Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - 14x24: A Crime of Passion and Revenge

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Stories in this episode: It Wasn't All in My Head | ShesTheVillain (0:39) "Come to my car. Don't listen to your mom." | Ashlesser (8:15) Creepy Interaction With My Eye Doctor Years Ago | SleepyGuy (14:34) Teenage Creep | Ghost (16:52) I Think I Got in a Car With a Serial Killer | CostRevolutionary395 (20:05) Almost Approached in the Woods | aioli (23:22) Almost Got Kidnapped | av-D1SC0V3R (27:40) The Time I Escaped a Crime of Passion and Revenge | Briezerker (33:11)  Extended Patreon Content: Gas Station Robber | DustBunny The Jesus Freak Takes the Cake | Emullama A Tale of Two Kidnapping Attemps | Reanna Library Lurker | Yvette Selfie Stalker | klayng Due to periodic changes in ad placement, time stamps are estimates and are not always accurate. Want Bonus Weekly Stories? Hate Ads? Join our Patreon for only $5 a month for over 100 hours of bonus content, and it's all ad-free! Join the Discord:https://discord.gg/84WXQud4gE Follow: - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/crypticcounty - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/ - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ - TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@crypticcounty All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. To submit your story to the show, send it to [e-mail].      Right now, when you sign up for a yearly Fireflies subscription, you get your first two months FREE! Just go to Fireflies.ai/meet.

This podcast contains adult language and content. Listener discretion is advised. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. Enjoy the show. To give you some perspective, this happened last year, late in the summer, in a very small town where I was renting a house while attending college. My only neighbors were a very old woman who never left the house, and the farmers' co-op. The woman lived to my right, and the co-op was to my left. Lastly, a trucker whose rarely home was living across the street from me.

I suppose it's also worth mentioning this tiny community has a disproportionately high problem with meth. Anyways, on to my story. When this happened, I was working graveyard shifts full time. This meant I slept all day until I had to get ready for work. And when I wasn't working, I was up all night. Cut to me sleeping like the dead at around 9.30 a.m. with my trusty roommate and best friend curled up in a big white fluff behind my legs.

The curtains I had in my bedroom were the ones that were there when I moved in, and they were effective blackout curtains. I was woken up by the sound of tapping. Someone was tapping their finger on my bedroom window. I froze in bed when I heard this, and my eyes snapped open, just listening. This went on for what felt like ten minutes, though it was likely half of that. My husky then began to snarl, which was very unlike him, but it all stopped after just one moment. Then, a crunching sound.

I heard heavy footsteps slowly walking away in the grass, retreating from my window. Now before you even say it, I already know I should have gotten up to see who it was. I knew that I wasn't dreaming, and someone was really there, but in that moment I froze until a few moments after they had gone. For the next couple of nights, my kid nephew, whom I'm very close with, came to stay at my house, ostensibly to play video games with me. I've always thought of myself as more of an older sister than an aunt, and he's only five years younger than me.

I knew he wasn't staying with me in an attempt to protect me, so as a token of appreciation, I bought us some Mountain Dew to drink as we played video games and hung out. Two nights later, at about 10.45, we were hanging out in my living room with the lights off. He was being very animated as he explained what he was about to do in this game when his head snapped sharply to the left, looking directly at the window.

Five seconds later, he was off of the couch and out the door. I was shocked as I got up and followed after, but he took off so quickly. When he returned a couple of minutes later, he demanded to know what the hell that was all about. I don't wanna freak you out, but… he trailed off. I just stood there listening to him as I gave him an expectant look, waiting for him to come out with it already. There was a man's face looking in through the window, he finally continued. I took off after him, but he disappeared.

Now I wasn't sure of how to process this, but I decided to play it off as I gave him half-hearted grief for chasing after a strange guy by himself at night. The night was strange after that. We were both pretending not to be on edge, and since we had no description of the person or any property damage, the cops were not called. Stupid, I know, but the town was so small that we didn't have a local police force. We had to wait for a trooper to show up. Adding to the unsettling feeling of the night, I received a call on my cell phone from a

strange number. The call went as follows. I picked up and said, hello. The unknown caller asked for me by name. I replied, who is this? They said my name again and asked if they were talking to me. I asked, who wants to know and who is this? I was speaking in my take no shit voice because this guy sounded drunk and giddy, and he knew my first name.

