on to the slight bit of hope

that maybe it was just some pirated music or a cracker. version of the Sims or something, but deep down I knew that that wasn't the case. At this point, I decided to go ahead and just leave the computer backing up and opted to deal with it in the morning as it was getting pretty late. Odds were that I was going to have to report this all to the police in the morning, and I really didn't want to deal with that right then and there. I know that may sound dumb, but the computer wasn't going anywhere. It was going to be locked down in the back, and I would leave a note on the system that said do not touch.

Plus, the files were all going through the backup and scan, and it was going to take a couple of hours anyways. I locked up the store, did the closing tasks, and I went home for the night. I even made sure that this guy wasn't standing outside the store waiting for me to leave or something, but there wasn't anyone there. I assumed that that was going to be the end of it, until the morning at least. And it kind of was. But imagine my surprise when I showed up to open the store the next morning, and the store was nothing more than a blackened and burned out husk. When I got there, I saw the owner and asked him, what the hell had happened? He then tells me that at some point in the early morning,

morning, someone had apparently come into the store, broken in through the cafe's back door, and burned it all. At that point, I knew what this was. The guy actually had broken in, and not only that, he went full nuclear on the store. I mentioned the situation to the owner, and he told me that he would need me to give a statement to the police. I agreed and said that I would. To wrap this up, the obvious, the guy burned the store down. There was camera footage of him breaking into the store, and while he did wear a mask,

the police were able to at least get a vague idea of what he looked like. I told the police that he had left his computer in the store, and mentioned that, when I called him, he seemed really anxious about what we would do if we found illegal files. I think they saw where this was going, and they asked if I knew his name. I remembered that his first name was Brian, but I couldn't recall his last name beyond that it was an uncommon name. It was something similar to Stromboli or something like that. They took the information that I could give and said that they would look into it,

but then mentioned that if I could remember anything, to please call them. After they left, my boss and I went into the building to see what, if anything, could be salvaged. We went over to the repair room and everything was completely destroyed. I saw what looked like a laptop, but it was completely melted and gone. I put it off to the side, though, just in case they could get data from it somehow. I know data forensics analysts can do some pretty crazy things. Unfortunately, the dock with the drive that it was backing up into was completely destroyed as well. After rummaging around a bit more, it clicked in my head that he had signed the quote when he dropped off the system,

and that I put all the quotes with the cash in the safe in the back at closing. The owner popped it open, and sure enough, everything was sitting there, none the worse for where. We ended up calling the police back out and gave them the workwork. order that he signed, as well as two very heavily damaged hard drives. At this point, the whole case was out of our hands. The police had the information and the drives, and if they could pull anything from them, they would. Unfortunately, I have no idea if this guy ever got caught or arrested. The owner didn't reopen the store after this either, so obviously I didn't work there after

that. The building did get rebuilt and turned into a Jimmy John's, I think, which great, but I do kind of miss working there and doing the repairs. Either way, that's my creepy story of when I worked at that tech store, and all I can do is hope that the police did get that guy because God only knows what was on that hard drive. Right before I was to start my first year of middle school, I learned that we were going to be moving. However, our move would take me out of the school district that I was in, and since it was too far of a drive from my parents, that meant I would be going to a new school. I was already nervous about going to a new and bigger school, but now I was going to be going through it without my friends or familiar faces.

So, once we got enrolled and all of our school supplies together, we went to the Meet the Teachers' conferences that they do. It was just me and my mom that went, as my dad stayed home with my two other siblings, so my mom asked a lot of questions and talked a lot. That did help some, as a lot of the teachers that I met seemed really cool. I was going to be taken two chosen elective classes, which were a shop class and a Home Eck class. The shop class I was really looking forward to because it was woodworking, which is what I wanted to do in the other school. Home Eck was basically cooking and sewing, which I wasn't huge on the sewing side, but the school didn't have a swim class like the other one, and at least we could eat the food that we cooked, right? Anyways, we met the teachers, found a classroom, and locker so that I could map out my path and not be late to class, hopefully.

So, the first day was all right. I remember struggling going to a few classes for a bit, but I wasn't late, thankfully. The woodworks teacher was really cool. He was definitely the type to try and fit in with the kids, too, but he didn't overdo it, thankfully. The Hohmack and English teacher seemed pretty strict, which sucked, but it was whatever. They just didn't care for it when we screwed around in class or got off topic, but otherwise they were tolerable. The one I seemed to have the most issues with, though, was Mr. Stevens. And it's hard to say that I had issues with him, because it more so seemed like he had a problem with me.

I know, that's usually a cop-out when a kid has issues in class, but I never had issues in any classes before, even in math, which I struggled in at times. I still pushed myself to make sure that I got at least a high C. However, Mr. Stevens taught social studies, which I never really had a problem in, so that only compounded the issue. I remember on the first day specifically,

he was optimistic and smiling while he introduced himself and the rest of us did the same. We went through some normal questions like birthdays, siblings, favorite subjects, favorite food, just simple things like that. He pointed out someone when he remembered having their sibling in class and basically teased that he hoped they behaved better or related to the others when certain subjects were mentioned. Then it was my turn. I introduced myself by my first name and my last name.

And he then interjected, lightly teasing me, saying, Oh, you're the kid with the mom that talked a lot, huh? This, of course, made the others chuckle. He then made a joke about how he felt he was the student being put on the spot with all of her questions, but then he made light of the situation saying he hoped that we asked as many questions as her, so we would pass easily. So, at first, he really did seem fine, and even pretty encouraging to the class, but that wouldn't last long. It seemed like small things at first where he started seeming really uptight about the littlest thing.

If I turned in a paper and the header was on the left instead of the right, or I left something off of it by a mistake, he would give it back to me saying that it wasn't finished or something. and I would stare at it confused until I figured it out on my own. With the friends that I met, we would talk about it, and we all just laughed and joke that, you know, great, we have a really OCD teacher. Fine. So I paid more attention to make sure that I didn't mess up the simple stuff like that. But then it seemed like he would find more reasons to give me bad marks.

On the assignments that had essay-like answers, He always seemed to mark mine as being missed, and his reasons would be anything from not enough information to just completely wrong. So I really struggled with those questions, which only made my grades slip more. Then it became more psychological for me. I would take a lot of notes as is, but I found myself doing it more in his class to make sure that I covered everything I needed. while I would be writing, he would call on me to answer a question on the spot. When I didn't immediately have an answer, or if I got it wrong, he would make a comment to the rest of the class, saying to not end up like me. He was always making comments like this, or he would throw a pen or something at me, and it would just be embarrassing.

But if he happened to call on someone else and they got it wrong, it was always, no, but, Good guess, and he would just move on. I was always the joke of the class. I even brought it up to some of my friends, and they thought it was weird, too, but none of us could ever really pinpoint why I was targeted so hard. Then, I got really pissed off at one of the assignments that I did. Because my grade had dipped a bit in that class, he had included a part at the end of this packet for extra credit. It was basically over the next chapter that we would be going over in the textbook, so I thought I might as well answer a few questions right from the book and hopefully bump my grade up a bit. Negative.

It was like he set it up for me to fail. There were like five fill-in questions, and I got them all wrong. But the problem that I had with it was once again, he seemed to be very picky. Like, if the answer was the Great Depression, and I answered it with Great Depression, I brought this up to all my friends, and one of them confirmed this as they had just put the Depression and caught it right. So, we wanted to test this theory, and we devised a plan. The next assignment we had, we did it together, and we all put the same answers word for word, punctuation the same, everything.

We even turned it in on the same day. Literally, the only difference was my name in handwriting. As you would guess, he got great grades on it, whereas the fill-ins, I managed to get a lot of them wrong, or half-points or something like that. At this point, and with my friend's recommendation, I brought it up to the school counselor. I explained to them that I felt like I was being targeted, And after I explained everything, she asked me which teacher it was.

I thought maybe we were getting somewhere until she started basically explaining how sometimes students may feel that way when they see their friends succeeding and were not. And then suggested that I asked for an opportunity to bring my grade up, so again, making it seem like it was all my fault. I was at a loss on what to do from here, because, if I couldn't get a counselor to see what was happening, someone that's supposed to be there for the kids, then who was going to believe me? So, I struggled to keep my grade up all the while stressing out and slowly shutting myself in. However, when we finished the first semester and our parents got to see our grades, my parents noticed the D pretty quickly and confronted me about it.

I couldn't make excuses because my parents always saw right through them. And I just remember breaking down and crying, telling them what had been happening. I told them how I felt like I had did something wrong, and that's when my mom seemed to have something click for her. She asked me which teacher it was, and when I told her, she said she would try talking to them and to keep doing as I normally do until then. That didn't seem to go over too well, because shortly after, I was actually pulled from that school. They enrolled me back to the other school and figured out a way to get me there. At the time, my mom told me that she agreed that she thought he was singling me out, and that she had gotten nowhere with the principals, so she didn't want me to go through that kind of environment.

