The Lets Read Podcast - 127: Winter & Home Invasion Stories | 22 True Scary Horror Stories | EP 115

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

This episode includes narrations of true creepy encounters submitted by normal folks just like yourself. Today you'll experience horrifying stories about Deserts, Home Invasions, Winter Spookiness... HAVE A STORY TO SUBMIT?► www.Reddit.com/r/LetsReadOfficial FOLLOW ME ON - ►YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/letsreadofficial ► Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/letsread.official/ ► Twitter - https://twitter.com/LetsReadCreepy ♫ Background Music & Audio Remastering: Simon de Beer https://www.instagram.com/simon_db98/ PATREON for EARLY ACCESS!►http://patreon.com/LetsRead Update Description

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Find a Michelin TreadExperts dealer near you at TreadExperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there. TreadExperts.ca. The End The End On March 31st of 2016, 72-year-old grandmother Ann Rogers was driving across the desert to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix, Arizona. Ann lived over 100 miles away in the city of Tucson, so she didn't get to see her family nearly as much as she might like to, and since it was her grandkids' birthday, she was exceptionally excited to see them. But on the drive over, a series of unfortunate events would force the elderly grandmother into suffering through one of the most harrowing, life-threatening experiences of her entire life, one of terror, desperation, hardship, and ultimately

survival. Around halfway into her journey across Arizona, Rogers found that her blue Ford Fusion was dangerously close to running out of gas. She stopped to ask directions from a friendly roadside pedestrian who pointed her in the direction of a nearby gas station. However, given that Rogers had informed the passerby that she was extremely low on gasoline, the directions she was given involved taking a shortcut down some back roads that would take her to the gas station without her completely exhausting her tank supply. This was Anne's first major mistake, since the back roads of Arizona desert looked pretty much identical, and as she tried to follow the directions, she became disoriented and took a

wrong turn. As she continued to drive around the desert in the hopes of getting back on the right track, her hybrid began to stall as the engine exhausted the last of its gas, and eventually, the vehicle came to a complete stop and refused to start up again. But at first, Anne had no reason to panic. She'd had the good sense to pack plenty of food and water for the journey, including cans of fruit, chicken, nuts, and protein bars, as well as being accompanied by her two-year-old rescue dog, a Queensland Terrier mix named Queenie, who, being the good girl that she was, provided plenty of moral support.

Anne also had plenty of charge on her cell phone, so it was simply a case of calling a breakdown company to drive out to assist her, or so she thought. Because when she grabbed her phone to call someone, she discovered that the area she was in had absolutely no cell coverage at all. It was only then that the severity of her situation became clear. It would have been considerably easier to deal with if she had simply broken down on a major highway, but she was on a remote back road where no one but the kind direction-giving stranger knew to look for her. But being the wise old grandmother she was, Anne knew better to simply abandon her vehicle. Such modern vehicles were fitted with GPS microchips, so surely it would only be a matter of time before someone came looking for her. Besides, when she failed to arrive for her

grandchild's birthday celebrations, someone would surely report her missing. And so as the sun began to dip towards the horizon and the desert night drew in, Anne decided to snuggle up under some blankets in the back seat of her vehicle with Queenie and get some much needed rest. The next morning, Anne awoke and tried her cell phone again, finding that she still had no signal with which to summon aid. Even in March, when some areas of the country are experiencing brisk spring rains, the Arizona desert was almost unbearably hot and arid. But Anne still had a fair

amount of water left, and expected people to be looking for her by now, so it seemed more likely that at some point during the day ahead, she would see rising dust in the distance as some kind of rescue vehicle came looking for her. But as the hours went by and no one appeared to assist her, Anne started to wonder if there was anyone even looking for her at all. But still, she knew not to stray from her vehicle, as it might only be a matter of hours before someone arrived to rescue her, and she definitely did not want to have wandered off when they arrived. But yet again, as the sun began to set on the Arizona desert,

Anne realized that no one was going to find her that day, and that the chances of her being found were steadily decreasing. So once again, she cuddled up with Queenie under some blankets and began to make plans for the following day. Her water and food supplies were steadily running dry. If she didn't make efforts to replenish them, she would be dead within days. Rescue workers would come across her dehydrated corpse being picked clean by vultures, and vultures always go for the eyes first. The image haunted her as she lay there that second night, the thought of her own eyeless, sun-bleached face being the first thing her daughter would see upon having to identify her body.

Actions had to be taken if she was to ensure her own survival. The very next morning, as soon as dawn broke, Anne stowed away her blankets, fetched a pair of binoculars from the trunk of her car, and headed up a nearby hill to scout the area. Through her binoculars Anne observed the long desert road she had driven along, so long and winding that the main highway she had turned off in the first place was barely visible. She could attempt to retrace it and flag down help from a passing motorist, but she was no spring chicken, and with minimal water supplies, it would be a huge risk to attempt to do so. Anne had also hoped that climbing such a steep hill to a higher altitude

would give her the cell phone signal she needed to call in help, but to no avail, as she found she still had absolutely no reception. But then suddenly, she saw something glinting in the distance, something that would ultimately save her life. It was a freshwater creek, one that had to be a few miles away by her reckoning, but one that would provide the desperately needed water she needed to survive her ordeal. And so, without a moment's hesitation, wearing her fur-lined hiking boots, she and Queenie headed down the hillside and marched in the direction of the creek. Using an empty Nutella jar, the contents of which had

sustained her rather effectively throughout the previous two days, Anne began to scoop up water which she shared between herself and Queenie. Some of the birthday gifts Anne had bought for her grandchildren included some art supplies such as colored pens, stickers, and colored paper. When she purchased them just a few days prior, there was no way she could have known how such seemingly insignificant gifts would play such a crucial part in her attempts at survival. As she sat in the shade of a rocky outcrop near the creek bed, Anne used the art supplies she had purchased for her grandchildren's birthday gift

to write a small note that simply said, However, Anne also realized that just leaving a note wasn't enough. Assuming she had been reported missing by concerned relatives by that point, the primary method that authorities would use in their attempt to locate her would be by helicopter. She had to be seen by air. She also remembered old movies where survivors would write SOS in the sandy beaches of the desert islands they were stranded on, or spell the letters out with palm fronds or fallen branches. But how, in a place where there is very little vegetation,

and where the dry, arid landscape would mean that any attempt to write something into the sand might be swiftly blown over by a gust of wind, would she make herself seen from the air? Yet it was about then that Anne spotted the bleached bones of a long dead elk lying in the sand, not so far away. And in a communion of death and survival that seems positively poetic in retrospect, Anne used the old bones to spell out help in large clumsy letters. The weight of the bones would mean that they would not be blown away or covered up, and the starched white of the bones meant that they would stand out like a sore thumb to someone viewing the area from a helicopter, and secured the handwritten note under one of the bones ensuring that it would be found if

someone got close enough to inspect the area. All she had to do was conserve as much energy as she could, be patient, and pray for rescue. Meanwhile, a horrendous series of misconstrued events meant that no one had actually reported Anne missing. You see, Anne decided to stay as quiet as possible about the visit so that it would be a surprise. Her children, simply assuming that she had forgotten about her grandchildren's birthday celebrations, were mad at her for having done so, and it was only on a day that Anne made the help sign out of elk bones that her daughter actually tried calling her cell phone to see what the problem was. Obviously, it didn't connect, so the daughter then tried calling one of Anne's friends who lived with her on the other side of Arizona.

To the daughter's horror, Anne's friend assured her that her mother hadn't forgotten about the birthday celebrations at all, and had in fact departed for Phoenix three days prior, assuming that she hadn't returned because she was staying with the family for a few days. Anne's daughter flew into a panic, realizing her mother had gone missing, and immediately contacted the relevant authorities to report her disappearance. It had taken almost three whole days to summon any assistance for the missing woman. Almost 70 hours of valuable searching time had been wasted, all because of assumption and miscommunication. Time was running out for Ann Rogers, and fast. But finally,

a team from Arizona Search and Rescue had been dispatched, who scoured the route between Ann's home and her route to Phoenix. But because they were totally unaware that she had driven off-road in the hopes of finding a shortcut to the gas station she was looking for, the search and rescue team looked for her in entirely the wrong place for the first four days of their search. So not a single trace of her or a vehicle were found, culminating on the fifth day, when highly specialized sniffer dogs were called in to search for her. Only, these dogs were not trained to search for living people. Quite the opposite, they were trained in

sniffing out dead bodies. Arizona Search and Rescue had concluded that there was no possible way that a 72-year-old woman would be able to survive out in the desert for that long, and usually they might very well be correct to assume that. But on the very same day that the corpse-sniffing dogs had been called in, the search teams had made the decision to search the back roads around the highway that Anne was thought to have been traveling down. It was only then that they found her abandoned car, and the search teams went into overdrive in their attempts to locate her. They were close, very close, and they knew it. The helicopter that was previously involved in the operation was called back into service to scour the area surrounding Anne's abandoned

vehicle for any sign of her, and it wasn't long before they noticed the help sign she had scrambled together using the elk bones. Ground teams moved in to search the area more intensively, and quickly found the handwritten note that Anne had left on that third day when she walked to the creek to find water. But given that it had been written almost a week prior to its discovery, the ground teams feared the worse, knowing there was only a slim chance that Ann could have survived exposure and deprivation for that long. However, when they followed the creek downstream, they came across a dog splashing on the edge of water. It was Queenie, Ann's two-year-old terrier mix, and close behind, haggard and weakened from more than a week living wild in the Arizona desert, was 72-year-old grandmother, Ann Rogers.

She had heard the steady thudding of the helicopter rotor blades, left an abandoned ranch that she had taken shelter in, and walked back along the creek in the hopes of running into those searching for her. It was a gamble. She was extremely weak by this point, but the gamble paid off. The rescue teams couldn't believe their eyes. Anne had no right to have survived such an ordeal, but there she was in the flesh. She had lost a dangerous amount of body weight due to starvation and dehydration, her skin flaked and peeling from the sunburn she had suffered, but the fact that she was standing at all was something of a miracle. But Anne was not as vulnerable as she may have first appeared. She grew up surrounded

by nature and was taught to forage, fish, and camp from a very early age by her outdoorsman father. She also learned how to discern edible plants from poisonous ones. These lessons saved her when wild plants were all she had to eat. She was also given the gift of a turtle that she sighted swimming in the creek one day. The turtle was moving slowly because the water was so cold so she scooped it up with her foot, using her knife to kill it and cooked it inside the shell, some of the only protein she was able to consume during her nine-day ordeal. Anne was immediately airlifted to the hospital nearby Payson as Arizona Search and Rescue informed her daughter that she had been found. Her daughter, Erin, immediately drove

to the hospital to greet her, elated with the news that she had survived such a harrowing ordeal. It was a tearful reunion between a mother and daughter who had believed that they might never see each other again. Anne's daughter sobbed her apologies that she hadn't called in help earlier and promised never to take her mother for granted ever again. Anne forgave her in an instant, confessing that it was foolish of her to allow herself to run so low on gas in the first place and that she'd never have forgotten her grandkids' birthdays in a million years. After a few days in the hospital and IV drip,

Anne Rogers was discharged, only to be greeted by a flurry of local media outlets who had been following the story of her disappearance closely. As crazy as it sounds, I'd like to get back out there as soon as possible, she said to the shock of the gathered press. I could definitely paint for the next twenty years all the incredible beautiful canyons, trees, rivers, and rocks that I saw. It's like being in Sedona, only multi-layered, over and over again. Those incredibly wonderful geological scenes all around me. It's frankly incredible that someone could go through such a traumatic and terrifying experience, and then come out the other side of it with such clarity and conscience. Ann Rogers faced a lonely, agonizing death out there in the desert of Arizona,

an experience that would have scared most people out of their wits. Yet she survived, and maybe we can draw on Ann as an inspiration for our own lives and learn from her that no matter how terrible a situation seems, keeping a cool head and remembering our loved ones can get us through just about anything. I live in a fairly small city here in Arizona. About 40 miles or so to the north is the city of Phoenix, as well as the Tonto National Park, but to the south it's pretty much all desert as far as the eye can see. A lot of outdoorsy type people opt to go hiking in the mountains of Tonto, or along the Salt River near Roosevelt, but I much prefer the Sonora Desert.