My kid nephew was sitting across from me, looking on to see how this call was going to go down. After a long pause, the caller finally said, Denny. This made me very uncomfortable. This was my landlord's husband, whom I had never interacted with before. I had no idea why he was calling me around midnight, seemingly drunk. I replied, The person you're looking for isn't here. I'm a friend, and I'm house-sitting for her tonight.

I picked up her phone because she accidentally left it here. He then mumbled something about having a good night and hung up. This off-putting moment only added to the already unsettled feeling going on that evening. So we locked up the house, double-checked every lock, and then went to sleep. The next morning I got up. I got ready for the day and then I helped the kid-nephew pack his things. Again, we saw these things as creepy but ultimately wrote them off as some weird small town scooby doo bullshit.

That was what we assumed, until we got out to the car. I went to put the key in the ignition, and I couldn't really get it in there. I tried again after adjusting the wheel and doing whatever I could to try and make it work, but nothing helped, and it seemed to be officially jammed. I called my dad to ask him to have a look at it since he's always been a good tinkerer. When he was there, he took my nephew aside to ask if he was trying to steal the car. My nephew denied this, and we believed him. It turns out someone had broken something metal off into my car's ignition.

I'm not sure if this was an attempt to start the car or vandalize it, but in any case, nothing was stolen. Yes, at this point, I called the sheriff's department and started a paper trail. Things calmed down after that, since I think having the sheriff drive by my house was enough to scare this person off. At least at first, but now I'm not so sure. Recently, I've moved up within my company, and instead of working graveyard shifts, I now return home just a little after midnight every night.

One night when I came home, I was beat. It had been a long day. So when I noticed that things in my house were off, I initially wrote this off as my tired self forgetting where I put things. And I also kept assuming I was forgetting to lock the back door. But after this has happened too many times, I'm starting to realize something isn't right. I think that somebody has been gaining entry to my house. This story happened when I was about five years old, back in 2009.

My family and I would travel down to the Jersey Shore every summer. We never had any problems until this one specific trip. When I was a child, I was very shy and kept to myself, and to this day I still can't confront people or tell people off without choking up. So I was in complete and utter shock when a girl who seemed to be around the age of seven came up to me and asked me to play with her. I accepted and walked off with the girl to where the toys and stuff were. I was in such disbelief about this that I didn't even tell my parents that I was leaving.

The part of the beach where she was playing was pretty far from where I was, and there was nobody else around. She brought me over to the very edge of the beach, which had a forest right beside it. Looking back now, I can see how this was very sketchy. Her mom was sitting on the sand with the toys, but they didn't have anything else with them. No chairs, towels, umbrellas, nothing. Just beach toys. But of course, me being a naive five-year-old, I didn't think anything of this.

The girl and I then started swimming. But I'm not sure how long we were doing that before her mom called out to us. When we went to her mom, she said that she forgot the chairs. She said that they needed to go to the car to get them. The girl agreed and asked if I wanted to go to the car with them to get the chairs. Again I was very shy, especially around adults, so I hesitated before saying no. The girl's mom disregarded this, then put her hand on my shoulder and began to lead me to the parking lot. With her hands still there, the girl's mother said,

Oh honey, it's okay. We need all the help we can get. We have a lot of stuff. I began to panic and replied, No, I think I should get back to my mom. I don't know why or how, but somehow I calmed down and started walking with them willingly. And that was exactly when my mom darted down the beach screaming my name. My mom was still fairly far away as she yelled, get your hands off my daughter now. The girl's mom ignored my mom and she tightened her grip on my arm

as she urged me to walk faster. The next thing she did certainly terrifies me just as much now as when I was a kid. The girl's mom then looked at me and coldly said, Don't listen to her, just keep walking. I was naive, but not that naive. I began to cry and said that I didn't want to help her grab stuff from her car anymore, since I just wanted to play with the girl. The girl agreed, and she began to look frightened at this point as well.

My mom finally caught up to us, ripped me out of that woman's grasp, and ran off with me. My mom was crying as she called my dad to tell him that she found me. I remember looking back at the girl's mom and the girl, and they were just staring at me. Neither of them were moving. They were just staring. I remember the girl looked so scared.