It was nice seeing old friends again and going over things that I was already learning. Swim class was full, unfortunately, so I still got stuck with Homek. However, they did the sewing stuff first semester, so I got to take the cooking side of it twice. That is not where it's ended, though. When I was in high school, one of my friends from the other school contacted me and asked me if I had heard about Mr. Stevens. Turns out, a few female students came forward with claims that he offered to help them with their grades if they would do something for him. You can fill in the blanks there.

Of course, the coward that he is, he just retired early, that year actually. And nothing ever came of the accusations as far as I ever knew. I told my parents about this, and to my surprise, they weren't. surprised. That's when my mom explained more as to why she pulled me from that school. On the day of the meet the teachers, he was hitting on my mom, quite obviously too. And when she said she was happily married, he seemed to try and avoid her or dismiss any further questions that she had. Then, when she went to have a meeting with him after school one day, he basically suggested that she do something for him to help me with my grades, making suggestive motions to her.

She again quickly brought this up to the principal and the counselors, to which they said they had never had any complaints about Mr. Stevens before, and that they did not believe her. So, my mom, not feeling safe in this situation, pulled me out and made formal complaints to the school boards. She only ever got responses back about how we'll look into this and that's it. If it wasn't for the privacy of my family due to my father's job, I would call this school out in a heartbeat, but just no, Mr. Stevens, let's hope that you and I never meet again.

And by the way, I got an A in all my social studies classes after that. I used to work at a gas station that was pretty much in the middle of of nowhere. It wasn't like one of those off-the-highway rest-stop-style stations, where it was the only thing for miles in any direction. It was more like, let's put a gas station in the middle of a heavily forested area and see if it sticks kind of thing. Honestly, the location made no sense to me, but I'm also not a business person.

So maybe the owner knew something that I didn't. That said, we didn't exactly get a whole lot of business on a daily basis. Most of our business was from fleet vehicles that were owned by a local farm equipment shop, and a little bit of it was people that needed to fill up when driving through our town. I have no idea if we ever made any actual profit, but the store was open for close to ten years before I worked there. so he must have been doing something right or possibly illegal anyways if anyone's curious how i started working there i literally met the owner at a dollar store because he saw me filling out an application for a job and he told me that he needed a daytime attendant and then hired me on the spot maybe that should have been a red flag from the start but i was like nine 19 years old and I needed a job. Looking back, that almost sounds like the start to some kind of horror movie or something.

For the most part, working at the station, which I'll just call Freddy's, that wasn't the name, but it was similar, it was pretty uneventful. Like I said, we weren't usually busy, and the people that did come in were usually pretty chill and friendly people from in town. The occasional traveler would come in, buy up all of our energy drinks, fill their tank, and just leave. But really, even outsiders weren't terrible when it came to this job. With how normal it was, you may be asking what was scary about it. And for that, I have to tell you about the last day that I worked at said station, and also a little bit about my boss's personal life. It's important to the story.

Trust me. My boss was Mike. He was both the owner of the store and the only manager that the store had. Like I said, I met him at the dollar store and he offered me a job on the spot. When I started working there, I learned that there were four station attendants, myself included, and that we were all pretty much working shifts alone to keep the store open 24 hours a day, six days a week. And we were closed on Sundays, at Mike's decision. My shift was four days a week, Tuesday through Fridays, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. with no directed time for lunch

or anything like that. My state doesn't really have any laws that require breaks or anything. And Mike was pretty lax on how we ran the store. If we needed to use the restroom, we had to lock the front door, put up the Be Right Back sign, and we were allowed to eat behind the counter so long as we weren't gross about it, or constantly doing it in front of customers. Basically, he was a decent boss, and as long as we did our job, we were good to go.

I won't tell you about all of the other attendants, but I will tell you about one that we'll call Stacy. Stacey was a 20-something-year-old woman, and that was very pretty, and it was also very much part of an affair with Mike. It was pretty obvious to us employees that they were a thing, but Mike had apparently done a pretty good job keeping his wife in the dark. How did he do that, you may wonder? They were mostly just a thing at work.

He and Stacey would work the shift before mine, so the overnight 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. together. When I'd come in, they would have that obnoxious glow about them, and they would be all close and giggling as they wrapped up their shift work. Maybe I'm just bitter, but it was kind of sickening. And it honestly bothered me that, one, they were having this affair in general, and two, they were probably enjoying themselves in the back office, since we rarely had anyone come in after 8 p.m. And that said, Mike signed my paychecks, so I just shrugged it off and let it go, figuring they would eventually get theirs.

And they did. Sort of. One night, Mike had called and asked if I could cover his shift with Stacy. He said that it was a security issue to only have one person in the store during overnights, and he didn't want her there alone since he wasn't. going to be able to come in. I didn't believe his reasoning, but I said I would go ahead and cover for him as long as there was a shift to diff on my check for the eight hours. He agreed, said he'd work my shift that day, and we would go back to normal afterwards. I showed up and clocked in, and immediately Stacey started chatting it up like we were best friends.

For the record, I barely knew her, and I had never spoken to her off the club. but I think being the only other female working the store, she felt like we needed to be best friends. About three or so hours into me stalking the shelves and her leaning against the wall and telling me about literally everything, she kind of just goes silent. I look over and notice that she's starting to cry. Over what? I had no idea.

I'm not good with emotions, so I stopped and, I stopped and, I started. kind of just asked her what was wrong in the nicest way that I could. She then goes on to tell me that she's pregnant with Mike's kid. Literally. Just like that. She just dropped that in my lap. I just kind of stared at her for a moment, and then I asked her if Mike knew. She tells me that she hadn't told him yet,

because she was scared that he might go tell her to take care of it. and that she was staunchly against that kind of thing. I wasn't really sure what to say in this situation, but she then asked me if she should tell him. I kind of shrugged a bit and said that it would be the right thing to do, but that she could also lie about it and just say it wasn't his. Tell him that she had another boyfriend on the side or something. It was an affair, so it wouldn't be like he would have any room to say anything.

I wasn't trying to push her in any specific direction. I was just trying to help her see that she could go about this a few different ways. She promptly ignored what I said, and then basically told me that she needed to tell him, since it was going to be his, and he had the right to step up to be a father. I pretty much just said, well, whatever you think is best, and moved on with my job.

Looking back, I do feel bad that I wasn't as involved in the conversation or as helpful with the situation as I should have been. But I also know that I couldn't have done anything for her or what happened. As the night went on, Stacey and I just kind of cleaned up the store, helped the literal single person that came in, and finished up the night shift duties. As it was hitting six, she told me that she was going to tell him and to wish her luck. I did. I said good luck, and as soon as Mike got there, I clocked out and went home. When I got home, I seriously passed out. I was used to early morning work, so the overnight kind of took a lot out of me.

I woke up pretty soon after to someone calling my phone. When I looked, it was my mom, which was a rarity. I answered it, and I asked her what was going on, and she was absolutely frantic when she responded. After calming her down, I asked what was wrong, and she told me that she had just driven by my work and saw that the building was on fire. It wasn't just on fire, though.

It was apparently a massive blaze, because of course it would be. was a gas station. She asked if I was there, and I mentioned that I had switched shifts with Mike, in that he was working the morning shift, which was much to her relief. After I got off the phone with her, I tried to call Mike, but he didn't answer. I called one of the other workers, and I asked if they had heard from Mike or heard any information about the building burning down,

and he told me that he had seen something about the fire on the news, news. I turned on my TV, and I watched to see what they had said, and from the video they showed, it was a massive fire. Basically, the building was mostly gone. The trees near the building were all on fire, and they couldn't do a whole lot to get to it because of the danger of the fuel tanks. but they were doing their best to try to put it out. At first I was a bit upset that I no longer had a job, but after a few hours of just watching the scene play out on my TV, it actually got worse. When they'd finally put out the fire, they found a body,

where one of the bathrooms would have been, a body that would later be identified as Stacey's, which made me sick to my stomach. I'm sure you can all kind of see where this is going, and I was pretty much putting the pieces together at this point as well. It was fairly obvious to me that when Stacey told Mike she was pregnant, he took extreme measures to take care of it, as she had put it. I immediately called the police,

and I told them about the conversation. that Stacy and I had had the night before, and that she mentioned that Mike would probably be upset. They asked me to come down and fill out a full statement, and I did. This is, sadly, where the story actually ends. They never found Mike, like, at all. After he set fire to the store and murdered his pregnant girlfriend, he took off, and was never seen in town by the police or his wife or anyone ever again. This was quite a few years ago at this point, and the case is still very open,

but obviously unless he turns himself in, they're probably never going to find him out there, if he's not in Mexico at this point. I do feel awful that Stacey died because of this, and it's honestly kind of haunting that I was the last, person to see her alive, other than the man that likely killed her. I really wish I would have been a bit more sociable with her, and if I had known that this was going to be the last conversation she had, I would have been much more insistent that

she didn't tell Mike about her pregnancy. So, I've been wanting to submit this for some time, but it's still always heavy in my mind, so it's taken me a while to put it into words. I will say that I won't be too detailed, but it is a sensitive topic, so pre-warning for you and anyone who hears this. Anyways, this happened to me while I was in college. I wanted to go out of state to get out and see what other states had to offer, and just be on my own. I thought it was a great idea for the longest time, too. I wasn't in a relationship at the time, and I hadn't done.

been in one in a while and all my other friends had plans, so I wasn't really worried about leaving anyone behind. Not that I didn't keep in contact anyways, because I did, of course, and I usually went home during the holidays. My first year went as well as I expected. There were a lot of assignments, a lot of drama, and people breaking into dorms and pulling pranks. I tried to keep to myself, but that didn't last long. I had a few people that tried to get me involved in parties and things like that, which I would partake in at times. They were fun for the most part. I've learned college students drink way too much. I did drink quite a bit, but I was always able to get home myself, without driving, of course. I was always afraid of getting

drugged, so I always got my own drinks and just kept a hold of it. However, that didn't mean that I didn't get a little wild at times. I believe it was for Mardi Gras. There was a huge party at someone's house, and someone invited me to it. Once there, I had a few drinks, sang some karaoke, and just hung out talking with people. Now, we're all adults. No matter how much some people didn't act like it, so we weren't really doing anything wrong.