There's something really peaceful about being out there, and nothing beats rambling through the mesas, listening to Horse With No Name to relieve stress after a busy work week. But if there's one thing I've learned from hiking out there, it's to stick to the lowlands, because there are people hiding among the bluffs out there that you really don't want to run into. And this is the story of my own personal encounter with one of them that took place a few years ago. So I'm a couple of hours

into my hike. It's unusually hot out for the late afternoon and I'm starting to run out of water. I usually start heading back to my car when my canteen starts to run low because as you can imagine, it's not safe being out in the desert with no water. But I was in a real hiking mood. I had more than my usual amount of stress to burn off and I honestly didn't really feel like turning around just yet. Then right as I'm deciding whether or not to actually call it a day I see something shining out from a hilltop not too far away. It looked like a little blinking of light coming from my direct east and it took me a moment to realize it was lens flare from a pair of binoculars.

I figured it was another hiker, maybe even a group of them and that if I asked nicely I might be able to bum a little water off of them so I could continue my hike. So I pick up the pace, winding through the cacti in the hopes that I could catch them on the hilltop. It's tough going and I'm sweating like a turkey during holiday season by the time I'm like halfway up the hill, but I'm determined to reach the top before they depart, imagining that I might be able to make myself some new hiking buddies in the process. But when I finally reach the top, there's no one to be found. The place was completely deserted.

I take a little look around, but still I don't see anyone. Yet I do find evidence that someone had in fact been there at some point, and recently too. I see all these gearboxes covered in some kind of camouflage material, canvas bags shoved into cracks into the boulders, solar panels sitting out in the sun, and even a kitchen with a stove set up under a rock overhang where there was a fire still burning. It was a full-on campsite on the top of that hill, with a pretty commanding view of the surrounding area. Only it was just a matter

of minutes ago that I had seen the lens flare coming from what I assumed was this exact site. It was about then that I got this really eerie feeling that I was being watched from somewhere and it didn't take long for me to discover how that feeling wasn't entirely without reason. Manos arriba. Someone said behind me in a gruff but chillingly calm voice. I know enough Spanish to be able to recognize that this meant hands up. Punctuating those words was the unmistakable sound of someone locking and loading a gun of some description. Por favor, no despares. I said as I raised my trembling hands into the air. Please, don't shoot. The person then said something else in Spanish, something I didn't

understand, but the fact that they then pushed me down onto my knees clued me into their meaning. I thought that this was it for me. You have no idea how easy it would have been for them to just shoot me there and then, before leaving my body out in the desert for the vultures and coyotes. Had they done so, there's a good chance no one would ever have found me, not in one piece anyway. But instead of just straight up executing me, this mysterious person began to pat me down for weapons. Then when they were happy I wasn't carrying any, they emptied my pockets of my wallet, phone, and car keys. Polizia? They asked suddenly.

Their words were muffled and I could tell without turning around that something was covering their face. No, no policia, no estoy policia. I said insistently, realizing that my life depended on them believing my response to their question. There was every chance they might just put a bullet in the back of my head. Better to be safe than sorry, but no bullet came. Instead, I heard them talking in Spanish again, something that was too fast for me to understand. I thought it was another question or statement directed at me, until I heard someone's voice coming over a radio set, someone this person was obviously communicating with. I strained my ears to try to pick up on what they were saying, knowing that my safety probably depended on whatever reply they were giving but again, I could barely make a word out. It was a dumb thing to do but I think my curiosity just got the better of me for a moment

and I found myself turning slowly to try to get a look at the guy behind me. I only caught a little glimpse of the guy before he aimed his weapon at me and barked, No me meris. Don't look at me, in my direction, but I vividly remember what he was wearing. Besides the ski mask that I had figured he was wearing, he basically had full military garb. Combat boots, khakis, a tactical vest that held spare magazines for his rifle, as well as what looked like little smoke grenades attached to it. I had no idea what he was doing up there, being so well equipped, but whatever it was, he meant business. The next thing I know, he throws my wallet, my water bottle, and my car

keys down in front of me, then holds my driver's license up in front of my face. You talk, you die, he said in English, before ordering me to my feet and dismissing me with a curt, vamos. I did as I was told. Utterly terrified, this mysterious gunman now knew my name and my home address and would be able to share such information with whoever his superiors were. Naturally I had absolutely no intention of reporting him to the police and have actually never told a single soul this story until now and I only do so under relative anonymity because when I got home from that hike I actually did a little research on who that guy could have been and what I found absolutely terrified me. One of the first

things I read online was an NBC article from 2011 which detailed how the Sinaloa cartel was sending scouts up into the hills around the Sonora desert in order to track the movement and activities of US law enforcement. The article said these cartel surveillance teams will come up into the hills for sometimes two whole months at a time, and that there were thought to be two to three hundred operatives working out there at any one time. They are even equipped with highly sophisticated military gear like night vision goggles and radio encryption equipment. I realized it was one of these guys that I had run into on my hike, and that I had been extremely lucky to have gotten to walk away without catching a bullet. If that guy had even suspected that I was a DEA agent or something and not some dumb hiker who was out walking somewhere he shouldn't have been, I'd have had my bones picked clean by desert scavengers before the weekend was out. I won't lie, I'm definitely no tough guy and the whole experience most certainly put me off of hiking around the desert for a long time

as it was frankly one of the most terrifying experiences of my entire life. My first time back was a little nerve wracking and I couldn't quite keep my eyes off the hills, just looking for that telltale glare from the binoculars of someone watching me. These days, I'm back to making it out there at least once a week, but I make a point of staying away from the hilltops, because next time I run into one of those scouts from the Sinaloa cartel, I might not be so lucky. A few years ago I took a break from my regular 9-5 job to go traveling around the world. It started with a nasty breakup with my girlfriend. I was fixated on it, like I literally couldn't get some of the things that she'd said out of my mind,

and it got to the point where it was pretty severely affecting my performance at work. Luckily my boss was pretty sympathetic towards the situation. He told me that I should take an extended holiday to basically flush my system then return to work with the focus and drive I'd lost as a result of the breakup. That gave me the idea to go traveling. My travels started pretty simple at first. I rented a car and began to drive around Europe, seeing all the places that my ex had never fancied visiting when we were together. But it wasn't long before I developed a real thirst for adventure and began to crave visits to less conventional holiday destinations. That's how I ended up in the Sahara Desert.

Egypt was an incredible country to visit. Seeing the Great Pyramids was truly a bucket list level experience, but time after time I felt like I was only seeing the exact same thing every tourist does when they're in that country. I wanted to get out somewhere off the beaten path to have a truly unique experience, so I found myself checking out brochures for desert tours. But like I said, almost every single one seemed like a complete tourist trap, where they'd take you out into the desert on a camel train, lead you around in a circle, then head back to civilization. I remember mentioning that exact thing to a guy in a tourist office, who in turn told me he had a friend that did business with a tribe of Bedouins who lived

out in the Sahara. For a small fee, his friend would drive me out into the desert, where in exchange for a bit of cash, I might be able to arrange a short stay among the tribesmen to experience an ancient way of living that would make for a truly unique experience. So a few days later, I was sat in a 4x4, driving out into the Sahara with a complete stranger named Rashid. Rashid barely spoke any English, but we still found ways to communicate, and getting on the road for my first proper adventure made me feel like a discount Lawrence of Arabia or something. But the views of the desert were really something else. It was like an ocean of sand out there.

The heat wasn't the only thing that fried my brain, just the sight of miles and miles of dunes as far as the eyes could see. It was absolutely incredible and some of my best photos from the entire trip were taken from the tops of some of those mountains of rock and sand. Staying with the Bedouins was an amazing experience too. I didn't think that they would be so welcoming to a complete stranger that wished to insert himself into their lives but they didn't seem to mind at all. They called me Mosifer which means traveler in Arabic and invited me into their tents to drink coffee and sample their food. But the thing is, it's customary for Bedouin to offer their guests meat from the head of the sheep they slaughtered in their honor, particularly the eyeballs. Eating a sheep's eyeball was probably one of the scariest, most high-pressure things I'd ever had to do as I was absolutely terrified of puking or retching in

front of them as there's no way that that could be taken as anything other than an insult and the guests being ungrateful. But not only did I manage to keep it down, it didn't actually taste bad at all. It had an unusual texture sure but it wasn't unbearable by any stretch of the imagination. I thought the worst was over, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The next morning, Rashid, who'd stayed overnight with me so he could drive me back the following day, shook me awake in the guest tent. He was frantically talking in Arabic and although I couldn't understand exactly what he was saying, I could tell from the tone of his voice that something was horribly wrong. But like I said, we didn't need much to be able to have a basic level of understanding and when he picked up my rucksack and threw it towards me, I knew what he was getting at. We need to get out of here, and fast. At first I thought there had been

some kind of disagreement with the Bedouin. People were shouting outside of the tent and in my half-awake days I thought it might have been out of anger. But as I came to my senses and walked outside the tent, I realized what it was in their voices. It was fear. In the distance I saw something that at first I'm not sure my tiny western brain could even compute. We don't have all that much in the way of extreme weather in England. The worst it gets is some heavy wind and rain. So seeing a huge wall of darkness on the horizon, a gargantuan mass of brown and black was just about the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen in my life. It was a sandstorm and it was approaching fast.

Unlike the Bedouin, we were completely unprepared for a sandstorm of that magnitude. The damage it would do to our lungs if we were caught out in it, not to mention the damage it would do to Rashid's vehicle, might mean we would be stranded in the desert for a long, long time. The Bedouin only had barely enough supplies to support themselves, let alone two other strangers. We had to get out of there, and we had to do it quick. We barely got out in time, and looking back to see the Bedouin camp swallowed up by the sandstorm as it continued to pursue us across the desert was honestly terrifying. It was so impossibly huge. It reminded me of something out of a Lovecraft story or something. Something that's so impossible to behold that it's kind of

maddening, like it frazzles your brain just to lay eyes on it. We did end up making it back to civilization and time where I held up in my hotel room until the storm passed, but the whole time I couldn't keep my mind off of those poor Bedouin, stuck out there in the desert because they just didn't have the time to pack up and leave so they could dodge the storm. I ended up traveling all around Asia and America on my travels, and I have a few more scary stories from a handful of different places, but nothing really compares to laying eyes on that sandstorm for the first time. Sure, people can be scary enough,

but I don't think they'll ever quite be able to match the kind of awesome terror that Mother Nature is capable of generating. We'll be right back. Tires to Auto Repair Tread Experts is always there, helping you with Michelin tires you can trust. Until May 30th, receive up to $70 by prepaid MasterCard with purchase of four new Michelin passenger or light truck tires. Find your pro at your local Tread Experts. From tires to auto repair, we're always there. TreadExperts.ca Discover the exciting action of Bed MGM Casino. Check out a wide variety of table games with a live dealer

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. I live out here in Las Cruces, New Mexico, right on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. About once a month, me and a few buddies of mine drive out to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park to drink Coronas and grill up some meat on a campfire. All but one of us are married with kids now, having put our wilder days behind us, so getting out to the nature park every so often is pretty much the only time we get to hang out and escape the mundane aspects of family life. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife and kids and I'm pretty happy in my career but nothing beats hooking up with the boys for a few hours of beer and big boy talk. So this one time, we're out there sinking brews

and complaining about the cardinals with hot dogs and jerky when I find myself needing to sneak off to take a whiz. I find myself a collection of little shrubs to serve as an impromptu urinal, then unsheath my pork sword and begin to relieve myself. I should note at this point that I'm wearing khaki shorts and boots so you can picture how this goes down. Right as I finish up and I'm zipping my fly back up, I feel something tickling the hairs in my left leg. I look down, and there's a freaking scorpion crawling up my leg. Now you should know I am absolutely terrified of spiders and scorpions, like I'd actually pee my pants scared. Anyone else might have just slapped the thing off of their leg like a ninja but I just freeze up completely, watching as the thing continues to crawl up my leg using my hairs to get higher and higher until it's in a serious danger of sneaking up the leg of my shorts.