I in no way blame the girl for this situation. I do, however, believe that her mom was trying to take me, for God knows what reason. I feel like she told her daughter to go make friends with me and bring me back to her. I've never shared this story before, but I thought I'd write it out since there are so many stories out there about near kidnappings just like this. Most stories have male kidnappers. So I just wanted everyone to know that anyone can be dangerous.

Don't ever walk away with anyone that you don't know or don't feel comfortable with. Later on, my mom told me that she was looking for me for 45 minutes. So to the strange woman who tried to convince a five-year-old to go to to work smarter, and not harder. Whether that's automating post-meeting follow-ups, or streamlining how we communicate and collaborate across teams, we've been dealing with a lot of busy work, but Fireflies turns your meetings into action so you can focus on achieving results. Fireflies is the number one AI teammate that transcribes, summarizes, and analyzes our conversations so you can get the most out of every meeting.

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And right now, when you sign up for a yearly Fireflies subscription, you get your first two months free. Just go to fireflies.ai slash meet, M-E-E-T. That's right, two months free when you go to fireflies.ai slash meet, M-E-E-T. That's right, two months free when you go to fireflies.ai slash meet. That's fireflies.ai slash meet. To give you some background, this happened a long time ago when I was about 19 years old. I'm now in my 30s. I had just moved from New Mexico to California and was residing in the San Diego area. I got a job at a grocery store and the office for my eye doctor was really close by.

I started seeing the eye doctor for contact lenses and glasses. My eyesight has always been extremely bad, so I had to get refills often. To this day, this interaction pops into my head and creeps me out. The doctor, he looked like the actor Lawrence Harvey from The Human Centipede Part 2. One day, I walked in to get an eye exam, so he had me sit down in the chair and he rolled up to me on his wheeled stool. He placed that large machine that switches lenses in front of my face and had me lean forward.

He started making small talk, asking me how old I was, what I did for work, etc. As he was talking to me, I started noticing that he was getting very close, and it made me really uncomfortable. Then he started placing his free hand on my thigh and letting it linger. At one point, I mentioned this, and he responded with something like, oh, I see, well, you're a handsome guy, so this shouldn't be surprising. This was obviously strange, but I still booked my next appointment with the girls at the front desk on my way out. Later that day, I got a text message from a number that I didn't know. It said that they were the doctor.

They said my contact lenses were ready for pickup. I assumed this was a message generated by the office staff, so I responded with a simple thanks. The number then replied and asked me, So, what are your plans this weekend? Would you like to come over and play some pool? I also have a swimming pool. I declined promptly, ditched that doctor's office, and felt so weirded out.

For context, this occurred during the earlier part of the COVID-19 pandemic. I'm not sure which year it was, but I was living in an apartment complex that had multiple buildings that were owned and serviced by the same property management company. And now, on to the story. During COVID, I would walk my dog around the apartment complex. That was essentially the only reason that I would go outside, other than hanging out with the kids at the apartment playground. The first encounter I had with this teenager

was during the summer. I was a child and it was hot, so I was wearing shorts that still covered everything. In the area where I was walking my dog, there was a big hill that I had to walk up. I saw two teenagers on the hill as well, but I didn't think anything of this as I continued walking. Then I heard one of the hill as well, but I didn't think anything of this as I continued walking.

Then I heard one of the teenage boys yell, hey, nice ass. I was 10 at this time and absolutely looked my age. So I found this comment odd, but just ignored it. Then the other guy yelled, she's totally ignoring us. Hey, he said you have a nice ass. I quickly ran into my apartment with my dog and didn't tell anyone because I assumed and hoped it would be the last time I saw them. But then a few weeks later, I was out with my dog again near my apartment.

All of a sudden my dog started barking like crazy. I looked up and saw that it was the first boy who shouted that comment to me. Upon realizing this, I quickly picked up my dog so that my dog wouldn't bite him. And I said, sorry, he's barking so much, did you need something? Then he asked me how old I was, and I let him know that I was 10. He told me that he was 17, and then asked me which apartment building I lived in. I didn't tell him, but he launched into his next question anyway. Do you want to go play video games in my apartment?

He asked with a smirk. I said no and explained that I wasn't allowed to go to strangers' places. He kept insisting that I go with him and assured that we would have a fun time. I still said no, but he kept pressing and said that I could even bring my dog. Then he tried to grab my arm. I quickly pulled away and made up some excuse about needing to go inside to ask my grandma. To this he said, Okay, I'll be waiting for you at the swings.