These parties also tended to be open to anyone that may be walking by. That may include teachers as well. We did have a few teachers show up and just hang out. We had a few that drank with us and shared hilarious stories about their pasts, and there may have even been the occasional hookups. Again, we were all adults, so it didn't really matter to any of us. And that's kind of what got me in this mess.

I had this teacher, he was a psychology teacher, Mr. Thompson, but I'll call him Quentin. It's less weird that way. He always seemed like a pretty chill guy. Easy to get along with, easy to talk to, and he was pleasing on the eyes, too. He was a little older, though. I don't remember the exact age, but I think he was late 30s or so.

I always enjoyed talking to him, though. He was kind and sincere, and a couple of my girlfriends that I had met there teased me that he definitely had a thing for me. So I guess that that kind of stuck in my head, too. I wasn't very good with taking hints or flirting, so I'm definitely not the type to initiate. If you had ever met me in real life, you might think that I was stuck up, but I promise it's just my dumb brain. Anyways, who would show up to this party, you ask? Well, Quentin, of course. It was actually the first time that I had seen him at one of these.

He just came over and joined in on the conversation and started drinking with us. After a while, it started getting a little more hectic. and people were getting creative with their drinks and their stunts. And when some of them started fighting, I decided it was about time for me to go home. It was just going to be me, so Quentin offered to walk with me. And like I said, he was a nice guy, so when the flirting and the compliments started, it wasn't hard to get him to come into the empty dorm.

Yeah, so what you're thinking definitely happened. He left that night, though, because technically teachers probably shouldn't be sleeping in the dorms. The next time that I had his class, though, things were a bit awkward. While it was consensual, the school did have rules, so it's not like we could outwardly be in a relationship. So after class was over, he asked me to stay behind. He was still cool about everything, and he asked me how I was doing. After some really awkward small talk, he got to the point. He said that he really wanted to have more with me, but he couldn't risk his job for a relationship.

I understood, though, and we went on with our days. I thought that I had a great time and will forever hold this a secret, but apparently that is actually what he was counting on. It wasn't long after that that he again asked me to stay behind. When I approached him, he immediately groped me and then tried kissing me. That was definitely unexpected, so I didn't know what else to do, but kind of push him back and ask him what the hell he was doing. We were in the school, so even if he had changed his mind, this was not the place for it. He then said that he couldn't afford a romewere. relationship, but he needed more.

So, back to his place we went. Afterwards, he made comments about how I was set for life, and to explain it quickly, he said I could do anything I wanted with my body. I was kind of thrown off by this comment, because it was unlike him to be blunt like that. I understood more when we took a test in his class. and mine already had an A on it, but I hadn't taken it yet. He winked at me when I looked up and noticed it. This, though, I was not comfortable with.

I didn't mind the relationship, but I did not like it for an easy pass. As much as it might not have seemed like it at times, I took my classes very seriously. So I talked to him afterwards, and I told him that I didn't want any special perks like this, and I wanted to get my grades on my own. Surprisingly, he agreed, though, so I thought that would just be the end of it, and it would be left there, but no. Instead, I started getting worse grades. I did everything as normal, and we even saw each other occasionally outside. side of class, but yet I got a D on the assignments.

When I confronted him about it, he then smiled and said, well, you want to earn your grades, right? And he had this just awful smile. I didn't understand because nothing had changed, but now I felt like I was being used. He then explained that he wanted something more. So, being naive and... scared for my grades, I went back to his house with him. He just wanted me to play out something.

Sure enough, that previous assignment turned back into an A. I confronted him again about this and said that I was not okay with it. It turned into a fight, and I suggested that maybe we should forget anything ever happened, and just go back to how things were, but that was the first time that I saw a different person. and it was terrifying. He told me that this was all my fault that it started, and if I wanted to pass, I would do what he wanted when he wanted it.

Thus began my struggles with myself and depression, and trusting people. It was no longer something I enjoyed, or even something I could have benefited from, but something I feared, and felt obligated to, to do in order to pass this class. It was one of my favorite classes, too, and at this point I despised it.

He even took pictures at one point, using it as a means to blackmail me. I became withdrawn, and people started to take notice, too. I was so afraid to tell anyone, though, in fear that he would spread those photos, or that I would just get expelled. There was a strong breakthrough for me, though. I finally broke down one day to my sister, as I knew that she wouldn't say anything unless I told her it was okay. And she explained that I either needed to report it as even if I got expelled. It was better than putting myself through this.

But she felt due to the circumstances I wouldn't be expelled. So instead I confronted him and told him I was done. And if he tried to give me a bad grade because of it, I would report. report him to the administration. He wasn't phased by this, though, and the next day, there were photos of me, granted my face wasn't in it, posted on the community board. It was humiliating and terrifying. I was looking around to see if anyone realized it was me. I felt I only had one option at that point, and that was to just drop out.

I didn't know what to do, so I just stopped going to clear. class. However, he had my number, so he would constantly call or text me, taunting me to come back or tell me how much I would have to make up for the missing assignments. Then, he would randomly be walking around the dorms like he was looking for me. I started feeling closed in, so I just moved out. The dorm was part of the tuition, so it was only a matter of time that I would be kicked out anyways, since I had stopped making payments. Thankfully, I had a friend that lived off campus, and after explaining to her that some things came up, and I wouldn't be able to attend class anymore, she agreed to let me stay there

until I figured out what I was going to do next. I didn't stay there long, because he was still close by, and I found out that he was pestering my friends, asking where I was. That then got them asking me why he was specifically asking. The rumors started flying, and things were getting pieced together, so I went back home. I went back to live with my parents. My sister lived nearby, so she spent a lot of time with me, so I stayed out of my head. She also convinced me to at least tell my parents what happened.

Of course, they were confused and disappointed that I'd. dropped out so suddenly, so I suppose it was only fair since I was going to be living with them. And they took it a lot better than I expected. My mother held me like a child again and comforted me, while my dad was the normal dad type, and he became furious. He wanted to contact the school, but I told him not to, since I did start it consensually. I really just wanted to move on. But, to my surprise, while my parents promised to leave it alone, Quinton wouldn't.

He managed to get my parents' contact information, from what I assume was my emergency contact details through the school, and he actually showed up at their house. My mom recognized him immediately and started yelling at him to leave. I wasn't home, thankfully, as I was with myself. sister, but my mom called us to tell us to stay at her place for a while until they were sure that he wasn't around. I don't want to dwell on this too much, so I'll just say that I couldn't avoid him forever. My parents and I had to file a restraining order just to keep him away from us.

So, yeah, this has really caused a lot of trauma for myself. I never went back to school until last year. I did some online classes, and I'm now working on having the life and career that I wanted. I'm also seeing someone now, and I'm incredibly thankful for their patience and kindness with my weird habits. I just have to take it one day at a time. I do hope that he's not a teacher anymore, but since he's not afraid to go across the country, I would suggest avoiding any teachers named Quentin Thompson. and do your own schoolwork.

I worked at an electronics store for four years when I was in my 20s, with no other experience than retail. For the most part, it was a decent starting job, except for the holidays. I despised being anywhere near that store from November to February, between the sales, the excessive returns being done, and how horrible people are to one another. I have a few memorable stories to share, and I just hope people take something good out of it and maybe make a change for the better. We were closed on Thanksgiving during the time that I worked there,

but we opened around 4 in the morning for Black Friday. I never understood it, but we had people camping out front on Thursday night. We had a reward, and membership club too, so while we had weekly newsletters that people could grab on their way in, we also sent them via email to our members. Around this time, it also included the deals for Black Friday, and the benefit of being first in line as long as you brought your membership card for proof. This caused some anger for some of the people that had been waiting outside.