I had like one last chance to get that thing off me before it disappeared and unfortunately for me, I simply could not summon the bravery to do so. So, I was forced to watch as that evil little monster crawled up in my shorts. And this next part is why I no longer wear boxer shorts and made a heavy investment into a bunch of snug-fitting trunks in the aftermath of this nightmarish event. Because the scorpion doesn't stop when it's hidden away under my shorts and I can feel it slowly but surely crawling up my thigh further and further until it reaches the loose opening of my underwear.

Now at this point, my buddies are calling out to me and making all kinds of dumb jokes about me playing with myself over a particularly attractive wild pig. I wanted to tell them what was going on. Maybe they'd have been able to find a way to rescue me from a fate worse than death but like I said, I was just froze in absolute terror as I feel that scorpion crawling into my underwear and dangerously close to my junk. By the time my buddy Jay walks over to actually see if I'm okay, I can actually feel the scorpion crawling over my member and trying not to wince as I feel its sharp little legs digging into the sensitive flesh down there.

It takes absolutely all of my strength to just turn my head and face them and immediately they know something is horribly wrong. I'm sweating, I'm pale, my hands are shaking, and I can barely talk. But I do manage to get out the words, S-S-S-Squirpian, it's all my junk. Jay is all like, What did you say dude? There's a squirpian on your junk, like for real? All I can do is reply in a nod.

Jay runs back to the guys to tell them what's going on. Having known from the look on my face that I was most definitely not kidding around, and immediately they all rushed over, which is when I notice that Jay has this big gnarly stick in his hand that he starts holding like a Louisville slugger as he gets closer. So I'm just stood there, trying to stay stoned still as the boys argue amongst themselves about why it would or wouldn't be a good idea to smash me in the junk with a stick in the hopes of killing the scorpion and saving me from perhaps the worst pain that any man could ever experience.

And all the while, I have to just stand there and feel every little movement of that scorpion as it navigates its way across my meat and taters, praying that it doesn't opt to just nestle up inside my underwear as its new fleshy home. The whole time I'm just thinking like please keep going, please keep going, please keep going, just willing this little creature to keep moving through my boxers and out the other side, which thankfully it does. I've never been so convinced of the existence of an ever-loving god than I was in that moment, as I felt the scorpion crawl out the other side of my boxers and down my right thigh. Then, as it slowly emerged from the right side of my shorts, one of my buddies leans in and smacks the thing off my leg with one swift liberating flash of

movement. I let out a full five minutes of terror and anxiety in the moments that followed. Marching back up towards the fire in the cooler, screaming out every single expletive I had stowed away in my memory bank before downing like two full coronas and cursing the fact that we didn't have the foresight to have packed anything stronger. Luckily, it didn't take long for us all to see the funny side with my buddies making jokes about how a scorpion had gotten closer to my junk than my wife had in years. I have to admit, I laughed at that one and the jokes helped break the tension and calm me down. But seriously, that was legit one of the scariest experiences of my

entire life. I can't even imagine the kind of pain I'd been in if I'd had panicked and had that little monster sting my twig or berries. And now, when we go out to the nature park for brews and boy talk, I always, always wear long pants. On Friday, May 31st, 2019, Juan Gonzalez, a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, drove over to his sister's house on West Pebble Road near Durango. He and 24-year-old Esmeralda had always been close. Having been born in Machoa, Can, Mexico, their family had emigrated north not long after Esmeralda was born. They grew up as strangers in a new land, one in which they often felt like outsiders. As a result, Juan had always been particularly protective of his little sister, but when called over and rang the doorbell, there was no reply.

This was unusual as Juan had called ahead a few days before to make sure that she would be home at the time of his visit, and given that he hadn't received any calls or texts from her that day, he had no reason to suspect that she wouldn't be home. After several more rings of her doorbell, she had no reason to suspect that she wouldn't be home. After several more rings of her doorbell, she still didn't answer, so Juan walked around the property to peer through a window just in case her sister was listening to music using earbuds, which she often did during her regular workouts. What he saw inside frightened the life out of him. The home had been completely ransacked, with furniture flipped over

and pieces of broken ornaments strewn around the rooms. Juan forced his way into his sister's home, calling out to her as he did so, but still there was no reply. The place was completely deserted. Juan immediately called the police to report his sister missing. Police records indicate that he was obviously extremely worried about his sister's well-being, and he had good reason to be, too. Ever since she graduated with a communications degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Esmeralda had dreamed of a career in media. In a Facebook post from 2017, she gushed over the fact that she had finally been able to meet some of the news anchors from TV's Telemundo, who held positions that she deeply coveted due to her Latin background. But competition for such media jobs is extremely fierce, particularly for niche organizations such as Spanish-language news outlets. Esmeralda strove to make a name for herself,

cultivating an Instagram following of over 300,000 by posting glamour shots that she acquired as part of her side hustle of modeling and exotic dancing. The profile described her as a real estate investor, humanitarian, social scientist, anthropologist, and foreign model. She was a very sweet, very nice young woman. Neighbor Janice Zeno told a local news outlet in the days following her disappearance. She had a cute little toy poodle and she would sit out on the little bench outside of her house and she was very pleasant every time we spoke to her. Esmeralda also had big dreams and once posting a Facebook status that simply read, Life without dreaming is a life without meaning. But time and time again, her hopes of securing a media career were dashed,

until one day, Esmeralda seemed to suffer from a full-on nervous breakdown. After a brief stay in a psychiatric unit in her adopted hometown of Las Vegas, doctors diagnosed her with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But despite being prescribed a series of antipsychotic medications in the wake of her breakdown, Esmeralda's condition appeared to have worsened. She became more and more heavily involved in the adult entertainment industry, and along the way found that narcotics were much more effective at alleviating her stress and disappointment than any of the doctor-prescribed medications, with her drug of

choice apparently being crystal methamphetamine. Obviously, such heavy use of the drug had a devastating effect on her mental health, as well as her finances, with Esmeralda being forced into performing seedier and sleazier acts in order to fund her lifestyle. Her brother Juan and the rest of her family were all too aware of her recent struggles, which is what led Juan to seek to check up on her the day that she was found to be missing. In order to aid the ongoing police investigation into her whereabouts, the Gonzalez family set up a Facebook page, simply titled, Find Esmeralda Gonzalez. A post on the page from June of 2019 states that,

It has been an absolute nightmare not knowing where she is. We're just worried about her every day, constantly thinking about her, and appealed to anyone who might have any information on her whereabouts to come forward. Yet three months later, in September, Esmeralda had still not yet been found, and none of those involved were any closer to determining just where she was located. One post on the Facebook page noted that Esmeralda had been missing for 99 days. Our page was temporarily down to attempt to give Esmeralda's family a break from the emotional toll of this experience. Thank you everyone for your positive wishes and continued

concern. Days later, some deeply concerning details emerged regarding her well-being before she went missing. Gonzalez was described by the Facebook page devoted to finding her as being in fragile mental health in the days leading up to her murder. In the days before her disappearance, Esmeralda experienced multiple psychological episodes. She's extremely vulnerable. We miss the friendly and cheerful presence of Esmeralda. Her family desperately seeks answers about her whereabouts, a post read. Las Vegas Metro Police then made a disturbing breakthrough. They discovered that Esmeralda had been sighted the day before she disappeared

at a nearby car dealership and later on the home surveillance camera of one of her neighbors. She was dressed only in lingerie and high heels and was reportedly acting dispirited and depressed. The events that led up to her walking around and next to nothing in a melancholy daze are unknown, but it doesn't take a detective to work out that they can't have been good. After watching a series of tapes from CCTV cameras near the dealership, police contacted identifiable witnesses who reported that Esmeralda had apparently stopped them to ask for a ride. Another pair of homeowners told police that she had actually tried to open up the door of her home in an upset and disoriented state before

they were forced to make it clear that their home was most certainly not the one she was looking for. This was the last time she was seen alive. However, Vegas Metro Police knew that they were extremely close to finding her, and once again appealed to the general public after disclosing the breakthroughs of the case. It was then they received a horrifying tip from an anonymous caller, who claimed to have been visiting a friend's house during the last week of May, where they'd seen a beautiful young Latina girl wearing nothing but lingerie. After the girl and their friend had gotten into some kind of verbal altercation,

the girl had apparently punched the caller's friend in the face and threatened to call the police. She was then dragged into a bedroom where the altercation apparently continued. After some time, the anonymous caller walked over to the bedroom door, opened it, and peered inside. There they discovered a nightmarish scene that they told police was something out of a horror movie. The caller's friend had the young woman tied to a bedpost apparently have beaten her until she was barely recognizable as a human being. The caller then noticed that next to her tied up body was a bottle of swimming pool cleaner with the cap off. Their friend has filled with a syringe with the caustic liquid and was in the process of injecting it into the semi-naked

girl's veins. The caller then fled the residence in horror and had not spoken to their friend since, but did note that they had observed erratic behavior from them in the days that followed. The homeowner was a 45-year-old man by the name of Christopher Prestapino, who lived on the exact same street as Esmeralda Gonzalez. Vegas Metro Police then paid a visit to Prestapino's residence to question him on the girl's whereabouts. As soon as he denied the events having happened or that any such female had ever visited his home, they knew they were onto something. Police then went about investigating Prestapino's actions in the days that followed

the apparent incident, discovering that he had rented a 15-foot truck from the U-Haul moving and storage outlet on the 8600 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard. He had apparently picked the truck up at around 6.30pm on June the 8th, returning it two days later. Employees remembered that the truck smelled heavily of cleaning products, which was highly unusual given the dire state of some of the vehicles returned to them. The vehicle was then tracked from the U-Haul outlet to a nearby Home Depot, where the store's CCTV cameras captured Prestapino purchasing what appeared to be two boxes of deck screws, an ocean mist filter fresh clip strip, two tubes of WD-40 silicon lube, then 96-inch 2x4 studs,

five 60-pound bags of concrete mix, one 50-pound bag of lime, eight concrete fence cap blocks, and an iced coffee. Homicide detectives were then able to track the U-Haul truck on its journey back to Prestapino's home, where it stayed until the next day where Prestapino appeared to drive it out into the desert north of Las Vegas. Detectives then enlisted the help of a local search unit, giving them a rough area of a few square miles to come over and instructed to report back with anything unusual that they might notice, especially any signs of construction involving concrete. With the aid of a helicopter observation unit, Las Vegas Metro Police drove out into the desert

and began an intensive search of the area they'd been given. Ground teams scoured the area, searching gullies and ravines, covering every inch of the dry, dusty desert in the hopes of finding a clue to Esmeralda's whereabouts. Homicide detectives had initially speculated that Prestapino may have driven a still-living Esmeralda into the desert to imprison her in some kind of makeshift concrete cell. But the reality was much more horrifying. Because on October the 8th, a full four months after Prestapino had rented the U-Haul truck from the outlet on South Vegas Boulevard, the search teams came across a homemade wood and concrete

structure hidden in a compact desert valley. They broke open the wooden exterior to find the inside was not a hollow containment area, but solid concrete. There were no obvious signs of foul play but the structure was still extremely suspect, especially given that it was made up of the exact purchases that Prestapino had made during his 8th of June visit to Home Depot. A team was called in to break up the concrete block and as they did so, the smell of death filled the air around them. Contained in the solid concrete that stood before them was the dead body of Esmeralda Gonzalez. Vegas Metro Police immediately issued an arrest warrant for Christopher Prestapino. He was found at his home, putting up no resistance as he was arrested on charges of open murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy to murder.