I then went inside right away. I didn't ask my grandma about it since I had no interest in hanging out with him. I saw him around a few times after that, but I always avoided him. So to that creepy 17 year old that invited a 10 year old to his house, let's not meet again. As I share this story, I would like you all to please keep in mind that I was only 20 years old when it happened, and I was very naive.

Honestly, I'm pretty lucky to be alive, and God do I know that in hindsight. I kick myself whenever I think about it to this day. Well, about 20 years ago, I was walking down the road in a not so great area. It was summertime and I was dressed appropriately for the heat. I was wearing shorts and a tank top. I'm very thin and was downright skinny at that point, so I was mistaken for a sex worker more times than I care to admit. This may or may not be important to the story. So I was walking to pick up my son from daycare.

As I was going about my way, a truck full of men started to catcall and follow me. They turned around several times to yell at me out the window, and I was getting nervous about this. I was passing a gas station parking lot where a man, not much older than myself, was stopped in a nice car. He asked if I would like a ride, and he was attractive and didn't seem scary, so I said okay and got into his car. Trust me, I wish I could smack myself. Once I was in the car with him, he asked me where I was going.

I told him I needed to go about a mile straight down the road that we were on. He started going the opposite way and just told me that he needed to turn around, so I paid very little attention to this. He started to ask me about myself, so I told him I was escaping a domestic violence situation and was staying in a woman's shelter nearby. I told him how closely my activities were monitored and that I was due to pick up my son any minute, which I think was ultimately what saved me.

At some point, I noticed that he took another wrong turn. But I didn't know the area at all. So when I pointed it out, he said that he was taking a shortcut. That was when I caught a whiff of something. I know the smell of death and I was smelling decomposition. I turned around and looked in the back seat, looking for spoiled food or something, but his car was absolutely spotless. I mentioned the smell and he brushed it off and changed the subject, even though the smell

seemed to be getting stronger. I was baffled, so I had to ask again, but he still said that he didn't know. And guys, when I tell you that there was not a single crumb in that vehicle, I mean it. Eventually he dropped me off safely at my destination, but he never told me his name or asked for mine. He didn't ask for anything from me. I'm very sure that making him aware of the fact that I would be missed since my movements were tracked very specifically Was the only reason that I made it back out of his car that day

A few years ago when I was in my mid-teens I had gone for a run in the local woods as I often did at that time. On this particular day during my run, I decided to stop and mess around on a rope swing for a few minutes. For context, the swing was set back about 20 meters from the path, but was in full view of it. As I was at the rope swing, I saw a man start walking down the path. I didn't think anything of it initially, as his clothing suggested that he was just

out jogging. Despite this, I decided to move out of his eyeline. He didn't scare me or make me nervous, though. I was just feeling insecure since I had damp, messy hair from running, and it had also been a while since I shaved my legs, so I just didn't want him to see me. I was acting like I hadn't seen him yet and just happened to be moving on. I ended up walking parallel to the path as there was a nearby fallen tree that shielded the entire area from

view for a decently long stretch. Thinking of returning the rope swing when he had left the area, I peeked out from behind the trunk of the fallen tree to watch him. And doing so I saw that he had turned off the path and was now walking in my direction. Although this wasn't immediately suspicious, it seemed so odd to me, because this section of the woods didn't lead anywhere at all. I also noticed that he was walking unusually fast. I then quickly realized that I wasn't fully hidden behind the tree, as I thought. That was when I made eye contact with him, and he sped up slightly.

Alarm bells were going off in my head, so I just turned and booked it to where I knew there was a tiny set of steps carved into the dirt that led up to some small cliffs in a separate area of the forest. I was scared and in a panicked state, so I started to run quickly. I was so focused on scrambling away from him that I never took my earbuds out, so I had no idea if I was hearing footsteps following me or not. And I didn't even look back once, I just wanted to get myself out of there. From the top of the steps, I followed the small dirt tracks

to a secluded chalk pit near the cliffs. This area was still pretty wooded, so I hid among the trees and tried to call my friend, but had no signal. Looking back, I really wish I had thought about trying to call the police right then and there, but I still wasn't sure if I was being followed. And I wasn't sure if I was being followed, and I wasn't sure if I was freaking out over nothing. I was still thinking the whole thing could have been a misunderstanding on my part. After a while, I heard some voices

out on the dirt track. I clearly heard a man saying something about not being able to find her. This made my stomach drop. This is when I caught some glimpses of a vehicle and heard the sound of a car driving away. I then saw the car leaving the area on the higher road through some scrub land and back to civilization. I waited for a few more minutes before sprinting the entire way home. I was running off the last dregs of my adrenaline as I walked into the house. I pretended that nothing happened, as I knew that my parents would never let me go running again in the woods by myself if they knew something like this happened.