They always made us push the member thing, especially around that time, including the benefits of first access. The membership was free, too. The most annoying thing about it was probably the amount of emails you got. So, I got there early Friday morning, saw the line of people waiting outside, and went in to begin a very long day. When we went to unlock the door, we started explaining the two-line method. People were confused and angry about not getting to be in first,

even though they had been there, as they put it, all night. We explained that this wasn't new because we had been doing this for years prior. We started checking everyone's member cards and letting them in. Some of them thought they would be sly and sign up for the membership on their phones. However, the membership had to be at least 72 hours old, and it shows when you sign up for the card. Even the digital one or on the app. So we have some people swearing they will never come back to our store,

some people stewing in their own anger on the side, and some still trying to get in, claiming they have a membership, but our system must just be messed up. Another guy tried to take matters into his own hands by pulling out a pocket knife, walking up to my coworker, and stabbing him in the side.

My co-worker went to grab his side and kind of doubled over as he was in pain, of course. I noticed this and tried asking if he was okay, what had happened, and as soon as we both looked down, people ran past us and into the store, including the stabber. I had to block off my coworker just on the outside to prevent people from stomping on him. We called for help, and thankfully the wound wasn't too deep, so he just needed some stitches. He did describe the guy that stabbed him, and, shockingly, he was still in the store, arguing with another guy over a printer. He was arrested, too. He stabbed my coworker, thankfully not hitting anything major, all so he could get a $73 printer.

He left with multiple charges, and I'm sure the cost was way more than that. Another Black Friday, I started out on the floor to make sure the lines were in order. The shelves weren't too disorganized and to hopefully answer questions and calm any potential disputes. We had a pretty big display on video games for a console that had just been released. We didn't have any more of the consoles, though, and thought it would be way too dangerous to try and sell only four or five, because that would be all we could really get. So, instead, we just sold the games for buy one, get one half off.

There were several people surrounding the display and aisle, grabbing one or more of each game, and several of them were on the phone asking the person on the other side which ones to get. Some were taking pictures of them, and others even tried to take multiples. They were one each per person, though, so we tried to stop them while in the aisles, but they were mostly stopped at the register. Apparently they didn't believe the salespeople. So at this same display, I saw probably a middle-aged man

shuffling through the games like he was casually looking or maybe just looking for one particular game. He was moving out of the way for others, not taking any other games, just browsing. I did my normal asking if he was finding everything okay. And he smiled and said that he was just looking, but he thanked me. A few people seemed to be getting irritated but were walking away from the games, so I let it go, thinking that someone in that department would handle it.

It wasn't long after this that I was called to the front to be a cashier, as they were forming quite a line and someone needed to go to break, and honestly, I would have preferred that anyways. So I rang people up, argued a lot and called a manager a lot to explain the terms of the sales. After some time, I heard more yelling coming from one of the aisles, but I definitely couldn't do anything about it then, being stuck in the front. After ringing up a few more customers,

I remember noticing that it seemed quieter than normal. I could clearly hear the repetitive Christmas music playing, but very little talking or laughing from the customers. It was something that I subconsciously noticed, but I was so busy that I didn't bother looking around for a reason. That is, until the reason was directly in front of me. I had just finished closing my till when I heard the familiar sound of someone laying an item on my counter. But the hand holding the item was covered in blood. I looked up, holding back from yelling some expletives to see that same middle-aged man

with a slight smile on his face saying, I found the game I was looking for. That wasn't the scary part. It was the fact that his head down to his shoulder was drenched in blood. People were frozen in place looking at him or us, taking pictures and talking on their phone. I asked the guy if he was okay and what had happened, and he seemed oblivious that he was covered in blood.

He said that he was looking at. for the game, felt something hit his head, knocking him to the floor, but he had gotten right back up. He said he rubbed the back of his head and just wiped the little blood he saw on his pants. I immediately called for a manager and then called an ambulance, and we then followed the blood trail back from the checkout to an aisle with console accessories and the game display. The guy was adamant about feeling fine, though, and he really wanted to make his purchase. but he wasn't like the other crazy shoppers. The whole time he was soft-spoken, patient, smiling,

saying he really wanted the game for his grandson. We gave him some paper towels to hold on his head, and we completed the transaction for him. When the ambulance got there, they cleaned him up a bit and found a huge gash on the back of his head. It looked like he had been bashed in the head with something. His wife and daughter actually came in later that. night asking for a replay too we explained what we had seen and they also gave us a little more

information he apparently had been hit with something that had a single point almost like the back end of a hammer or maybe a meat tenderizer it had broken open his scalp but thankfully his skull and brain were fine the guy even told them that he didn't feel any pain after he stood up He was completely unaware of the blood pouring from his head. They also wanted to thank us for calling an ambulance and not letting him leave alone and said that they did file a police report and that we would probably be contacted for the camera footage. We were, and our security team gave it to the police.

I talked to one of the guys who watched it with the police, and they said that the guy had just pulled a game from the shelf, flipped it over to look at the back when the guy on the other side of the display walked around and bashed this guy in the head. He then grabbed the game the guy was looking at, threw it back on the ground, walked over this guy and continued looking at other games.

He didn't even take the game the victim had, and the game wasn't limited. When I walked back there that night, there were several still on the shelf. I remembered the game from when I checked the guy out, and I checked to see if it was the last one or something. We were told to contact the police if this dude ever showed up again, but we didn't see him the rest of the night. I never checked him out, so I don't even know if he bought anything, or if he just left or even stole something. I never saw the guy again, but I'm unsure if they ever caught him.

But still, this POS bludgeoned this guy for a $60 game that he didn't even take. He could have killed him for nothing, not to mention the fact that other people walked by this man on the ground and did nothing. I finished that season out, but I quit the following year before Thanksgiving. I was unwilling to cater to people that showed that level of ungratefulness. after a holiday about being thankful. Some people just suck. I do ask that if you go shopping at any point in time, try to look out for one another,

because being compassionate and making a difference to others, retail workers included, is way more important than a potential deal on your kid's presence. Just try to take care of each other out there. This happened to me back in middle school. I had a pretty normal school life up until this. I got good grades for the most part, other than struggling in math. I made and had a lot of friends, as well as enemies,

and I had a fair share of teachers that I enjoyed, and others I couldn't stand. Our middle school included sixth through eighth grade, and this started taking place my seventh grade year. We ended up getting a new science teacher that came from another state, She was pretty cool, though, and pretty, for that matter. She had long, dark hair that she usually kept down. If anything, she used a pen or a pencil and twisted the hair around it to keep the sides from falling in her face. But that was it.

Even when it was really hot or super windy, she never changed it. She also always wore the same style skirt. My friends and I actually joked about her closet. it probably being filled with the exact skirt in like 20 different colors. She even seemed to have a few festive ones, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's, and Halloween. I wonder now if she made them all, since they were all identical. Anyways, other than her choice of style, though, she was very nice, and she always clicked with the students. She was able to joke and tease with all of us, even the so-called,

class clowns couldn't get her upset. She would always have a comeback and was able to get the class right back on track. Everyone seemed comfortable approaching her with questions about assignments or whatever we were learning as well. Hollenol, she was just a normal teacher that wasn't uptight and treated us like humans. There was another reason that I particularly liked her, though. I was a bookworm. Most of my free time, you could find her.

me with a book in my face. I loved contests on how many books you could read within the year and things like that, and when she started working at my school, she asked if anyone would be interested in a book club. I was immediately all for it, as I realized we didn't have one at the school before, and of course I thought it was a great idea. When she hung up a sign-up sheet, she approached me after class and asked if I would be interested in being the spokesperson or club leader, since she could attest to how much I read. I, again, agreed.

So, after school, we got permission to hang out in the library, and we brainstormed ideas on what books to choose from, when we should meet, and our goals for how much of the book we were supposed to have read. Things like that. All in all, we had about a dozen people sign up for it, and most of them showed up. We read a few chapters, would meet up and discuss what we thought so far, what we thought was happening, or supposed to happen, hidden meaning and significance, and so on. It was a lot of fun, and I actually got to know some students that I had never talked to before, and some that I

didn't even know were interested in reading. Then there was the teacher. I started becoming closer to her as well. I found myself. hanging out in her room after class and helping her with things like picking up, laying things out on the desks, and so forth. She would even give me passes to my next class without getting in trouble or being counted as laid or absent.

People definitely had their fair share of jokes, though. I'm a guy, so they would tease me about having a crush on her or something, but it was honestly never like that. I looked at her as a trusting adult. like a big sister or an aunt, which I only had a baby sister at the time and two aunts that I hardly knew, so I suppose it filled a gap there.

Anyways, so middle school went as normal as I would expect for the time. Then there was one day that I had to stay late for something unrelated to her or the book club. It was for some project that I was working on with the other people in my group. One of the teachers or the librarians told us they were going to be locking up, so we had to leave. We were pretty much done at this point, and we're just goofing around, so I think they were just ready for us to leave so that they could. Looking back, I kind of feel like an ass, so if they were ever to see this, I do apologize. So we all started heading out, and one by one, people were picked up or got up. on their bikes and left.