Police then drove him over to the Clark County Detention Center, where he was interred on a bond of half a million dollars. Prestapino's 31-year-old girlfriend, Lisa Mort, also faced a charge of harboring, concealing, or aiding a felon, given that she was noted to have visited her boyfriend at home during some of the events in question. Clark County online court records show that Prestapino is a felon. He has multiple drug cases on his criminal history, including one of manufacturing meth. His felony case for drug dealing dates to 2001 and resulted in a suspended sentence in probation. His trial for Esmeralda Gonzalez's murder was set to begin in late April of this year, but there has been little media coverage and we will simply have to wait to see what the verdict will be. But God help any jury

that has to survey the evidence surrounding the case and contemplate the sad and terrifying events that led a young woman with big dreams to be murdered in such a horrific fashion before being encased in concrete, driven out into the desert, and left there in the hopes that she would never be found. We can only imagine how horrifying Esmeralda's final moments were. Seeing a man who lived on the very same street as her, someone she probably knew personally, about to inject pool cleaner into her veins, a traumatic end to the life of a troubled young woman. May she see justice, and may she rest in peace. We'll be right back. The pros at Tread Experts. From tires to auto repair, Tread Experts is always there, helping you with Michelin tires you can trust.

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I've been single for a really long time. The last boyfriend I had was a lot younger than me and might be one of the least intimidating guys in the world. You see I had a really horrible experience when I was younger. I was in 8th grade at the time actually and there were older boys who rode on our bus. They were in high school. Part of me always knew that they were bad news but I thought that they were mostly harmless. Oh how wrong I was about that one.

Let me back up for a minute. I was your typical overachiever. I came from an African American family. My parents worked incredibly hard to provide a good life for me. I was an only child and they wanted nothing more in my life than to see me succeed and I really did my best. I was a part of a bunch of clubs, got good grades, the whole nine yards. But part of being that kind of kid meant that I didn't have a lot of time for friends or social life. I don't know what I expected the social life of a middle schooler to be, but whatever I had wasn't cutting it for me. I only really had three friends. One of them was my cousin who lived in another state, and the other two went to my school. One of them was on the chess team with me and the other on my bus.

I was chatting with my friend on the bus one day riding home from school. Like I said earlier, they were those boys. They sat in the back. They didn't really bother anyone but they gave off a certain feeling that made me feel intimidated in some way. Not sure I can explain it beyond that. Well, toward the middle of the school year, they started getting really flirty with me. Whenever I saw them around, they would compliment me and I won't lie to you, I love the attention. Having guys show an interest in me felt

so good. I know I was young, but I so desperately wanted to expand my horizons in that part of my life. One of them eventually got my number and we started talking. He invited me to a small party where those guys and a few other people were getting together. I normally was said no. There's too much to do most of the time but it happened to be on a day when we had a lot of snow during winter and school was closed. It probably would be for the next few days and they even offered to pick me up. I asked my parents about it and they said that I could go so long as I brought my phone and kept in contact with them. It was actually really fun. I had a really good time at that party and I felt like

the center of the room the whole time. I was the only girl there and they all flirted with me. During that winter I started spending more and more time with them. My friend from the bus encouraged me. I felt a little weird being the only 8th grade girl amongst a group of high school guys. But I was young, I didn't think anything of it, and as weird as it was, I had a good time. Very early on, they started trying to get me to drink alcohol. Of course, I didn't tell my parents about that part. I also didn't tell them that they were older than me. From a practical standpoint these were some bad people to be hanging out with but I never gave in. I told them that I was too young to try and they didn't force me or make me feel bad about it either. They respected my decision. I remember

one Friday night, I actually think it was night that started winter break, I had just gotten my grades back for the first half of the school year and I had over a 4.0. My parents were so proud. I was hanging out with those older guys and they were all drinking a lot of beer, it must have been around 6. That was normally around the time that I went home but my parents texted me and said that I could stay out late that night if I wanted to as a reward for doing so good in school. One of them started getting really drunk though, his name was Tyler. That was when he did something a little unusual. He offered to give me some Kool-Aid. I don't think that he was being racist but that was the only thing they had available and since everyone else was drinking beer, it was the only thing that I could drink that wasn't alcoholic. I said yes because it honestly wasn't all that bad. Also I loved that lemon flake cooler, a favorite thing in the world or at least it was. I remember him giving it to me

and looking at me in a weird way. When I drank it, it tasted fine but a little while later I started getting really lightheaded and at a certain point I passed out. I don't really know what it was in that drink but the only thing I know is that I woke up at 9am. I was almost completely naked except for a bra and my body felt weird. And it felt weird in exactly the ways you'd expect. We mostly hung out in one of their basements. It was a really big area and there was another room beside the basement That was normally where people would put their coats and stuff I was in that other room

I ran back into the main area of the basement and started screaming at them I was so mortified and felt betrayed How could they do this to me? They started teasing me and saying that I was Tyler's girlfriend I had like a hundred texts and phone calls from my parents. I really didn't want to stress on my parents any more than they were already. I kept asking the guys where my clothes were, but they wouldn't tell me. Tyler said that if I gave him a kiss, that he would give them to me.

But I was honestly disgusted at that point, and I was standing there in tears tears begging for my clothes from guys who were four years older than me. Finally I gave up and just started to leave. I just needed to be home at that moment. I was not okay and that was probably the worst experience of my life. I had to walk home almost completely naked while it was snowing outside. I didn't have any panties on. Luckily I could put my jacket from the other room around my legs and cover that part of me up. It was a little awkward wearing my coat that way, but it prevented anyone else from seeing my bottom half. When I got home, my parents were obviously shocked. They kept asking me who had done this to me, but I wouldn't tell them. I felt so ashamed.

I kept telling them that I just wanted it to be over and to forget it. I told them that I was okay and I never was going to see those people ever again. I remember my father holding me in his arms for a long time and I really needed that. Eventually I got showered and got ready for bed and I thought that I was going to be able to just forget about that night but of course it's never that easy. It was only a few hours after I got home that Tyler started texting me. He said that he had pictures of me and he was going to send them to everyone in school. Of course I told him not to but he said the only way that he wouldn't was if I sent him more. And this began the creepiest, most humiliating

phase of my life. That creep sent me disturbing pictures and videos that they had taken while I was passed out. They did things I really can't talk about, ever. Just know that they were horrible, and Tyler said that he was going to let the world see them if I didn't send him even more. Tyler began stalking me. He texted me all the time, and went into full predator mode, and the worst part was that I couldn't even tell my parents. I thought that they would disown me if they saw those

pictures or videos. I felt completely helpless. Of course, I now know that I should have said something that night, the night I got home, but I didn't. And the abuse continued for way longer than it should have. It was around February that I finally had enough. Tyler kept asking me for pictures and I was tired of sending them to him. I just couldn't do it anymore. I decided to do something about it and I asked one of my favorite teachers for advice on what I should do. She was extremely supportive and got the situation resolved. We filed a police report and did everything we could.

Thankfully, there was a lot of proof over text messages. The boys basically faced a serious criminal threat if any of those pictures ever went out to the world and the important part was that I don't think my parents ever saw them. I know they would have been so ashamed of me and I didn't want to let them down. It's been a long time since this experience and it really shaped me into who I am today. It's why I haven't really dated much and it's also why I hate winter. I'll always remember the cold snow touching my bare back as I walked home that night. I haven't kept up with what happened to any of them but I can't imagine it's good. I had a really horrible experience during a summer trip for our school program. It was a JROTC summer camp and for those of you not familiar with the program, it basically gives you basic military understanding.

You go on runs, do marching commands, stuff like that. It's offered in most high schools in the United States. I come from a family of military professionals so it just seemed like a logical choice. Even though I didn't plan on joining the military myself, I am a pretty short girl. My name is Caitlin and during camp I met a nice guy. He was in my squad during a particular practice exercise and I thought he was a really great guy. We didn't get to spend too much time together though. The boys and the girls slept in separate buildings and most of the time we didn't get placed in the same squad for activities. I remember thinking that he was really funny and cute. He was one

of those guys who somehow had the ability to make jokes that didn't have to hurt anyone's feelings, and I always thought that was rare. If you think about it, it's really difficult. When was the last time you made a joke that wasn't at the expense of someone else? So I guess I valued that and it was one of the things that attracted me to him. Like I said, we didn't get to spend a lot of time together and it just made me want to be with him more. We exchanged phone numbers on the last day in the hopes that we would date sometime after we got out. We kept in touch for the following weeks and everything seemed good. The only problem was that he lived about 30 minutes away from me.

We were both seniors in high school and that is a long trip for someone that makes minimum wage part time. We talked on and off again for a few months but it didn't really go anywhere and I just figured that I would let it die. That was until around late October. He started talking to me a lot. I remember we became really close and we talked on the phone a whole bunch and were texting each other obsessively. My family got mad at me at Thanksgiving because I was on my phone the whole time and I could not get enough of him. He seemed so interested in me. I later found out this because he had just broken up with his girlfriend. I didn't even know that he was in a relationship but yeah, he got interested in me once he was out of that last relationship. He still kind of flirted with me before though, still not sure how I feel about that and it seemed kind of sketchy. I remember at one point the conversation just became a little

dry for me. I got a little less interested, not exactly sure why, he just seemed so into me, he texted me obsessively. Even a few weeks later and my interest started to wane. That's when he started getting really brave over text messages. He would say really intimate, almost too personal things to me. He even started sending me dirty pictures of himself. And not just regular pictures, like very dirty pictures, if that gives you any kind of inclination. This one time he kept saying that he wanted to sleep at my house. He said he could borrow his mom's car over the weekend, but he didn't want to drive all the way back until the next day. He kept asking if he could just sleep at my house.

Obviously my mom would have said no. She wasn't the kind of parent that would just let me let a boy sleep over and my dad would have murdered him if he ever found out that he was trying to sleep over. Well, he just showed up one day. Literally just came to my house. I mean, what in God's name was he thinking? I had given him my address before, but this was completely unannounced, and we had been talking for months prior. It was just a really freaky and unexpected thing. He brought me flowers and chocolate, the whole thing that would be really sweet if it wasn't so creepy. It just gave me a really bad vibe. I ended up spending the day with him.

We went to the park down the street and got coffee but he still insisted on trying to sleep over. I told him no and after getting a little pushy he gave in and drove home at about 11 at night. Other than the weirdness the day didn't go that bad. I did still find him funny and charming I just had some subtle warning signs about him that made me a little uncomfortable and looking back I should have paid more attention to those. Now here's the crazy time to put a relationship to an end. He tried getting me to sleep over at his house. He began getting really forceful. At one point he threatened to hurt me if I didn't try to sleep over at his house.

I kept trying to tell him that my parents would not let me sleep over at a boy's home but he didn't care. It was a big ultimatum and that was that. I know, I know. Messed up but he had me under his spell and it worked. And here's how he tried to spin it to my parents. He had a younger sister and I tried telling my mom that I wanted to sleep over at my friend's house. That was the girl. And I wanted her to drive me over there. Keep in mind, I didn't have my car or a learner's permit or anything. I was kind of scared of driving if I'm going to be honest. Anyway, I just told my parents that I wanted to sleep at a learner's permit or anything. I was kind of scared of driving if I'm going to be honest. Anyway, I just told my parents that I wanted to sleep at a friend's house and they were completely on board. They didn't have a problem with it obviously.