To this day, I still obsess over it. I wonder if somehow I grossly misread the situation or worse, I think about what could have happened to me if this guy was trying to get me and I hadn't escaped. Either way, I still can't shake the immediate spike of cold dread that I felt when I watched him step off of the path. Maybe instinct knew something that I didn't. I know a lot of people out there might have never been to Brazil

or know what's happening in Brazil, so let me preface this with the rule of thumb. It's advertised that you stay alert in Brazil as you're walking around. In the major cities, it's imperative to remain on high alert. While walking around these cities, use common sense. Don't flash your fancy watch or your fancy phone. Don't wear a blingy chain around your neck. Don't wear an engagement ring or any ring

with a fat diamond while walking in the streets. There are parts of the city that are quite safe where you'll have zero issues. And there are some parts where you need to make sure to use your common sense. And just like every other major city in the world, there are sketchy places that you should avoid entirely. Now I have been living in Brazil for seven years. I moved here with my wife who's Brazilian.

Recently, on a Thursday evening, we went to our local mall. It's not the most popular mall. You won't find a Chanel or a Gucci there, but there are decent brands like Adidas and Nike and what have you. We opted to park on the highest level of the parking tower as it had slightly more spacious parking spots, which was ideal for our big SUV. We then entered the mall to run some errands. We picked up our dry cleaning, grabbed some food, and hit the stationary store.

We quickly realized that it seemed as though we were being followed by a boy who appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties. In fact, it looked like he was wearing a school uniform under his hoodie, and he had a backpack on. My first language is English, so I was speaking English with my wife, who was also a native English speaker, regardless of being Brazilian herself.

This always draws attention to us when we're out, as almost nobody speaks English here. The only other English speakers in the area tend to be the working professionals in the financial district of the city, so for the most part English speakers in the area tend to be the working professionals in the financial district of the city, so for the most part English speakers are pretty seldom. After we realized we were being followed by this kid, we brushed it off and thought that we were probably being paranoid, so we went into some chocolate store to wait it out and

see if he would wait around for us or continue. He seemed to go away, so we just figured we were being paranoid. We then proceeded to the top level of the parking tower to return to our car. As I approached our SUV, I clicked the unlock button on the key fob when we were closer to the car. When our taillights flashed after I hit the button, I noticed that our taillights had a strange orange glow instead of the regular red hue. Once we were at the car, I also noticed many pieces of broken taillights on the ground.

Within a second of reaching our car and taking in what happened, another car pulled right up next to us and honked. I looked up and noticed that it was our vet and her husband. They smiled at us and came to say hi. We told them it looked like someone had hit our car. My vet's husband and I then inspected the car and noticed that the taillights appeared to have been broken deliberately, as no other part of the car was damaged. Essentially, there was no way that another person could have hit our car with theirs

and just gone about their way. Whoever did this intentionally broke our taillights. Confused, we went back inside the mall to head to the security office and seek security. The mall had insurance, so they said that they would proceed with the paperwork to get our taillights fixed. They also pulled the video footage, and from multiple camera angles, we could clearly see that the person who did this was the guy that we thought who was following us. He was accompanied by someone else and hurried around the corner as my wife and I approached the car. They could still be seen in the

footage as my vet and her husband got out of their car to talk to us. They just calmly turned around and walked away, all whilst constantly looking back. Security then alerted all the guards and they called the police to start a search for these young people. We were told that a few malls and banks had been hit by thieves who were known to break tail lights as a distraction to get people to stand outside of their car. Then as these people surveyed the damage, the people who broke the tail lights would run up from behind them and order them by gunpoint to get into their car and drive to the nearest ATM to clean out their accounts. Or worse. It was ridiculous luck that at that exact moment our vet happened to pull up right next

to our car. If we were just a minute earlier or later, I believe that something bad would have happened to me and my wife. We are never going back to that mall, at least not without parking extra close to one of the main entrances. My wife and I decided to start speaking in Portuguese and keep the English to a minimum while we were out. We wanted to draw less attention to ourselves.