I had told my mom I was going to be there until a certain time and to pick me up around, say, 6 p.m. However, I didn't plan this out very well. I didn't have a phone at the time, nor did I think about calling before we got locked out. So I was going to be waiting for about half an hour before she came and got me. I just did what I did best and sat on the steps and, read while I was waiting. In the midst of reading, a car stopped in front of me and someone hollered for me. It was the same teacher. She asked me what I was doing, and I told her I was waiting for my ride. She said that she would take me home instead, though, if I wanted to. I declined, and I told her my

mom would be there soon, so it wasn't a problem, and I thanked her for the offer. She then pushed it and said that it was supposed to storm soon and assured me it wasn't a problem since I lived close by. I knew that was true because my mom had mentioned it earlier that day, so I finally agreed and got in the car. I remember her car being really weird for the type of person that she was. For being organized and clean, her car had trash everywhere. She threw stuff that was in the front seat into the back, which included an old dingy coat that, once again, I couldn't see her wearing. She also had her hair pulled up in a messy bun.

She just seemed like a completely different person. It was a bit awkward being in a teacher's car, but thankfully I really did live close, so it didn't take long for me to get home. She pulled into our driveway, I thanked her, and she left. My parents had met her in the other. teachers before, so they trusted her too and understood why I would get a ride from her. This would happen a few other times during the school year, and she actually started giving me a ride home when we had our book club. However, it was never not weird that her car was still a mess.

It wasn't even a situation of she just hadn't cleaned it in a while, and then just finally did, especially knowing that she was giving someone a ride home at least once a week. It was always a mess, and there was always some weird clothing or trinket in it. I remember a jacket, some kind of colorful headband, there was a stuffed animal at one point, just weird things like that. But as time went on, I got used to it and it stopped bothering me. But there was one time that I just could not. shake this feeling.

I stayed late because of some project I had to do, and I needed to use the library encyclopedias. But I'd forgotten that it was a holiday weekend and that the school wasn't going to be open late that day. So, once again, I was left to wait for my ride. I was able to call my mom in the office, though, but she didn't answer, and I just left a message, hoping she would see it soon, so I wouldn't have to wait too long. I went outside to wait when something put me on edge. I kept looking around to see if there was anyone or anything, but there was nothing. That's when the teacher pulled up in her car, as usual, asking if I needed a ride.

She looked as she normally did this time, though. Her hair was down, and as I approached her car, it was spotless. Something wasn't right. I suddenly started feeling sick to my stomach, and I declined her offer. She again insisted and said it wasn't a problem, but I told her I wasn't feeling well, and that I didn't want to risk getting sick in her car. Thankfully, she agreed, and she said she would swing back by in about an hour or so, and if I was still there, she said she would take me home.

So I just agreed so that she would leave. After she was gone, that sick feeling went away. but I still felt uneasy. My mom arrived shortly after, and once I was home, I started feeling normal again. I had no idea what happened. She was there the next day, too, so I could at least confirm she was okay, leaving me without any ideas. The weirdest thing to happen after that incident, though, was that she seemed to distance herself from me after that. She hardly talked to me or asked me for any help after classes

and actually said she wouldn't be able to give me rides home any more due to other obligations that she had. It wasn't a big deal since she was doing it to be nice anyways, but it was still just weird. I would see her drive by without even looking at me. There was one major event, though, that occurred that year. one of the students in my grade actually went missing. I didn't really know them outside of the classes that I had with them, but it was still a crazy time. Plenty of rumors or theories that went around, runaways, kidnapping, hiding in plain sight, all kinds of weird things. I remember it being a really strange time, and some of the things that people would say just seemed really harsh.

and being an adult now with a kid of my own would make me furious to hear my kid being talked about like that. Anyways, he was never found by the time that we finished the school year. We had our summer vacation filled with somber and mystery, and returned to school the following year. This time, we were still missing a fellow student and a teacher. That teacher that we all seemed to become close to, The one that gave me rides home wasn't there. Another teacher told me that she just quit, though, and we moved on from there.

The rest of middle school was kind of weird, with the student never being found, and it wasn't until high school that we would finally have some closure. My junior year. One day, we were having class as normal, when we noticed a lot of teachers seemed distracted, talking amongst themselves privately, and just all around seemed on edge. When I went home, I noticed my parents seemed to be doing the same, and thankfully they have always been very open with me and my sister. We sat down, and we talked.

They asked me if I remembered the student that went missing, and I confirmed. They explained that he had been found. Where'd he been this whole time? With our old teacher. She was found several states over with a kid that looked malnourished. She had apparently been linked to the last person he was with, and they'd been looking for her ever since. And as the rumors and talking went around the school,

we were able to start piecing things together, too. He got a ride from her, but instead of taking him home, They fled. I heard the cops searched her house and found other kids' belongings, so there may have been multiple, but there was never any information released on that. That got me thinking back to my experience with her. That one day that she was going to give me that ride, and I was overwhelmed with anxiety or whatever else, did I save myself from a bad situation?

and the fact that she avoided me afterwards, was it because she was suspicious of me too? And then the weird things in her car, maybe they weren't even her things to begin with. We knew that she came from a different state, so then there were also rumors about kids that had gone missing in the states that she came from but were never found.

It was a terrifying thought, and there were a lot of unanswered questions. My parents made a rule from then on, and that was that we were not allowed to go with anyone else, unless they approved it for each specific time. We weren't even allowed to go with neighbors, or even family members, people that my parents knew well and trusted. But I really can't say that I blame them. I would have never expected it from that teacher either.

Thankfully, she is still incarcerated, and if she does ever get out, we can rest assured that she will never teach again. This actually happened to me in 2019, and with the pandemic right around the corner, it gave me a good reason to stay inside afterwards. I always enjoyed the holidays, especially when my family had big gatherings with my siblings, grandparents and the sort.

We all exchanged gifts, and it had become a bit of a tradition. I got meaningful gifts or something that everyone would like, but my older brother and I would always try to get each other the most absurd things that we could think of. One year, he couldn't think of anything to get me, so he got me a spatula and gave me his old toaster, because I told him that it would match my kitchen's theme. So, that year, I actually had,

Black Friday off. And I thought I would try to get some good deals and gifts. I usually wasn't one for that kind of thing, but thought that it couldn't hurt to see what was out there. Now, I had no intention of getting up super early to wait in line in the cold, but I did go to a few places starting around midday. I didn't have a whole lot of luck at the first few stores, but I did get a good good deal on my lunch that day. I decided to try one more place, which was at a popular department

store nearby. I shopped there often enough to know that I would at least find something. So I grabbed one of those half-carts and started checking out all the sale displays. I got through a couple of aisles and was surprised the amount of people that were still there shopping frantically. It was probably around 5 or 6 p.m. at this point, so I figured it would have died down for the most part. This caused me to look around every time before I pulled anything off a shelf to make sure that nobody was nearby to tackle me or try to fight me over an item. I wasn't into all that. There is no deal ever worth an assault charge. So, honestly, I would have just handed it over. While I was in the houseware section, I saw a nice coaster set that I knew my mother would like,

and as I reached for them, I saw a guy reaching on the shelf for something right below me. It startled me at first because I had just looked around and didn't see this guy, yet he managed to silently approach me from the side. He chuckled and apologized for scaring me, and I laughed back saying that it was fine. I noticed that he had grabbed some similar coasters, and he attempted small talk, joking about a gift for someone he hardly knew. After just a few minutes, I walked off, continuing on in my own little world. After the houseware section was the pet section. I had a small puppy with short fur at the time, so I had her wearing sweaters to stay warm in our northern winters.

She was actually the puppy to my grandmother's dog, so I thought that it would be cute to get them matching sweaters. So that's where I ended up. While I was looking at the options, I heard someone say, He got a dog to. I looked over to see the same guy now standing at the front of the aisle that I was in. I said that I did,

and explained what kind of dog she was, and he told me about his. Again, a small conversation took place, and I walked away. As I walked to a few more departments, I coincidentally ran into this guy each time. I know it's entirely possible that it was just a coincidence at first, but if you saw the same person, would you try to start up a conversation with them each time? Because he certainly did, and it was just awkward having to walk away each time. I didn't want to be mean, but I didn't know what to do or say after, like, the third time.

So, instead of feeding into the conversation, I would just smile, give a light chuckle, and keep on moving. I ended up skipping around a bit and actually went into the intimate section thinking that surely he wouldn't just coincidentally end up there too. Unfortunately, he did. However, two things were different at this point. He no longer had his basket with his items in it, and he didn't approach me. I circled the same area and went back to the same rack that I had been looking at, and he did the same thing. That's when I really started feeling paranoid and followed.