I had done it many times before. My mom drove me over there and when we got there, the only person home was him and his family wasn't coming back until Monday. He didn't even tell me that he was home alone for the weekend. My mom had no idea that there was going to be no parental supervision. She is kind of overbearing with stuff like that so she asked him to speak with his parents. She just wanted to double check that everything was good and that they were okay with the situation. As you might imagine it wasn't long before my mom figured the situation out. She drove me back home and that was the end of that whole situation.

I texted him and asked him why didn't he tell me that no one was going to be home and he literally told me that he was going to do horrible things to me. He got mad at me because he wasted his entire family vacation time on trying to get freaky with me and he didn't get to do anything. I thought he was just playing some kind of joke on me but then he started sending me pictures of some weird torture stuff. I don't know if they were weird toys or what. He specifically told me something he was going to make his dog do to me. Yeah, some pretty sick stuff and I was freaking horrified after that. I had no idea that he was

such a freak. I always had a bad feeling about him, but I never listened to that voice in the back of my head. Anyway, my mom told me I wasn't allowed to talk to him anymore, and she was really unhappy that I was being deceitful with her, and I can understand that. If it hadn't been for my mom, God only knows what would have happened. To this day, I still don't really know why I went along with everything for so long. It was like he had me hypnotized or something. I haven't spoken to or heard from him since, and I don't think I want to, either. I'm not exactly sure how to start my story. This is probably the creepiest thing that has ever happened to me and I'm extremely fortunate that I got out without any serious incidents going down.

I was in middle school at the time. My name is Angela. I really enjoyed school during those days. I was your typical naive happy girl. I remember it very vividly. It was my 8th grade first semester, so I had only a few weeks until Christmas vacation, which I was looking forward to because I got to see my cousins. We always had so much fun. My school experiences were pretty ordinary for a girl like me and I don't want to sound stuck up or anything, but I know that some men considered me attractive and became very obvious with the way male teachers behaved towards me and other girls like me. Ask any kid in middle school or high school and they'll tell you. Certain male teachers just

have a certain feeling about attractive young female students and one of those teachers for me was Mr. Edwards. I had him for a couple of different classes. He was my homeroom teacher, history teacher, and geography teacher, so I saw him quite a few times every single day. The way he looked at me, it was just a little weird. I didn't recognize it at the time, but the signs were definitely there. He just lingered a little bit too long and I know I wasn't the only girl in the class that he looked at a little bit too much. Now for the most part this was completely harmless. Many of these male teachers never act on their impulses which is a good thing but from what I understand Mr. Edwards was going through specific tribulations in his personal life.

I don't really know the specifics, but I heard a rumor that him and his wife got a divorce. I heard that rumor toward the beginning of the semester, which meant that it could have happened sometime in the summer or maybe even during the school year. I'm not really sure, it was just a rumor. But it certainly would explain some of his behavior. I remember as time went on, my intuition about him became more negative and I genuinely started feeling uncomfortable in his class. So there was this one time that he called me in front of the class. He would call on students to write the date of the specific event that we were studying and you would get up and write the date on the board. If you got it right, you got a piece of candy. Normally a

lollipop or something like that. But if you got it wrong, you just sat back down. We were actually studying World War I and he called on me to write the date for the start of the war. I wasn't a bad student, but history was really hard for me because I thought it was boring and I didn't know the date. I just guessed 1904, but apparently that wasn't right. Even now, I still don't care enough to Google it. I finished writing on the board. I turned around to look at Mr. Edwards to see if I had gotten it right or not, and he looked really weird. I'm not even sure how to describe it. Then he said, You should know this. You've been a very bad girl, Angela. I might have to punish you after class. He was sitting at his desk and he said it in such a

creepy tone of voice. It was the freakiest thing I'd ever seen. I remember looking at everyone's facial expression and they thought exactly the same thing that I thought. Mr. Edwards caught himself. I guess he realized what a creep he was being and decided to turn the situation into some little joke. He pulled out a nerf gun from under his desk and shot it at me. The class laughed. It would have been a funny moment had I not felt like he was such a creep just a few seconds prior. I talked to my friends about it after class and they all agreed that it was really weird. If that experience wasn't bad enough, it got even worse. So it was really cold outside but the school had the heaters on really high. Everyone including myself would wear a really

heavy sweater or jacket to school and then take it off when we got inside. It was the only way to do it. It felt like an oven in that school sometimes. Being the forgetful person I am, I left my sweater in class and it was none other than Mr. Edwards' class. It wasn't a big deal. I had plenty of sweaters and jackets. I even had a spare in my locker that I wore home that day. So it was really easy for me to forget about it after a day or two. I just had other things on my mind. Well, I told my mom about it and she nagged at me to make sure that I got it before the semester ended. She did the whole, I buy you all these clothes, you better take care of them type rant. Kind of typical, but she was right after all. I think it was two or three days before Christmas break began. I went to Mr. Edwards' class after the last class before the day ended.

I was hoping I could just look around and it would be somewhere. Maybe in the back or in the lost and found box maybe. I looked everywhere though and I didn't see it. That was when I asked Mr. Edwards. He was there and of course he was oh so eager to help me find it. When I explained the situation he acted like he was just remembering something. Oh, my mistake. I've just had it under my desk for a few days. I've been meaning to give it to you, I just got caught up with grading final papers. He pulled it out from his drawer on his desk and handed it to me.

He played it off like he completely forgot. Something told me that it was not an accident, not only because of what had happened in class the other day, but also by his facial expression when I asked him. I'm guessing that he was holding on to it in hopes of keeping it, and that he hoped that I would just forget about it. Very creepy, I know, and that was one of the creepiest things to ever happen to me, but here's the really crazy part. A couple of years later, I was attending college. I was very fortunate to have found a really good online program for my major, so I was still living in the same town. I remember learning about the Deviant Offenders database. You know how you can

look up any sort of predators that live in your area? It's all publicly available information. I strongly encourage you to check it out. Well, I looked on there for the first time while I was in college, and lo and behold, Mr. Edwards was on there. He was registered there for having relations with a minor. It didn't give you a whole lot of information, but you get a picture of them, all of their information and what they did. It was a minor and very shocking considering that he abused his power as a teacher. The creepy part is that it happened just a year after I had class with him.

I was really grateful he didn't try that with me. I know it's really difficult when someone has so much power and abuses it over you like that, but I looked at some of the other people in that database in my area. I was shocked. It dawned on me that there are many reasons to be very cautious. Stay safe everyone, and be aware of any predators that live in your area. I have a really horrible story from my past. It makes me feel really uncomfortable and this is probably the only way I can really tell anyone about it. I had your typical big happy family. Everyone loved each other and everything was really good.

Lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and especially people your own age. There were probably about 30 of us and we all spent a lot of time together and we were all really close. However, not everyone in the family was a good egg. And here comes my uncle Ron. He hadn't been in the picture for a long time because he was in prison. I didn't know what he was in prison for at the time. I was young after all. Kids shouldn't know that kind of stuff. He was always kind of the family mess up and everyone tried their best to help him. But from what I've heard, he just didn't want to help himself. People would give him a place to stay and he would do drugs on the couch. People would try to get him a job and he would steal stuff while working. That's kind of the person that he was. He was getting out of prison right after Christmas.

It was really cold. We live in a really cold area and winters are particularly harsh, so it would have just been a little inhumane to let him fend for himself. Everyone knew that if someone didn't give him a place to stay he would probably end up back in the system or dead and as frustrated as everyone was with him no one wanted to see that everyone wanted him to succeed the adults at least but i was a kid and i didn't really understand the situation i was only 13 at the time but that didn't stop him from giving me some creepy looks i hit puberty young and already had the body of a young woman if you know what I mean. I remember him coming over one day

when he had first got out. My dad was going to clear out a place for him to sleep in our shed. Our house really was not that big but if he cleared out some tools and whatnot there was definitely a good amount of space in the shed for him to stay. Not the most ideal but it did have electricity and a little space heater. Heck, it was a free place to stay, hard to argue with him. It wasn't like my dad forced him to stay out there all the time, just to sleep there. I think my dad was trying to protect me and my brother from seeing Uncle Ron high on the couch.

About two weeks went by and he seemed like he was changing he was going for runs and applying for jobs my dad also seemed impressed i remember him saying that ron seemed like he was getting his life together it wasn't long before he had a steady job and had some money to spend one of the first things he did was buy a cell phone and I remember him asking me to help him set it up. Of course, I was more than willing to help, especially being a kid. Technology is one of the only ways I could have helped anyone and I was excited to do so. He bought a really cheap flip phone and it really wasn't all that difficult to set up. I almost questioned why he needed help at all.

I remember a few minutes after we were messing around with some of the features, he took a picture of me thinking I wasn't looking. I definitely noticed him take the picture, it was very obvious. That whole situation made me feel really uncomfortable. I didn't really know how to confront him about it though. At the time I convinced myself that he had just accidentally taken the picture by mistake and he deleted it right after. Despite having a job, he still had a lot of time to hang out and play around. I remember he specifically played with me and my brother a lot, but here's the weird thing that he did. He bought my brother a new gaming console. That must have been at least $300 or $400. He didn't get me anything though. So whenever he wanted to play with us kids, my brother just ended up playing video games. He was hooked on that thing. I think it was an Xbox. So that just left me and Uncle Ron to play alone. And that was when we started playing a new game. We would

fake wrestle. Or maybe play wrestle, I'm sure you know what I mean. When you're a kid and you wrestle an adult and they kinda let you have a chance, even though you know that they're way stronger than you. But anyway, we started doing that and it was one particular day that we were play wrestling and my dad walked in. He got home from work early and the second that he walked in he started yelling at Ron. He told me to go to my bedroom and I heard some more yelling. I didn't see Ron the rest of the day and the very next day my dad told me that Uncle Ron has to go on a business trip. I haven't seen Uncle Ron or heard anything about him since that incident, but my dad filled

me in on some important information. The thing he had originally been in jail for was sleeping with an underage girl. I guess Ron had claimed to think that she was 18 and it was just a big misunderstanding. Of course the family believed him and just excused it as if it was an honest mistake. My dad told me that when he saw him wrestling with me he didn't believe that story any longer and that was the second he kicked Ron out of our life for good. Like I said, I don't know where he has been or what he's been up to but I guess threatening the safety of his kids finally got my dad to cut ties for good.

I consider myself a very romantic girl. I've always loved the idea of romance and I've always wanted a really happy relationship and that was probably why I had a serious relationship that started when I was a freshman in high school. The guy I met was kind of nerdy but he was super sweet to me. I remember he brought me flowers in school one time and that completely won me over. We dated for a couple of years, all throughout high school actually and even into college. We ended up going to the same community college as well. I really thought that we were going to end up getting married. I even secretly started planning our wedding. Of course I didn't say anything about that to him

because I didn't want to freak him out but it was on my mind. But one day something about him changed. I couldn't exactly tell you what but he became a little bit too possessive. I always knew he was a jealous person and I did my best to be sensitive to that but it's not overwhelming after a certain point. I had a chemistry class and I got paired with a guy to work on a project. We had to do some work outside of the class and you already know how my boyfriend reacts I told him I couldn't hang out one day because I had to be at the library to get some work done He seemed a little suspicious about it I almost always made time for him

He wasn't used to getting told no Me and my chemistry partner were almost done with our project. We made a lot of good progress and I was sure that we were going to make a good grade but that was when my boyfriend showed up at the library and oh my god, he made such a scene. It was the worst thing ever. He started freaking out. He tried fighting my chemistry partner. He just kept yelling at me that he was trying to spend time with me and I lied to him to spend time with another guy.