Back in junior high, I started dating a guy who is now my husband. Since we were so young when we initially got together, we had one of those classic on and off relationships all throughout high school. During one of our off periods, I was going through some typical teenage girl drama and I lost most of my friends. This was during COVID, so with nothing else to do, I got into gaming and ended up becoming close

with a group of guys I met online. They also went to my school. I know what you're thinking. One of those girls who hangs out with guys because they're less drama. Well, this really isn't the case. In my experience, if anything, guy friend groups can have even more drama, especially if there's just one girl in the group. Anyway, I wound up developing a small crush on one of the guys, we'll call him Kyle. He wasn't my usual type, but he was funny and easy to talk to, especially after my breakup. I told him I wasn't ready to date again yet, but I let him know that I liked him and could

see things going somewhere with him, eventually. He didn't take it somewhere with him, eventually. He didn't take it all that well, though. He kept rushing me, wanting to lock something down, and every time I asked for space he got mad. Like, blow up on me and kick me out of the group chat mad. He would start fights and try to turn others against me, but it didn't work, thankfully.

He would also constantly check with me and ask if I still liked him when I took too long to reply. It was exhausting. I had extracurriculars and other things going on in my life, but he acted like I owed him attention 24-7. Despite all of the drama, we kissed a couple of times but we never made it official. Eventually I found out that other guys in the group liked me as well and this whole situation just got too weird, so I ended up cutting ties with all of them.

Months later, I reconciled with my now-husband. That pissed Kyle off, so he started posting music on SoundCloud and Spotify, painting me as a villain. He published songs about how I led him on, how awful I was, etc. But I was happy to be back with my now husband, so I just ignored it. Fast forward to about a year after graduation. My husband proposed to me, and we were thrilled. We posted our engagement photos on social media and everything.

We got nearly 700 likes on Instagram as our whole high school anticipated that this would happen. Then, coincidentally, 24 hours after we posted the photos, Kyle texted me, asking us if we wanted to meet up. My husband said why not, and we ended up going to hang out with Kyle, which, in retrospect, was not a great idea. But since my husband was about to leave for the military, we figured it couldn't hurt to reconnect with some people from high school before everything changed for us.

So, on the day that we agreed to hang out, Kyle picked us up. He seemed overly excited to see us, which was really strange since we hardly spoke, and weren't exactly on great terms with each other. We drove to the mall, walked around, and grabbed food. It was a pretty normal hangout. We caught up on what's been going on since graduation, and during that conversation, I could tell that there was something about him that had shifted. His smile just didn't seem real.

His eyes were off. It was like he was looking right through us. When we were ready to go home, we got back into the car, and he started driving aimlessly through town. It was late, probably 10pm, so there was no traffic, and everything was so quiet. Then he started speeding. Not for a little fun thrill, as teenagers do. It was way more dangerous than that.

He was pushing 110 in a 30 mph zone. He was flying through red lights and swerving around corners like he was trying to get us killed. I was half laughing about this at first, thinking that he was just showing off. But he kept doing it, as he casually mentioned how the seatbelts in the car weren't functional, and how he isn't a great driver. Then he started in with the real red flags. He started talking about how he knew he wasn't wired like other people.

He said he didn't really feel anything when people died. No sadness or shock. He said that he didn't feel anything. He even said, I think I might be a little psychotic. My husband kind of shrugged it off with an awkward, okay, that's cool, as I sat there, heart pounding, suddenly hyper aware of the locked doors, the broken seatbelts, and how fast we were going. Then Kyle brought up how badly I hurt him when we were 15, and said that he never mentally

recovered from it. I obviously apologized and explained that I was young and naive, but I also mentioned that I thought that we were past this and had long moved on since we both made mistakes. He then started blasting these songs, the songs that he wrote about me. The lyrics were so weird and obsessive. My husband and I exchanged a glance, but we let it go even though this entire car ride just felt off. Eventually, he pulled into this massive park in the middle of town.

