Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast - Wednesday One-Shot: I Bet He Wasn't Expecting That

Episode Date: August 2, 2023

Welcome to Wednesday One-Shots. Enjoy this bonus story to help get you through that midweek slump. This week we have a story by an anonymous listener.   The story you've heard this week was narrated and produced with the permission of its respective author. 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]. Get access to extended, ad-free episodes of Let's Not Meet: A True Horror Podcast with bonus stories every week at a higher bitrate along with a bunch of other great exclusive material and merch at patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast. This podcast would not be possible to continue at this rate without the help of the support of the legendary LNM Patrons. Come join the family! Check out the other Cryptic County podcasts like Odd Trails, Welcome to Paradise (It Sucks), and the Old Time Radiocast at CrypticCountyPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts! - Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/433173970399259/ - Website - https://letsnotmeetpodcast.com/ - Patreon - https://patreon.com/letsnotmeetpodcast - Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsnotmeetcast/ - Twitch - https://twitch.tv/andytatelive

Welcome to Wednesday One Chots, the series where we share a bonus story with you to help you get through the week. This time around, we have a story from a listener that asked to remain anonymous. It's titled, I bet he wasn't expecting that. This is a cautionary tale about middle school and how if boundaries aren't taught, young girls could end up being prey. This happened in the 1980s. I was 13 years old.

Tall, pretty, awkward, and shy. Boys were barely starting to notice me. I have two brothers who are younger than me. I don't really know how to interact with boys other than joke around with them as if they were my brothers. I liked laughing at their antics, but I guess I should have been more cautious. I was naive and had no idea that the middle school boys who I saw as casual friends interpreted this to mean that I was

interested in them. One boy will call Craig had a particular interest in making me laugh, telling jokes, and goofing around. He had thick glasses, breathed loudly, and heavily through his nose, and he was kind of a geek, but I was glad to have a distraction from the monotony of math class. This went on for almost a year, and then one day he said something very creepy to me. In this low voice, he said, I like those pants. They're really tight. I immediately felt gross. I was taken aback, but laughingly told him,

you shut up in typical middle school fashion. I didn't really know how to respond except to continue to banter as expected. Then things took a downward turn over the next few days. I guess he felt emboldened by our interaction, so he started telling me how good my butt looked in pants. He made other creepy remarks as well. I wasn't laughing as this behavior developed, and I started to ignore him. I had never been harassed like this before.

I was clueless as what to do, especially since he was a funny acquaintance just one week ago. Then, despite the fact that I was ignoring his comments, he crept up behind me in an empty hallway and actually smacked my butt. I was mortified. I yelled at him to stop, but he just smirked as he ran down the hall. This happened every single day over the next several weeks, and I was starting to become absolutely livid. His demeanor had changed into being more serious. He was no longer taunting or laughing. He was just intent on following me to smack or grab my butt, then he would dash out of arms

reach before I could react. He wasn't even trying to hide his predatory behavior, and he even did it in front of the students and faculty in the busy hallways. I always yelled at him, but he always ran away quickly and I couldn't catch up to him without dropping all of my books or making a scene. I wasn't comfortable telling the principal or any of the teachers what was going on, so my options were to stay a victim, or try to take care of things myself. Meanwhile Craig was getting bolder and bolder. One day he crept up on me through this thick crowd of students in the hallway. He then literally groped me. I was having a really rough day, and something inside of me snapped. I literally saw red. I knew he was going to get it. I had a sharp end pencil in my hand, and without thinking, I stabbed him in the shoulder and dug it

in hard. He wasn't able to run away because of the crowd. He whined and coward and pain as I screamed. I told you to stop. I didn't realize everyone around me was staring at me, and fear like I was the quiet girl gone crazy. They all rushed off the class, including Craig. I finally felt vindicated, which was more powerful than my embarrassment over losing control. After that, whenever he saw me, he had this look of terror in his face. He avoided the hell out of me from then on. I was more than fine with that. In fact, he avoided me for the remainder of middle school and all of high school.

He never spoke to me, or touched me again. Even though I do not recommend violence, I hope that his shoulder gives him a little twinge of pain every time he thinks about me. I also hope that he learned a lesson that might have prevented him from creeping on other unsuspecting girls. And the boys who saw me do it looked terrified. So I hope my lesson about boundaries extended to them as well. You never know which girl is going to snap after continually saying no or stop doesn't work. So Craig, if you're listening, I hope you grew up to be a better person.

Even if you did, let's not meet. Thanks to that anonymous listener for sharing their story. If you have a story to share, send it over to Let's Not Meet Stories at gmail.com. We'll see you all next week for a full episode of Let's Not Meet. Everyone, stay safe. you you