He was literally hysterical. He thought I was cheating on him but nothing I said stopped him. He just kept going. And everyone in the library was staring at us. The librarian didn't even intervene. They just let the whole thing continue. Finally I told my boyfriend that we were over. I said it really loud and very firm, and that was the only thing that got him to stop.

He made the most broken facial expression I'd ever seen, and he stormed out. After that whole experience, I decided that I really didn't want to be with him. He was just too jealous. I talked with him later on the phone that night and I explained that I was planning on breaking up with him anyway. But that whole fiasco in the library was a serious tipping point for me. He still thought I was cheating on him with the guy in the library and I was honestly done fighting about it. He said he was willing to try and work it out no matter what. He said that he didn't want to lose me. He really wasn't taking it well. It finally got to the point where he didn't want to lose me. He really wasn't taking it well. It finally got to the point where he was begging me to stay with him and I just couldn't tell him

no anymore. I finally told him goodbye and just hung up. Looking back I don't know how else I could have responded to that whole situation. He was really difficult and this is the point when he started stalking me. And it was small stuff at first, like I would notice him at the same stores. He just always happened to be there. Of course, he was just looking at me. He would see me look at him and then he would look away or pretend like he was looking at his phone. But I knew that he was watching me. I remember it got really bad during the winter, actually.

He would come to my house and write me messages in my car in the snow. He would say things like he's sorry and that he would change and that he forgives me. Every single thing in the world, he tried to say it. He was willing to do anything to get me back, but I didn't want to be with him. And the more he tried, the more it creeped me out. I remember doing this really weird thing outside of my one philosophy class. There were glass windows and I had a seat next to the windows and he would sit on the bench outside and stare at me, every single class. It was horrible. There was no escaping him. And one day things finally went too far. Now, my family had always gotten a cabin for Christmas.

My parents and two sisters would stay in this cabin in the woods and spend time together. My family wasn't very big on spending a bunch of money on gifts that people didn't really want. Call us communists, but the family time was much more special and I really enjoyed that tradition. My ex-boyfriend knew about this cabin. In fact, we brought him with us one time, so he knew where it was. I remember it very vividly. It was snowing, we had a fire going, we were drinking eggnog and enjoying Christmas cookies. We were having a really good time. I went outside for a smoke break and I was just sitting on the rocking chair outside. This was when I saw something in the woods. I got really nervous

that it was a bear. That was always our big fear when we stayed in that cabin. There was always the possibility of a bear. But I squinted my eyes a little bit and noticed that it was no animal. It was my ex-boyfriend. When I first noticed, I screamed. I ran back inside and told my family. They already knew that my ex was a total creep so we all got prepared. My dad went outside and chased him away. My dad said that he chased my ex-boyfriend for about a quarter mile through the woods. He figured that was far enough and that he wasn't going to come back, especially since we were going to have the cops notified about the situation. We did our best not to let him ruin our Christmas cabin time but we all felt a little uneasy after that even though we knew that

he was probably harmless. It just felt a little uncomfortable after that at least for me. My family was very supportive about the situation though. It's been a little while since the whole situation and I still see him from time to time and it's really bad. He doesn't really reach out to me anymore but I know he still watches me a lot. Getting a restraining order almost feels like being too precocious. I don't want to be mean about it but at the same time I really want to move on from him. Some of my friends have been talking me into getting a restraining order on him though and I might. Looking back I shouldn't have been such a romantic.

There were a lot of warning signs that I missed. He was a seriously messed up individual and I ignored every single warning sign there was and there were plenty. If you're like me, make sure to understand who it is that you're with. I almost married that guy, all because I built up some fantasy relationship in my head. The way I wanted things to be, but not the way things really are. Make sure you see things for how they really are and hopefully everything will work out. I don't remember exactly how old I was at the time, maybe 14 or 15. I had this really crazy guy that lived on my street. Everyone called him Crazy Mike, and he really was as crazy as you could imagine, but more on him in a minute. I had this one friend that was a little wild,

we'll call him Charlie. He was kind of the adventurous friend that got me to do some crazy stuff. We went through a phase for about two or three months where we hung out a lot and it was honestly a lot of fun. One of the things we would do is explore the nearby woods. There was a lot of wildlife and anyone could go out there and explore as far as they wanted. We lived on a mountain and we would hike up the mountain and when we had enough for the day we would hike back down. We normally took the regular roads back down because it was just a little bit easier to get home that way. My friend lived a few roads up from me so I would walk up to his house with him and then go home by myself. I remember this one particular day we had gone hiking through the creek. Bear in mind it was freezing outside at

the time. There was snow on the ground and a lot of water was frozen. At one point we had the bright idea of walking on the ice. As you might imagine, we fell into the water. It wasn't very deep or anything, not even enough to get above our chest, but we were dripping with water and it was about 5 degrees outside. There was snow on the ground, but being the crazy kids we were, it didn't stop us. We just continued hiking even after we got soaking wet. I don't know if we just had a really high tolerance to the cold or it was adrenaline and we were all good. We continued on for a couple of hours that day. But after a certain point, I finally talked him into heading home for the day.

He agreed and we went down and got on the road. We made our way back down like usual. But this is the point when I started freezing. I was too cold and I knew my body. I knew that I was in some kind of danger, like getting near hypothermia or something. When we got to my friend's house he was more than willing to let me come in and warm up for a few minutes but just as we were getting to his house my mom called him. She was really angry with me because I hadn't answered my phone in an hour. I tried explaining the situation to her but she just screamed at me over and over again to come

home. So I had to walk the rest of the way home and that was that. This is where Crazy Mike comes in because he lives one road above me and it saves me about 10 minutes of walking if I cut through a part of his property to get to my house. He had a big fence but so did his neighbor. There was a small walkway kind of area between the two spots. I was obviously in a rush to get back home and warm up. In fact, I was jogging most of the way. I hadn't heard anything about Crazy Mike by this point so I figured it would be okay if I cut through his property this one time. I started going through and that's when he came out of his house with a rifle. He pointed it at me and started screaming at me like a maniac. Of course, I turned around and sprinted away.

I ran all the way back home and told my mother. She thought I was exaggerating and that I shouldn't have been cutting through people's property anyway. And that was when I started asking people around the area about him. I heard some stories about Crazy Mike and some of the things he would do. I heard that he was a conspiracy theorist, a drug dealer, criminal, felon, and a bunch of other nutty stuff. If I had to sum it all up in a single phrase, he was a bad guy. Whoever I asked never had anything good to say about him, and the part that freaked me out was that I still had to pass Crazy Mike's house on my way home. I didn't have to cut through his property but I did still have to walk in front of his house on the road to get

to my house and that made me terribly uncomfortable. Because now I was constantly worried that I was going to get shot or something. I still would go hiking with Charlie and all that and after a couple of times of going home there was no incident so so I thought that was going to be the end of it. However I noticed something else. He had video cameras on the outside of his property looking out onto the road. I'd never noticed them before but now that I was aware of his insanity I paid a little bit more attention. Whenever I walked by the cameras would follow me.

What freaked me out the most was that they were manually operated cameras. They weren't the kind of cameras that just followed motion around. He was sitting there operating those cameras every single time I ever walked by, watching me. I'm not sure if he was recording all the footage or not, but he made me uncomfortable either way. I remember there was this one time when I was walking home from Charlie's house at night. It must have been about 10 or 11. It was really late, and even then, the cameras followed me as I walked by. I thought that was going to be it, that nothing else was going to happen between me and Crazy Mike. Well, I was dead wrong.

It was still during the same winter season, and I was walking home during a blizzard. And that was just the kind of guy I was. My mom was going to order pizza that night, and I didn't want to miss it. I passed by Crazy Mike's like I always did, and that was when something unexpected happened. He had this giant fence, and it had to have been 15 feet tall, and it was this really thick wood. Part of it opened up, and a dog ran out after me. I couldn't tell what kind of dog it was but it was angry and barking at me really loud and ran after me and I could tell that it was going to bite me as hard as it could. I got a seriously violent vibe. I was lucky that I was in really good shape and managed to sprint away, having a head start, didn't slip or anything else either.

That situation could have turned out really bad, really fast. But either way, my family ended up moving a few weeks later for unrelated reasons. My mom actually got a new job in a different state, and that was the end of my experience with Crazy Mike. Even now I wonder what his problem was. Was he some kind of drug dealer or a criminal? Why was he so paranoid about some kid walking in front of his house or cutting through a piece of his property? I've asked my friend on Facebook a couple of times if he's heard anything about Crazy Mike and apparently nothing has changed. So make of that what you will.

I guess the moral of the story is that you should avoid crazy people as much as you can. Sometimes just walking in front of their house is enough to set them off. To be continued... This isn't actually my story but it happened to a friend of mine. Actually it was two friends of mine and the entire situation was my fault. So my friend Steven was someone I played Xbox with a lot. We went to the same school but we only had one class together and it wasn't a class where you could really talk to anyone. The teacher was really strict so we pretty much just played Xbox together sometimes. Mostly Halo or call of duty if i'm going to be honest with you i didn't really know him all that well i mean i thought i did but i really did not the other friend of mine is a girl her name is britney she was in our grade and i was friends with her sometimes we texted or hung out in class she was one of those really eccentric

people i remember her posting a whole bunch of funny memes on my facebook wall some of them were Sometimes we texted or hung out in class. She was one of those really eccentric people. I remember her posting a whole bunch of funny memes on my Facebook wall. Some of them were mildly inappropriate. Luckily my mom wasn't friends with me on Facebook so nothing bad ever happened to me. But I thought it was a great thing. The world is already dull and grey and some people had just a little bit of color. But anyway I had added Steven on Facebook. Like I said, we only really played Xbox together and it was over a year into our friendship that I even realized he had a Facebook account. I guess guys don't really care that much

about being friends with other guys there, who knows. Well, he noticed Brittany's memes on my Facebook wall and he asked me about her own Xbox one day. Naturally, I didn't think anything of it. In fact, he wasn't the first person to ask me about her, but I told him that I was friends with her and everything else. He asked if I was going to try and ask her out. I explained to him that I wasn't interested in her like that and I just wanted to stay friends with her. And that was pretty much where the end of the conversation happened. The next day though he added Brittany on Facebook. After all we did all go to the same school so I didn't think it was that weird. That's when Brittany messaged me

and asked who this guy was. I explained to him that he went to our school and that I played Xbox with him from time to time. This all started going on in around November and the funny thing is that we had a crazy blizzard that year. We were out of school for like two weeks and it was the two weeks right before Christmas break so everyone was celebrating and honestly it was a Christmas miracle. It gave all of us plenty of time to text and play video games and it was during all that free time that Steven started acting weird. He started asking me weird questions about Brittany and I just kind of figured that he had a crush on her. After all, if I'm going to be honest, she was a very pretty girl and I couldn't have blamed him. I also knew that he was kind of an awkward guy so I just didn't

think anything weird was going on. I specifically remember one day when we were playing Halo. We were having a really good time but in the middle of a game he said that he had to get off. He just turned his Xbox off and left and right before he did he just said in a really hurried voice that he had to leave. I was doing really well that game and we were playing with two other people. I just kind of brushed it off and continued playing. The next time I saw Steven was when we went back to school after Christmas break. I saw him by the lockers. I asked him what he had been up to and he was looking at his phone. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that his phone wallpaper was

a picture of Britney. I thought that was kind of weird but he turned it off and put it away before I could get a really good look at it. So I just chalked it up to me seeing some sort of illusion or something or perhaps it was in my subconscious. And I already know what you're thinking. I know that I'm naive and I didn't see any of the red flags. The many, many red flags to come. But I can't change how I acted. It was also around this time that Steven started talking about her all the time. I guess he had gotten her number somehow and they started texting each other. But here was the weird part. He would text her while we were playing video games and he always got so excited when she texted back. It wasn't

very often and I kind of got the vibe that she didn't really like talking to him but whenever she did I would hear his phone make this weird sound. He had a frog sound effect as his text ringtone for some reason, don't ask me why, and whenever he heard that frog he would giggle like an idiot. It was really weird. Fast forward a couple of days and Brittany texted me out of the blue. She asked me if I could give her a call because she really needed to talk to me. I have no idea what it was going to be about and I gave her a call thinking it would be something serious. And it was.