The park had just installed a huge new staircase that was built on the mountain. No one else was around, and it was pitch black. Kyle then asked, do you guys want to go for a walk? We got out and began walking. I was very uncomfortable, but I agreed to go along for the walk anyway. The stairs went up very high, higher than they looked from the road. About halfway up, my knee started acting up due to this old basketball injury, so I told them I was going to stay put. Kyle stopped as well, and started talking again.

This time, he was talking about how he felt like he never really got closure. He also talked about how he still dreams about me and how he's never been able to connect with anyone else the same way that he did with me. He was saying all of this while my husband was standing right there. The tension was unbearable. My husband tried to keep things chill. He even joked lightly, but I could tell that he was ready to leave as well. And he was getting worked up.

Eventually, Kyle kept walking. He walked way ahead of us, then yelled back, You guys should come up here, it's crazy. Just look at this drop. We glanced up, and he was standing at this unfinished part of the staircase, near a ledge with nothing but raw cement below. He just needed to take one wrong step, and that would be it. My husband looked at me, then called back over to Kyle and said,

No, we're good, let's just head back now. Once we were all back in the car, it was tense and quiet. It was the kind of quiet that felt heavy. Kyle was fidgety, and he broke the silence by saying, if I had a gun right now, I don't know what I'd do. He said it so calmly and clearly. I'd even say his delivery was cold. There was no emotion in his voice whatsoever, and my body locked up.

I didn't even know what to say. My husband leaned forward and asked if he was okay and Kyle just gave him this weird smirk then looked away. He said, I'm good, just making conversation. We were utterly scared and kept mentioning that we were tired and ready to go home, but he literally would not take us home. Finally, a cop car slowly rolled into the parking lot. We weren't doing anything wrong, but Kyle lost it and started panicking. He was slamming on the steering wheel and breathing rapidly, nearly hyperventilating.

He was just as unfiltered as he was when we were in high school. And then he muttered, If that cop pulls us over, let's just say we're having a threesome. My husband and I blinked at him in response. This made no sense. We weren't high, we weren't drunk, we weren't even being loud. And yet, he was acting like we were running from something, something bad. The cop didn't stop us, though.

They just passed by. Kyle then pulled out of the lot fast and drove us straight home without saying another word. He didn't even say goodbye when we got out. He just sped off. Was it just me, or did it feel like he was trying to kill us? My husband asked. I didn't even hesitate. No, I replied.

It wasn't just you. After that night, we didn't talk to Kyle at all anymore. We both agreed it was weird. Too weird. My husband said that he couldn't shake the feeling that we had narrowly avoided something awful, and honestly, I felt the same way. The way Kyle stared down from that ledge. His expression was blank.

It was like he was watching and waiting for something to happen. Then there were all of the things he was saying in the car as he was driving us around recklessly. And he got freaked out by that cop. It all just added up to something sinister. The next weekend, we made plans to meet up with some more old friends. The guys in the initial friend group were Kyle and I met. Turns out, they all had cut Kyle off. There had been some drama, but I hadn't realized how serious it really was.

Kyle had been dating a girl whom we'll call Sarah. She ended up cheating on Kyle with one of the other guys in the group, and things got messy. Sarah ended up getting pregnant, but wanting nothing to do with Kyle. She claimed the baby wasn't even his. After the kid was born, they really did look like the father or who she said was the father. But it was still some pretty heavy emotional stuff.

Kyle didn't seem to be coping with this at all. We told them about our strange night with him, about the car ride and the creepy conversation, as well as the ledge. They didn't even flinch. One of them even said, Yeah, that sounds like something he would do. And then they all brushed it off. He may be jealous, but it's harmless, one of them said.

This was confusing to hear, as the more we talked, the darker it got. They then told us that when Kyle found out that I was engaged, he went off the deep end. He was on a full-on drinking rampage. He punched holes in his walls. He also tried to fight another guy in the group, who, by the way, is one of the most gentle people you could ever meet.

After all of this, Kyle disappeared for a few days. He wouldn't answer texts or call anyone back. When he finally resurfaced, it was like nothing had happened. He just showed up at their condo as if he hadn't dropped off the grid after threatening one of his closest friends. He just smiled, laughed, and acted normally. No apologies or explanations or anything. After catching up with that friend group, a few weeks went by, and my husband had to

ship out for training. I stayed in town but moved back in with my parents to prepare everything for the move that I was going to make after my husband's training was complete. My parents live about 30 minutes outside of town in a very small community. They have about three acres of land that's off a dirt road that only leads to their house. I always felt safe there, since they had cameras everywhere and everyone in the community owns guns including my dad. If someone was on that dirt road, my dad would wait on the porch with the gun, since we never had any uninvited or unexpected visitors.