At that point, it was time to leave. So I picked up my phone pretending like someone had called me, and I made the comment that I would be there soon. acting like somebody was expecting me, but in hopes to scare this guy off maybe, I said out loud what store I was at, and that I felt like I was being followed. While still acting like I was on the phone,

I left that area and made my way to the checkout, weaving through different aisles in an attempt to lose him. To my disappointment, I looked around and saw that same guy looking at the different lanes. I tried bending over into the cart, nearly looking like I was putting my head in my purse, I'm sure. I assumed the guy saw me because he ended up in the lane next to me, holding just a soda and staring at me. I was panicking at this point, and I wanted to get to my car fast and possibly call someone for real this time. While the cashier was ringing up the person in front of me, I pushed my cart to the side a bit,

made it look like I was looking at the impulse stuff, and instead swiftly left the store without purchasing anything. As I was fast-walking, nearly running to my car, I again pulled my phone out and dialed 911, because if I saw him again, I was calling, no matter what. I looked back as I crossed into the parking lot and didn't see him, so I picked up my pace. I started digging out my keys from my purse,

when I suddenly hurt shuffling, like someone was running towards me, and of course it was the same guy. As he got closer to me, I hit dial on my phone, yelled out, leave me alone, and turned back around.

But the guy grabbed me by my arm. I started shouting some more, hoping that someone was nearby and would do or say something. While I'm trying to get him to let me go and flailing my other arm, he said that he's with AP, asset protection, for the store and demanded that I go with him. He was basically accusing me of stealing.

I completely changed my mentality at this point and became angry. This guy was following me around the store because he thought I was a thief. I had shopped there on many occasions, never had problems and never had a criminal record. On what grounds did he have to think I was going to steal some, coasters, a dog sweater, and some popcorn. And how would I even have managed that? I kind of chewed him out about this, and mentioned how he was harassing me when he let go of my arm.

He then made a comment along the lines of, well, then we can just go into my office, check your belongings to confirm that, or I can let it slide if you go get some drinks with me. This guy was standing in front of me with this annoyingly smug, grin, and really thought that this was a valid option. I told him to hell with both those choices, and said that I was going back into the store to talk to the manager.

This seemed to piss him off as he grabbed my arm again, squeezing it harder, and demanding that I come with him before he called the cops. That was when I remembered that I had dialed them on my phone, so I started yelling things like let go of me and shouted where I was. hoping that they would get the hint and be there. The guy tried putting his hand over my mouth, pushing me against some random car, so I bit him. Finally, with us both screaming at this point,

another lady noticed us and began walking up and asking if we were okay or needed help. I shouted that I didn't know this guy, which caused her to speed up, coming to my side. I was worried the guy may try to do something to her, but, to my surprise, he instead took off. She approached me and was holding me and asking what happened, and I started explaining to her.

I grabbed my phone and noticed that it was still with the operator who told me police were on their way and should be there soon. The lady then walked with me back into the store. I waited inside for the cops, but I still asked for a manager to confirm what I'd already thought was the answer. that guy was not with their asset protection team. They explained that if they suspected someone, they weren't allowed to approach them the way that he did with me for sure,

and stated that they would have already have called the police as well. When I explained what happened to the police, I was shocked to find out that this wasn't the first time they had heard about this happening this year. Apparently, there had been several reports of a guy stopping girls in parking, lot, accusing them of stealing, and then offering them alternatives. The description they had even matched the same guy. That angered me and worried me even more.

I knew there wasn't much I could do, but I felt bad that I wasn't able to keep him around for them to catch him. They took my contact information and asked if I would do a lineup if they caught the guy, and I agreed. I still haven't received that call to this day. It honestly still terrifies me to this day because sometimes I dwell on it too much thinking what would have happened if I actually went with him. Hell, what would have happened if I agreed to a date? And since he still hasn't been caught, is he even still in the area?

I just hope that he never got further than confronting someone at their car, but to the creepy fake asset protection guy, now that I'm armed with pepper spray, maybe we should meet again. This took place back in 2014, and I'm not an author, so forgive me if my writing isn't up to snuff with the other posts on here. I was 17 years old, and I lived in a very small town in Massachusetts, and every night I would take walks after sundown. I enjoyed it. It was peaceful. Now, I understand that this whole setup is inherently sketchy,

and walking around town in the dead of night is just asking for trouble. I was a very anti-social person, so I did it, every night. I lived on a street about four miles long in total, and there would be a few houses every half mile or so, but for the most part things were pretty secluded. other than a decently sized cemetery that I would sometimes hang out at. Side note, a woman had committed suicide at the cemetery after being involved in some white-collar scandal. I never knew her or her family, and I mean no disrespect to them.

There was also another cemetery in town, which was pretty famous for alleged supernatural events, and that people used to do witchcraft in. It was very popular amongst ghost hunters and people that were into cheap scares. So, our little town was kind of a hot spot for creepy stuff. The street had about five street lights, and one of them was constantly bugging out and never got fixed. In order to get to the center of town, I would have to walk a few miles, essentially in the pitch-black darkness, with nothing but a magnet. lights, my headphones, and my cell phone. Past the cemetery at the end of the street, there was this local donut shop, and then the center.

And I would listen to music in the dark with the flashlight being the only decent light for miles until I got into town. I would wear a long black peacoat. At one point, I shaved my head completely bald so that people would think I was creepy, and wouldn't bother me if they were driving down the road at that particular. particular hour. The local police were familiar with me, my family, and are kind of messed up background. In 2013, my brothers saved me from my dad after he tried to beat me up. He was beaten unconscious and the police were called. After that he left and I haven't seen him since. That's not related to

the story in any way. I think the cops realized I was a troubled kid, but not outside. I was a troubled kid, but not out to do anything malicious. Clean record, no fighting or stealing or anything like that. And they kind of just let me do my thing. I would often go into these weird fantasies where I was some vampire hunter who had to protect the town from the monsters that came out in the dark. I pretended I was some parody comic book hero called the Nightlurker who used a weaponized flashlight to fight evil.

It was cringy and stupid, but it was mostly a joke, and I had an extremely overactive imagination. I try not to tell most people about that. What does all this have to do with the clown man, though? Absolutely nothing. Anyways, it was Halloween night. I was on one of my evening patrols and had gotten to the center of town. At the town center, there's this 24-hour gas station called Cumberland. farms. If you live in New England, it's most likely where you fill your tank or buy overpriced

snacks. As I was walking up to the store, there was this extremely tall, slightly pot-bellied guy who was dressed like a clown. But his makeup made him look a bit more like Beetlejuice. He was staring at me with his eyes white open, and he had a toothy grin. and I pretty much figured it was Halloween, and it was just some guy trying to mess with me for fun, so I said, Happy Halloween, man, and kind of blew right past him into the store.

I bought myself a soda and some candy, and when I walked out the door, he wasn't there anymore. I continued my walk. I put my headphones on and just forgot about the guy. The whole town center is connected on Route 9 Main Street, and when I wanted to get around town, that was the road that I would walk on. So, as I continue on, I let go of every single bit of common sense that I had at the time. Blasted my music to the point where I couldn't hear anything else.

Just started running on autopilot because I'd done this so many times. After walking a mile away from the gas station, there were no cars on the road, and I started to feel a bit uneasy. I looked back, and what do you know, this giant, clown, beetle-juice-looking guy is about five feet behind me. Same expression on his face from before. Eyes wide, toothy grin.

I also need to paint a picture of how tall this guy was. He must have been like six, seven, and was essentially towering over me. I'm five foot eight. I kind of stop in my tracks, take my headphones off, and I look at him. He just passes right by me and says, Happy Halloween, and some weird-ass goofy clown voice, and then continues walking down the street in front of me.

That's the last interaction that I have with him, but I keep my eyes on him as he continues walking. Last I saw him, he went into a subway parking lot and was peeking into the windows of people's cars. I get that the guy was clearly just trying to creep people out because it was Halloween night, and it's fun, but the dude waited for me to leave that store, out of sight, and then proceeded to follow me down the street when I wasn't paying attention, just to say happy Halloween and then dip. and I still had the entire length of the street my house was on to walk in the pitch black. Needless to say, I turned my music volume down and was constantly looking behind me the whole way home. It was very creepy. I have a creepy story that comes from a perspective that isn't frequently offered when it comes to these kinds of scary stories.

and that is from the perspective of the teacher instead of the student. I was a high school teacher for about five years, and I started out teaching freshmen, which is kind of where I wanted to be. In my last two years of teaching high school, though, I was actually moved into teaching half freshman classes, and the other half was senior level, which meant people that were 17 and 18 years old. This may not sound too bad, but I was a 27-year-old woman, and I honestly didn't want to be in a room with a bunch of pre-adults that were all going to look at me, see how young I was, and just tear into me with some disrespect.

That may sound like a real boomer mentality, but it's true. When you're a public school teacher, if you're less than a decade older than your students, it's like they can sense that, and they think. think you're not really worth their respect. That's actually why I liked teaching the young ones, the freshmen, because they were all so new to the world and were easy to mold into respectful students. Of course, there are outliers on both sides of that. Not all 17-year-olds are rude, and not all 14-year-olds are easy to work with. But it's what I had mostly seen while I was teaching at the high school.

My first day of teaching the high school students, I could easily see who was going to be a problem. I won't use any real names, and I'm not going to give any information on my location, but I will say that there were a couple of guys that were clearly friends. And I knew they were going to be a problem from the start. I'm just going to come up with three names and call them Sean, Mark, and Dave. Mark and Dave were troublesome, but they were more on the quiet side. Sean, however, was aggressively disrespectful to pretty much everyone. He was loud, rude, and disruptive, and I could tell that I was going to have a problem with him.