She asked me what was wrong with Steven. She told me everything. He was obsessively texting her and calling her and messaging her on Facebook. And here's the worst part. The time that he got off of Xbox really fast in the middle of a game, she was getting off of Xbox to go to her house. She didn't invite him though. He invited himself over to her house. I guess he had gotten his mom to start driving him to Brittany's house and Brittany told him that she wasn't even home. I don't know what he told his mom or even how he got her address. It was the freakiest thing.

Brittany didn't know either. She said that he had got really mad after that and she didn't understand why either, especially because she didn't even invite him over or give him her address. He was literally stalking her hardcore and of course she blocked him. The next time he was on Xbox I invited him to a party and asked him what he was doing but he pretended like nothing happened and when I pressed him about it he said that she was just being a female dog and prude. This was the point where I stopped playing Xbox with him. I just wouldn't accept his invites and started appearing offline for a couple of weeks. After a while, he got the hint.

Brittany told me that she came really close to calling the cops three or four times. She was really worried that he was going to do something else. After all, he didn't know where she lived, and that was a couple of years ago. I haven't heard from Stephen in a long time. I'm still friends with Brittany and she said that she hadn't had an incident with him since but looking back it was a real eye-opener for me. I didn't realize you could spend so much time playing video games with someone and not even realize what a freak they really are. I'm a French girl.

I'm 25 years old but I was 22 when it happened. I was living with my boyfriend, ex, now in a little flat in Paris. I was in a toxic and violent relationship. Moreover, I was suffering from a disease so I couldn't go out with friends. So I spent most of my free time on the internet. I didn't have many friends. I was really lonely as I couldn't go out. Most of them abandoned me when I fell sick. The few friends that I had were living really far away. One day, I had a big argument with my boyfriend. I was really sad and lonely so I decided to chat with random people on a website. I met a guy. We had the same interests. We were both playing video games a lot. We talked for six months every day. He was knowing that I was in a guy. We had the same interests. We were both playing video games a lot.

We talked for six months every day. He was knowing that I was in a relationship, even if it was a terrible one. We'll call him Alex. We decided to meet in real life. He was okay to meet me at my flat. At first, we were both really shy, but thanks to alcohol, we talked and laughed together. I was so relieved that finally I was having a friend to talk with. We were seeing each other at least once per week. I remember this as a happy time. We had so many common points and he never forced me to go out. He was really helping me and I was helping him.

He was a depressed guy. He was thinking that he was ruining his own life. I wanted to help him as much as I could to give him self-esteem. I just wanted him to spend good time with a good friend. And for my 22nd birthday, my boyfriend decided to make a party and he invited Alex as he was my only friend that we were living not too far from my flat and he invited 10 of his friends. I wasn't really happy with that. He knew that I didn't like when there's too many people. It tends to get me anxious and feel pressured. So I spent my entire night cooking and serving his friends. I really couldn't enjoy

the party. And then my boyfriend humiliated me in front of everyone. I went to the bathroom to cry. Alex joined me and tried his best to comfort me. I was in a pure mental breakdown, so I told him everything about my boyfriend's behavior. I insisted on the fact that I loved him, but I will break up when it will be the right time. It was too dangerous to break up at that moment. As I was crying, he tried to kiss me. I stopped him. I didn't want to add a new problem in my life. It was already too difficult. I know that it's weird to say, but I was feeling betrayed. I was feeling that he was waiting for this moment to try something.

He didn't react, opened the door, and gave me a gift. It was a really beautiful necklace. I told him that I couldn't accept it. It was too expensive, but he went out without a word. After this, I decided to put some distance between us. I didn't want to make him suffer. It's cruel to keep him as a friend if he wants more. I explained to him that if he wanted more, it will not be with me. I didn't want to cheat on my boyfriend, but if one day he wanted to talk to a friend, then he could with me. I didn't want to cheat on my boyfriend but if one day he wanted to talk to a friend then he could contact me and I didn't hear from him after this. A few months later I received texts from him. It was really long, something like 20 texts. He was saying that he

was really in love with me, that he wanted to save me, that I was his reason to live. I was shocked at first, because the way he said it was really creepy. I explained to him one more time that I didn't need to be saved, that I was an adult and even if my boyfriend was mean, I didn't want to break up. I wasn't feeling ready for this and that I wasn't in love with him. We exchanged texts for more than one hour but he didn't want to understand Alex was insisting a lot My boyfriend bugged as I was receiving too many texts and phone calls It was making me too anxious I decided to turn my phone off and went to work

At this moment I was working in a little restaurant I was a waitress there and I was taking commands by phone The phone was ringing. I picked up the phone. I heard breathing at first, then I recognized the voice. It was Alex's voice. I was feeling like I was in a horror movie. My bones froze. My entire body was shaking. I hung up almost immediately, but the phone rang again, something like 10 times until my boss picked it up. It was 7pm, I was supposed to finish my work at midnight. At 11pm, I saw him. He came to my workplace and begged to talk to me. I was so afraid I couldn't talk. I ran into the kitchen, explained the situation to one of my co-workers. He took my place as a waiter and I took his as a cook. Alex left 30 minutes later.

I was too afraid to come home alone so my co-worker dropped me off to my flat. My boyfriend was a night worker so I was alone. I locked my flat's door, blocked Alex's number and I was ready to call the police. I didn't want to talk about it to my boyfriend. I already knew that he wouldn't help me or that he would accuse me of being too provocative. Moreover, I didn't want to talk about it to my boyfriend. I already knew that he wouldn't help me or that he would accuse me of being too provocative. Moreover, I didn't want him to fight with Alex. Alex to me was just lost. He didn't deserve to be beaten up by my boyfriend. The next day I had more than a hundred block calls. I didn't sleep at all. I was exhausted. I was trying not to give him any attention.

A month passed. He tried to come to my workplace many times but my boss talked to him and called the cops. Then he never came back there. He was still harassing me but I was ignoring it. I thought that he'll understand and finally leave me alone. I was afraid so I tried to lodge a complaint with the police but they refused it as it was just a guy who's in love, so to speak. One day I woke up to go to work. My boyfriend was playing online video games and he received a message. This was Alex. In the text he was saying that he was in love with me, that we had made love many times, that i was a cheater and stuff like that i was shocked i didn't understand what was happening my brain froze and i couldn't react but thank god my boyfriend saw my

blocked call he was suspecting that alex was harassing me for a long time even if i never told him he decided to block him too then he he went to work. My boss called me, told me that I will begin two hours later today, and I was alone in my flat. I don't know how to explain it, but I was feeling that something would happen, and my heart was racing. I was feeling nauseous. Then I heard my doorbell ring. One time, two times, three times, ten times. I couldn't stand or walk. My entire body was freezing up. I was feeling the tears on my face but I couldn't react. I felt all of this was just some nightmare. I waited as silently as possible. As he was stalking me for a long time, he knew that I was supposed to work at this hour. I thought that he

wanted to see my boyfriend to manipulate him. As he wanted me to be single and that was the best way. The doorbell rang again. I was supposed to go to work. It took all my courage and I went out. It was him. He was crying. At this moment, I wasn't afraid anymore. I was so angry and I began to shout at him. He was trying to explain that he was so in love with me. He would die if I wasn't afraid anymore. I was so angry and I began to shout at him. He was trying to explain that he was so in love with me. He would die if I didn't give him the chance. He said that he talked to my boyfriend, that he would finally save me, and that even if I don't want to be with him, my boyfriend would have to kill him so he wouldn't suffer anymore. Moreover, he admitted that he hacked my Facebook and Instagram account, so he knew that I wasn't hating him. I talked about the situation to my best friend. I was

saying to her that Alex was just unstable, but not mean, that I was more sad than angry about his behavior and stuff like that. I decided to run out, but he followed me and grabbed my arms when I was trying to escape by the stairs. I hit him. I begged him to let me go. I cried like I'd never in my entire life. I felt terrorized, angry. I just wanted to escape and run as far as possible. He pushed me against the door and told me these words. If you refuse to have a conversation with me, I'll go to your boyfriend's workplace. I'll talk to him. Then he'll hate you as much as I love you. Maybe he'd kill me, but that doesn't matter.

I was trapped. I couldn't escape. I didn't want to call the cops as they didn't help me at first. I decided to accept to have a conversation with him outside after my work. He calmed down instantly, thanked me, and went out. When I arrived at work, I was still shaking. I explained everything to my co-worker and boss. My co-worker decided to stay in his car after work in front of the restaurant so that if I needed help, he would be there.

At the end of my shift, Alex was here. We sat outside and talked. He was repeating what he'd said to me a million times already, again and again. Then I interrupted him calmly and said that nothing will ever happen between us, that I was afraid of him and that he was poisoning my life. Moreover, he was putting me in danger. He stopped. It looked like he finally realized what he was doing. He pulled something out of his bag. It was a really big package and he gave it to me. It was full of expensive items. I told him that I didn't want to accept it. At first he told me that he bought this for me so he couldn't keep it as it would be a reminder of me. Then he kind of blackmailed me by saying that if I accepted this, he won't contact me ever again. I accepted. I was tired and I just wanted

to go home and finally sleep. Then he said goodbye and went out. Sadly, that's not the end of the story. Two weeks later, I was sleeping at one of my co-workers places who became one of my most precious friends and at 5 a.m. I heard my phone ringing I was too tired to answer but I heard it again and again and again it was some text from an unknown number I opened it and the first thing I saw was blood then there was a long text but I didn't have the time to read it as I received other pictures. There was blood everywhere in the pictures. I woke up my friend. I showed her the pictures and I was shaking so much I couldn't understand what was happening.

I received 31 pictures of mutilated arms, torsos, and legs. On the last of them, I saw Alex's face. It was Alex again. I called Alex's mother to explain her what was happening, and I recognized his bedroom in the pictures. Then my friend put my phone far from me. She was hugging me, and I was feeling so guilty thinking that everything was my fault. Almost an hour later, I didn't receive another text or call which was making me even more anxious. I thought that he was dead. Suddenly, my phone rang again. I received a video of him and he was in a hospital bed. He was trying to talk but almost everything was unintelligible except for a few words like love and promises. Alex had tried to take his own life. He took drugs and cut himself.

He was diagnosed as bipolar with a personality disorder. He stayed a few months at that psychiatric clinic. The last thing I heard about him was that he's on treatment and feeling better. I received the last text last year and it was just sorry. Since this day I moved out. I have a new job, a new place to live, and a different city and a different boyfriend. Even if I'm still traumatized by it, I do think that Alex isn't that bad of a guy. In France, psychiatric troubles are taken a little too lightly. Alex needed help and I really hope from the bottom of my heart that he's gotten it. This story happened more than 10 years ago, when I was still a student. A bit of backstory, as with most students, I was always broke,

and had a few ventures apart from my part-time job to bring me extra money. One of them was house and pet sitting. I've always had a love for animals, so when this couple contacted me to ask to house sit for them for the last few days before they returned from their overseas trip, as the last sitter had bailed on them, their six-month-old golden retriever puppy would be alone, I jumped at the opportunity. The fact that they promised to pay me the full two-week fee for staying there less than a week made it just more appealing. Little did I know how bad it would turn out. I got the details, got the keys from the agent, and headed over to the house as it was already after 5pm and almost dark, as it was early spring.