Then I started getting messages from Kyle. He said he wanted to hang out one more time before my husband left for the military. I told him we were very busy, and he didn't respond after that. But then, the weird stuff started happening. One night, I swear I saw his car drive by the dirt road in front of the house. This was particularly odd, since like I said, we were in a very secluded area. Another time I got a notification that a random burner account had been viewing my Instagram stories. They were always the first viewer.

I blocked this burner account, but then a new one popped up. These accounts had no posts and no followers, they were just watching. I tried to tell myself that these accounts weren't Kyle's, but I knew that they really were. Then I started getting messages from another burner account. They weren't really threatening exactly, but something was very off about them. The messages were long rants about people being fake and how no one understands loyalty. Plus, there were a bunch of these cryptic comments like,

You're lucky. He's lucky. It could have been different, but I let it go. I remember thinking, let what go? But I didn't respond. The person behind these messages finally said, it's Kyle, by the way. I figured he was just spiraling, maybe going through something, so I blocked the account and then set mine to private.

I never saw him again in person. They kind of just disappeared after that. None of our mutual friends ever mentioned him, and there were no posts or anything with him. It was like he dropped off of the map. Six months later, I reunited with my husband. We moved several states away to a military base, and life finally felt calm again. Then, out of nowhere, I got a call from one of the guys in the old friend group. A bunch of them were still roommates, so they were all together as he called us.

He started the conversation by asking, Did you hear what happened? No, what happened? Is everything okay? I asked. Kyle tried to break into Sarah's house, he said. I froze as I responded. Why? Why would he do that? He claimed the baby was his, he explained.

He said she had been lying to him the whole time. According to them, Sarah said that he showed up out of nowhere, managed to get inside, and at some point he was holding the baby and trying to take her. She also said that amidst all of the chaos he somehow managed to stab her, and he was arrested not long after. That's probably why no one had heard from him. But then it got worse.

The guys told me that when he was arrested, the cops found a notebook. It had our names on every page, Sarah's name and my name. On the pages, there was some pretty obsessive stuff. The pages were filled with these graphic, violent fantasies about us and wanting to kill our significant others. He had also written about how he wanted to assault us right in front of our husbands. And if he couldn't have us like that, he wrote that he would end all of us together. It's been years since this happened, but I still have nightmares.

I sometimes dread that one day I'll have to explain the whole thing to my kids and then tell them to be careful with their high school flings. They can either end like mine and my husband's, married and together for 10 years, or like Kyle, still seeking revenge for a petty kiss five years later. I often think about that night on the staircase. I keep thinking about how he kept calling out to us, asking us to come up, saying how crazy the drop was. What if we had gone? What if we hadn't stopped halfway? What if I never had that basketball injury? What if my husband never put his foot down?

And what if that cop hadn't shown up and scared him just enough to finally take us home? My gut says that things would have ended very differently that night. But thankfully they did not. And I genuinely think that that is the reason I'm still here to tell the story. The scariest part isn't what he did. It's how close we were to being a headline instead. Thanks for listening. If you're a patron, stick around after the music for your extended version of this week's episode.

If you want to get access, go to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast, where you'll get access to ad free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate, plus weekly bonus extensions with stories you won't hear anywhere else. Again, that's patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. And don't forget to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts like odd trails and the old time radio cast at cryptic county podcasts.com. And finally, follow me on Twitch at twitch.tv slash cryptic county for my live streams. This week you have heard it wasn't all in my head by she's the villain.

Come to my car. Don't listen to your Mom by Ash Lesser, Creepy Interaction with My Eye Doctor by Sleepy Guy, Teenage Creep by Ghost, I Think I Got in the Car with a Serial Killer by Cost Revolutionary 395, Encounter in the Woods by Aoli, Almost Kidnapped by AV Discover, and finally, The Time I Escaped, A Crime of Passion and Revenge by Brie Zirker. All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast that's not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. If you have a story to share, send it to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com. We'll see you next week. Everybody stay safe. In the early 1980s, I was just a little kid.

My family lived in a town.