That said, I'm also one to try to make the most of things. So, I just plans to address the problems as they came up. and they certainly came up. I wrote Sean up several times in the first few months of class, much to his aggression and disappointment. Every time I would finally hit the point where I was sending him to the office with the write-up, he would make as much of a scene as he could, mostly to rile up the other students and to make me mad.

I never really gave in to his immature BS, and I would typically just send him out, call the office, and move on. There was one point where he crossed a line beyond what I ever truly expected, and I think it was kind of the crux that pushed the situation into what it became. Now, I knew that he was a problem, sure, but I just never expected him to push his disruptions to the level that he did. I was done with my lecture, and I had given the class the assignment. I was walking from the front of the class back to my desk,

and as I walked by him, Sean reached out and literally smacked my back end. Of course, he thought it was hilarious, but it had a point where even Mark and Dave weren't really finding it funny. I was immediately struck with a painful level of embarrassment and rage, and I turned and I screamed, and I screamed, at him to get the hell out of my classroom. He was still laughing at the whole thing, and I was just livid. I literally reached over the desk and shoved his book off the table and just exploded at him.

I don't remember what I said, but I recalled telling him that I would make sure he was expelled, and I think I called him a name or two as I was yelling. As this all unraveled, I just remember grabbing the phone on my desk and calling the office for a security guard, and him just turning back and laughing at me and saying something about how I would regret it. Again, I was just absolutely livid about this whole thing, and I was not going to let him just walk out and get a slap on the wrist and then come back the next day, just to do it all again. I was not going to let him get the best of me in this situation, more than he already had. after the school day ended, I went up to the main office and I asked to speak with the principal.

I got in, and I told him about the situation. I explained to him that Sean was a problem student, and that I could no longer deal with him, and that he had sexually assaulted me in class in front of other students, because that's technically what that was, and honestly that it was all just the final straw for me. I tried to stay as calm as I could, but I also know that I was letting some of my anger through my statements. Unfortunately, the principal said that there wasn't a whole lot they could do to get him out of the school based on my reports alone, in an accusation of, as he put it, supposed sexual assault, wasn't enough to warrant an expulsion. I kind of expected this to happen.

I'm not going to lie. The school wasn't willing to risk booting someone on something like this, so I made a very formal request to the principal. Remove him from my class permanently. I basically said that either he was removed, or I would have to talk to someone about my contract with the school, essentially threatening to bring the union in to terminate my employment with them. It wasn't a threat that I thought would really do anything,

but it worked. He told me that he would take care of it, and that he would be given a supplemental class in place of mine. Basically, he would be sent to a study hall for the rest of the year, and he would not be allowed back in my classroom. That was about all I was going to get out of this, so I accepted it and decided to move on. During that class the next day, I apologized to my students for losing my composure, and while most of them seemed to be on my side with it, I still followed suit and told them that I was supposed to be a professional, and that I was sorry.

We got through class, no problem, and the day went pretty well, at least until the end of the day. At the end of the day, after all the classes were over, I was sitting at my desk and grading, as I often did, and then I heard my door opening. I looked over and wouldn't you know it, it's Mark and Dave, immediately followed by Sean. If it would have just been Sean, it would have been too much, but with all three of them, I was a bit concerned. Without giving him much attention, in hopes that he was just looking for me to get riled up again,

I asked him why he was back in my classroom. He starts in, yelling at me, asking why. I kicked him out of the class. I told him that his behavior was inappropriate, and that I wasn't going to tolerate the disrespect. It was then that I realized why the other two were there. They were blocking the door, and the window on said door. My room had no internal windows, beyond that one.

The rest faced out into the open space behind the school, so they were essentially both lookout and a bare. barricade slash blockade to the rest of the school. As soon as this hit me, I immediately pushed the call button to the office for security. And I yelled that I needed the officer to my room immediately. The whole thing felt like it played out in slow motion, almost. He was walking towards me with this evil glare on his face. I was sitting there thinking that this a-hole was going.

to literally kill me for kicking him out of my room, and that there was no way security was going to get to the classroom in time from where they probably were. Thankfully, the teacher next door to my room heard me yelling about needing security. Honestly, a lot of it's a blur. It all went from him reaching into his pocket, to the door being thrown open, to the other teacher pinning Sean down and asking me if I was okay, and then yelling out into the school for someone to call 911. After it had all calmed down, I was pretty much told about the whole thing like I wasn't a part of it.

Because I was so pumped full of fear-based adrenaline, I pretty much wasn't. They'd gotten into my room, I'd yelled at the office to get security there, and I was apparently screaming at him to not hurt me, which I don't remember that part. He had pulled a switchblade or something like that from his pocket, and he had actually taken a few swings at me, and he hit me once in the face. Thankfully, the math teacher next door had heard me screaming, and he shoved his way in and basically choked Sean out and pinned him down until the cop showed up. I wasn't seriously injured, thankfully, but I do now have a scar on my face from where he cut me.

Thankfully, that was enough to have him officially expelled and also arrested. I have no idea if he actually did time, but I haven't seen him or heard about him since. The other two boys that were with him were also removed from the school permanently, though there wasn't a lot they could be charged with legally. I am glad that the other teacher had heard me and decided to take charge, because I was obviously thrown into a state of panic. And I don't think that I could have fought him off if he had been able to keep up the assault. I honestly believe that had the other teacher not intervened,

Sean would have likely killed me that day. I started working part-time at a local gas station convenience store over the summer of 2016 to earn some extra money while attending college. When I was hired, I was informed that female employees were never scheduled to work overnight shifts, for obvious safety reasons, which I was relieved to hear. I wasn't so much worried about my safety, but I was concerned about getting enough sleep before class. It wasn't long before I found myself dreading the days I had to work, though, as the job turned out to be much more difficult than I had anticipated.

We were always short-staffed, which forced us to constantly multitask between running cash registers, preparing food, keeping an eye on the pumps, cleaning, stalking, etc. To make matters worse, the two women who managed the place were awful in every way, and I frequently found myself biting my tongue and talking myself out of course. I was especially on edge when they cut our 15-minute breaks down to 10 minutes, as I never seemed to have enough time to use the restroom and smoke a cigarette fast enough. But it wasn't until several annoying encounters with the regular, we'll call him James,

that I finally started to break. James was younger than me, maybe late teens or early 20s, and he thought that he owned. owned the place. Perhaps being the grandson of one of the managers gave him a sense of entitlement to mess with people there. The first time I met James, he approached the counter to purchase some chewing tobacco. As I was ringing him up, I asked to see his ID, and he told me who he was related to, but I politely asked again to see his ID because I was new. Another employee overheard our conversation and assured me that he was old enough, so I went ahead and rang him up. Staring at me intently the whole time, he looked down at my name tag and said,

Mindy, that's a pretty name. I thanked him for the compliment and gave him his dip, but he continued talking to me and asking several personal questions. He wanted to know where I lived, what my last name was. Whether or not I had a boyfriend, etc. Meanwhile, a long line had formed behind him and, not trying to be rude, I said something like, sorry, but there's a line behind you, and I casually motioned for the next customer to come up.

But James didn't leave. He simply stepped to the side and continued talking to me and watching me as I rang each customer up. It was immediately uncomfortable and unsettling for me, but I did my best to pretend like I wasn't bothered, even when his persistence escalated and another coworker told him to leave me alone. James soon began to make more appearances after that, the second time being with his girlfriend and another male friend by his side. Yes, he had a girlfriend, and I was very confused when he started flirting with. with me again, this time right in front of her. But oddly enough, she didn't say a word.

So I brushed it off and played along, assuming he's just the goof that my co-worker said he was. But when he sat in a booth with his sidekicks at the back of the store, I could still feel his eyes burning a hole right through me. Over time, I grew more suspicious of James, as I would witness him do and say countless things to hurt others. I knew that he was annoying, and I learned to brush it all off as an all-in-good-fun type of humor, like everyone else did. But when I caught him making fun of another co-worker to her face, all I could feel was anger towards him.

I removed her from the situation by taking her place at the register, as I could tell she was very hurt and embarrassed by his comments. and by doing so, it was apparent to James that I didn't approve. He would continue to cruelly harass this poor girl, and even some of the customers that came in. But trying to make him stop was like scolding a child. I didn't lash out at him, though. I just began to ignore him. James then started playing these head games with me while I was working. He would take soda and candy and walk outside.

without paying for it, and then come back into the store and say that I forgot to ring it up, loud enough for everyone to hear. One night, he even filled up his gas tank and took off without paying for it, before returning to say that he had just forgotten to pay. He knew he would always get away with it because Granny was the manager. By this time, it wouldn't have surprised me if he really was stealing gas and food from the store. There was something very dark and strange lurking behind his goofball facade, and I avoided him like the plague, though it was nearly impossible to do at times. Then, one day, while I was working alone with another co-worker, we were very busy with tasks as usual when, lo and behold, James walked in by himself.

I muttered under my breath, pain in the ass. and I walked straight back into the freezer to do what I was working on earlier. And then he followed me, inside the freezer. I didn't know he was there until he walked right up behind me and asked why I didn't greet him anymore. Startled, I jumped and quickly turned around, grabbing my chest and asking him what the hell he was doing back there. He laughed, as I told him I was busy and reminded him that only employees could be back in this area. He ignored everything I said, and instead proceeded to ask me personal questions, just like he did the first day that I met him. You never told me where you live.

He said, I'm curious about you. I just want to know. Tell me where you live. He was moving closer and closer toward me, literally backing me in to the corner of the freezer. Are you afraid of me, Mindy? He asked. I tried to push past him telling him to move, but. he kept stepping in front of me to block my way out.

Not until you answer me, he said. I started calling out for my co-worker who showed up and gave him hell for being in the freezer. I was finally able to push past James, and I made my way to the front counter, where I looked at the clock and saw that it was time for me to go home. I gathered my things and punched out as quickly as I could, but James followed me out into the parking lot. I swiftly got into my car, but James had managed to grab the top of my door before I was able to shut it. Come on, just let me see your ID, he persisted.

I repeatedly told him no, before I found myself practically begging for him to let go of my door so I could go home. Then, he grinned at me and said, Don't make me follow you, Mindy. Chills ran down my spine, knowing how much. bold of a person he was, and considering the fact that he literally just cornered me in the freezer only minutes ago, I highly expected him to follow through. Threatened by visions of what my drive home might soon look like, I became angry. I looked at him dead on before shouting,

Let go of my freaking door and stay the hell away from me. I then grabbed the door handle and ripped the door shut as hard as I could. He tried yanking on the door handle from outside to open it, but luckily I locked the doors in time. He then continued to knock on my window, asking to see my ID, but I started my car and backed away from him. I turned the wheels and high-tailed it out of there while he just stood and watched me speed off. I was never so glad to finally get away from him, but I was paranoid the whole way home, thinking that he could possibly catch up to me on the road, even though I never saw his vehicle behind me.

I would end up quitting the job after this, and I didn't care that my hiring manager was pissed about it. I'd had enough of everything, and dealing with James was the last straw. I didn't bother explaining anything to my manager, because it was apparent to me that James was probably never held accountable for anything he ever. did wrong in his life, and he likely never would be.

I never saw him again after that, and I hope that I never do, either. James was a jerk, a clown, a joker, but he was also borderline psychotic. I used to work at a popular women's clothing store in Wisconsin. I found that I liked working the evening shifts, too, because the nightman was super chill. There were also less customers, and I spent a lot of my time playing around on my phone. It was in a fairly populated area, along an outdoor sort of strip mall, alongside a few other businesses.

The area was actually growing, as it had just been a grassy field a few years prior. They built a few commercial places, as well as some of those huge copy-and-paste houses. you know the type. But anyways, because it was just growing, that meant that there wasn't a lot of activity around, which also meant there was little to no crime. This was also a reason that I liked working at night. Sometimes we had sidewalk sales and promotions

to try to drum up business, and no one was really worried about theft. It was actually quite nice at the time. So my story took place one of those, nights. I was working late. I was actually going to be the closing manager, as I had just started doing that week prior. It hadn't been long. This time of the year, we were busier than normal, so we usually had two people on closing, and this night it was me and a girl named Nora. Nora was always a very perky and happy girl. I swear she didn't have a mean bone in her body.

She was a sales associate, mainly, which meant that she typically walked the floor and helped the customers, and she was great at it too. I used to work alongside her, but I went to be a cashier and up from there. So she'd been folding and putting away clothing that was left out or thrown around. I was at the register counting down one of the tills since we were going to be closing soon. Nora was just about to take the claim items, which were items that were damaged or defective to the back room, and I asked her to drop the bank bag in the back too. While she was in the back, there was a couple that came in.

So again, it's probably close to nine, because that was when the store closed and it was dark. Most of the other stores are closed too, and the parking lot was pretty big with minimal lights in it, so I didn't even see them approach or walk by the window, until they opened the door. I greeted them, as I do, and the woman smiled at me and continued walking towards the first rack by the door. The guy, however, didn't even look at me and kept looking around at the walls, like he was specifically looking for something. The way they were both acting immediately put me on edge, though.

The fact that he wouldn't make eye contact and how she went straight for a rack and started messing with stuff made me think something bad was going to happen. I guess the guy must have noticed too because as I was trying to walk towards the farthest register where I'd left my phone, the guy called me over, claiming that he'd had a question. I tried grabbing my phone first,

but he jumped over the counter before I could do any, anything other than Yelp, and he grabbed it from me. We had a small struggle before he pulled out a knife, making me give up. He then took out some zip ties, tied my hands behind me as his partner in crime walked over to us. She was watching this take place with her wide bloodshot eyes and snickering. If I wasn't pinned to the wall with a knife to my face, I would have thought that she was pretty terrifying alone. I offered what I had in the register if they just left there, but the guy ignored me and told the girl to start grabbing. She pulled a trash bag out of her jacket, and as she started

laughing, she grabbed everything she could and shoved it into the bag. All I could think was if I just sat there and let them finish, they would leave, and we would be safe. But then my mind kept going to the worst-case scenarios. These people walked in without any masks on, and they didn't even try to cover their face. What were the odds they would actually let us go? Then, I remembered there was an us, and I feared that Nora would walk back in here and her life would be in danger. I tried to think of anything I could to keep them from going into the back, or to get me back there with her. Unfortunately, there was some kind of noise or something

because they both froze and looked towards the back room. I don't think they even considered that there could have been someone back there. The guy asked me if I was alone and I said yes, but he called the girl over directing her to watch me. I pleaded with him to not go back there, but he continued on holding his knife to his side. The next thing I heard was a blood-curdling scream that had to have come from Nora

and a loud slam. That scream still haunts me. I was starting to go into a panic attack and was feeling sick to my stomach, terrified of what could have happened to her. When he came back out, I didn't see the knife on him, but he ordered her to continue grabbing.

As she continued to feel the bag and seemingly talked to herself, the guy was patting me down. It was like he was trying to find more valuables, but the look on his face also told me that he was enjoying what he was doing. I felt disgusting. I couldn't protect my employee and friend. My store was being robbed shortly after I became the manager,

and now this. The damage this event had on me affected me for years. After what felt like hours, the two of them started fighting, as she had only brought two bags, one of which had started ripping, and she wanted to get more. He told her that what they'd had was enough and started heading out for the door. For some reason, though, he came back over to me, cut the ties off, and then said that after counting to a hundred, I should call an ambulance.

Then he ran out the door. I laid their motionless on the ground, counting out loudly in case they were listening. In between numbers, I yelled out to Nora saying that it was safe. hoping that I would get a response. I never did. After rushing through my numbers, I quickly got up and ran to the back as fast as my shaking legs would let me. My heart dropped when I found Nora laying on the floor with blood near her head. I softly rolled her over on her back and, thank God she was breathing.

I didn't see a knife anywhere or any real wounds, so I didn't know where she was bleeding from at first, until I saw the spot on her head. There was a cordless phone in the back room, so I called 911 and explained what had happened. The rest of that night hardly existed in my mind. The cops and paramedics arrived. They took us to the hospital where we were treated and had to give our statements. I couldn't leave Nora's side. I felt like I was to blame, and I didn't want her to be alone.

Nora and the guy apparently had a bit of a struggle too, and he was choking her until she passed out. As he let go of her, she fell to the ground, hitting her head on the desk. She'd actually had a concussion, but was going to be okay. Her fiancé and mother showed up shortly after, so I left her in the room, and I went to go speak to the store owner that had come out to find out what had happened. I actually had to go back to the store to make a report

and help determine what all was taken. I didn't get home until nearly midnight because the owner was insistent on doing it all that night. We had cameras in the store, and the detective even suggested that he lock up the store and that we could continue this the next day. But the owner didn't even bother to ask if we were okay. The store managers were awesome,

but the owner, I despised him, and I'm sure you can see why. So, overall, those two ended up stealing around two grand worth of clothing and accessories, and nothing else. We found my phone on the floor as well as Nora's. They never took the money from the register, nor did they touch the bank bag that Nora took to the back, that was still sitting on the desk. I still have no idea their reasoning, because they did get caught. when they found some of the items for sale on eBay. We'd been doing a special on these charm bracelets that were unique to our store, so they were

pretty easy to trace. If they were wanting to make money, why not take the money? The only thing I can think of between that and the guy telling me to basically check on her, it makes me think that maybe he was remorseful and or this was their first attempt. Either way, it was an event that I will never forget. I have healed and moved on from then, but I do still have some anxiety when going out alone, especially at night, so I try to avoid it. Nora was also okay, and thankfully neither one of us works there anymore.

If anything, be safe this holiday season. Be aware of your surroundings, but also, don't be too hard on yourself. Life is too short to not enjoy it.