I got to the house, which was a really nice place but it bordered on not such a good area that was and still is prone to crime. House break-ins, robberies, etc. It didn't bother me much cause you know, nothing will happen to me. I know, young and naive. The first four nights went without a hitch. Watching movies, jacuzzi, and just generally enjoying myself. The owners would have returned on the fifth day fairly late at night. I went over to check on the doggo. I got a call from them at about 10pm saying their flight got delayed. They were going to stay in a hotel and do the three and a half hour drive back the following morning and asked

if I could sleep there again that night, which was fine. I was already there and had my overnight bag still in my car. I called my dad to let him know of my plans as I was still staying with my parents and he specifically asked what the address was. I normally didn't give them details like that because I was old enough to look after myself, thought I still believe to this day that that probably saved my life I eventually got to bed at 1am and it felt like I had only slept five minutes when I was awoken to a window breaking and I could hear movement and what sounded like footsteps running down the hall the first thing I did was grab my phone and just hit redial. Thanks to my old Motorola phone, redialing was as simple as pressing one button,

as my dad was the last number that I had called, hoping that he wakes up from the call. I then dropped the phone in between the headboard and mattress in case my dad picks up that he can hear what is going on. I had barely done that when the first guy stormed through the bedroom door. I could see his silhouette and he had a knife in his hand. When he saw me he raised it and came at me. Now one thing to those that are unfamiliar with South Africa and the crime is that robberies and house invasions usually are very brutal and violent. People get murdered or tortured if they in the slightest retaliate or don't cooperate with the robbers. Out of instinct, I raised my legs back when he came at me and when he came within reach, I kicked both legs out as

hard as I can. Now, I'm not a small guy, I'm 6'3 and at that stage I weighed about 100kg or 220lbs and I was fit and strong. My time not spent at the university or work was at the gym. I could do an easy 250lb bench, 350lb squat. When I kicked and made contact with the guy he completely lifted off the ground and shot into the wall. Luckily the knife shot out of his hand as well. Before he got the chance to get up I was on top of him, driving my right knee into his face and in return his head into the wall. I knew that my life depended on it so I put in some extra force. The guy dropped like a sack of potatoes. But before I could get up, I heard the sound of a pistol cock and I froze. It felt like all the blood drained from my body and I became just numb. I remember the only thing that went

through my head was that if he shot me that I would rather die than be disabled or dependent on other people that will have to take care of me. He stood like that with the pistol against my head for what felt like hours but was probably less than 10 seconds. I didn't move and he eventually said in very broken English to get on the bed, face down. I panicked but thought that if he wanted to shoot me that he already would have done so. So I did as he said. He threw a blanket over me and I turned into a fetal position with my back against the wall, just so that if they wanted to stab me that I'd have my legs and arms in front

to protect my body. Now by that time I had forgotten that I had called my dad, and the guy that I had need is still down. I heard a third guy come into the room and I could hear what sounded like Portuguese to me. I couldn't understand what they said but I recognized it as we used to go to Mozambique on holiday a lot and that is the main language spoken there. The one guy tried to get the guy that I put down off the ground while the other started to ransack the house, shoving valuables into a huge bag. It was about this time that I heard tires screeching and a car approaching at what sounded like Mach 1. The car skidded to a halt right in front of the gate and I heard someone scream. It was my dad. The three inside the house panicked and ran out of the back

door and tried to jump the fence. My dad opened fire, shooting in their general direction. Now I know my dad missed them on purpose cause if he wanted to hit them he would, as he's not just one of but the best shot that I know. And I'm not just saying that cause he's my dad. He is ex-special forces, represented in South Africa in the Clay Pigeon World Championships a couple of years ago, has various regional pistol and rifle championship titles and is a gunsmith by occupation. I have seen him hit golf balls at 50 meters with his pistol. I grabbed the house keys and pressed the gate remote and my dad called the police while I

came in. I met him at the front door and we walked out to the car to wait there for the police. It took them over an hour to get there, some excuse of no vehicle available. By that time, I had calmed down and started to look for the dog. I couldn't find her anywhere. I grabbed a flashlight from my dad and started scanning the surrounding yard and as I got to the corner, I could see her laying on the ground. I got to her and saw that she had passed away. Later autopsies revealed that she was poisoned and the police found pieces of meat laced with poison near the fence. Poisoning is pretty standard practice in my country for dealing with dogs at a house or area that is targeted for a break in a robbery. I was fuming and so sad. The police were also

pretty useless and had a don't care attitude and barely took our statements. By that time, it was starting to get light and I retrieved my bag, phone, and locked the house as good as I can without touching anything and drove home behind my father. Only when I got home I got the story from my dad's side. He said he answered my call only to hear the shouting and what sounded like fighting going on and when I didn't respond he flew out of the house and raced over. Luckily he asked for the address the previous night and he knew the area well enough to know exactly which house it was. Now my dad got there pretty quickly and he said he stayed on the line the whole time, only hanging up when he stopped at the gate.

My parents' house is about 10 kilometers or 6 miles from there, through a residential area. It normally took about 20 minutes of a drive and the call duration was 7 minutes and 13 seconds. I met the detective there later that day, gave my statement, they took fingerprints, etc. and the owners got back about the same time. The rest of the day was a blur as I came down from the shock and adrenaline. Now, that is not where the story ends. About 7 or 8 months later I got a call from the detective telling me they caught the guys and I must come to a lineup to point them out. I specifically told her that I didn't see any of their faces as it was dark and after

the guy held the gun against my head I was under the blanket and didn't see anything. She assured me that they caught them on fingerprints and will show them to me beforehand, which might not be the ethically correct way to do it but they wanted to have as much evidence as possible against them and you will understand why in a minute. I got to the police station and unlike you see in the movies there is no one way glass or separation room. They bring the three guys into the room and make them stand against the wall. The one which I was later told was the leader, which was the one that I had need, looked at me with so much hate as I had never seen in my life.

He had the eyes of someone that would slit your throat and not blink an eye. His name was Joseph Dragon Sambo. He pulled his hand up to his neck and made the slit my throat gesture. You know which one I mean. We left the room and the detective gave me a copy of his rap sheet. Amongst others, four counts of murder, I think eight to nine for attempted murder, multiple assaults, aggravated assault, over a hundred cases of house break-ins, robbery, and indecent assault against women. I was shocked. The detective told me that had I not taken him out first and fast that night, I would have definitely not gotten away so lightly. Now, this is also not where the story ends. Three days later, I get another call from the detective

saying that I should be careful as he had escaped from custody and they had not caught him yet. I was not worried too much as the robbery wasn't at my house and I had changed cars so he probably couldn't find me. Also, I got my firearm licensed and carried my pistol on me 24-7. I didn't hear anything after that until about two years later when I saw the detective at the grocery store. We started talking about the case and she told me that he was killed during a home invasion. He broke into the wrong house and the owner was waiting for him, pistol in hand, shot him once in the stomach and once in the neck, and thanks to the slow response time of emergency services and police, he bled out on the guy's living room floor, ridding

society of a piece of human garbage. A couple of years ago I flew home to visit family. I'd be there about a week then we'd head to the coast for a week then back home for another week. I totally needed this break. I'd just ended an on again off again relationship. Like seriously one day on-again, off-again relationship. Like seriously, one day on, the next day off, literally. It took seven months of putting up with it because you're supposed to fight for what is important to you, right? Anyhow, I finally just said I was done with it. No more chances. No trying to work it out. Just done. So with that chapter of my life being over,

I was more than happy to be somewhere else surrounded by family and beginning to put myself back together. Got there spent a couple of days sleeping a lot. My mother's a nurse and she was becoming concerned that there was something physically wrong with me. I just needed a couple of days in a safe place where I could let my brain work on digesting the new life I would have when I got back home. So before we left for the coast, I met up with a friend from grade school that I'd kept in contact with over the years. I thought it would just be he and I, but it didn't really phase me that another person was there. We hung out for a while and then I needed to head home because I

had to take a backwoods rural route to get home or taking a different route that would add another 20 minutes on my trek. Being backwoods, I needed to be able to keep an eye out for deer. So I said my goodbyes and told the friend that if he was ever in my neck of the woods to look me up and we'd grab a drink and hang out. I told him to grab my number from my friend and out the door I went. About halfway home, I got this weird queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach so I slowed way down and sure enough there was a deer in the middle of the road. Because I had slowed down I could see another car out in the road.

I couldn't shake the queasy feeling so I figured it would be better to cut off and go down to the main road because there were more places to stop. I seriously didn't want to stop in some rural farmer's driveway. I've watched too many movies to make that mistake. So I get over to the main road and pull into a gas station and sit there for a couple of minutes trying not to get sick to my stomach. I ran into the store, grabbed some water and ginger ale and came back to my vehicle, still unable to shake that queasy feeling. So I started to head home from the gas station and knew I didn't want to go straight home. So I drove around, taking this road or that road until that

weird feeling started to go away. Then I went home, read for a bit and then went to sleep. The next day everything was fine and we headed off to the coast. Fast forward two weeks, trip is over, I'm still feeling a little bit fragile over the breakup but that's all. I figured I would begin the process of cleansing the environment of negative energies and then work through the baggage that came from the breakup. I knew that there was a lot and it would take time. So the next day I was going about my business and everything is as cool as it can be when picking through the junk left behind after a breakup. I'm really just doing mindless things to zone out and not have to think too much on the activities since my brain was working full time already. A little bit later in the day, my phone rings.

I don't get a lot of calls, so I assume that there might be a family emergency that I needed to answer it ASAP. The area code of the caller, who was not in my contacts, is the same as my cousin, so I answered without a second thought. On the other end was the acquaintance I met at my friend's house. It's a little weird to have him be calling me but I'm not thinking that anything is terribly out of the ordinary I asked him what was up and he said he was at the airport I still find it a little odd but I said oh that's cool where are you going he'd said that he'd already landed again I'm distracted and really just want to get him off the phone so I could go back to my

mental sidestep and zone out while my brain chugged away. So I said that I'd hoped he'd have a good time wherever he was. He said that he needed me to pick him up. What? Did you just say you needed me to pick you up? Yeah, he replied. I came to visit you. Pause there for a second. I know for a fact that I didn't show any more interest in him than general courtesy. Even the tossed over the shoulder look me up comment was one of those polite things to say because you never actually plan on seeing them again. Unpause. Why did you come to visit me, I asked.

He said he felt a deep connection and wanted to be with me. I'm starting to get angry as well as freaked out at this stage. I told him I didn't feel connection at all and couldn't believe that he would fly across the country to see someone that he'd spent maybe two hours with. He said that I invited him when I said to look him up. I said no? That's just a polite thing to say to some random person that has made a very small impression on me. He said they needed to find a way back home then since I misled him. Misled? Look me up if you're ever in my neck of the woods had led him to think that was a basis for any sort of encounter that was meaningful. He said that he needed a place to stay until he could get the money for a plane ticket back. I said that there were more than enough hotels that he could stay at while he

got himself sorted out. He said he didn't have any money after buying the random one-way plane ticket. So at this stage, I'm flabbergasted, angry, and freaked out that someone would do that on a one-way ticket. I finally caved and said he could stay the night while we sorted this out, but I expected him to be gone no later than the morning of the day after tomorrow. So I bring him back to my place, throw pillows and a blanket on the couch and turn to head to my bedroom and he asks if he can sleep with me. I'm like, uh, no? Actually, no way is that going to happen. So I point out that I have firearms and do not attempt to come in.

The next day I have work so I woke him up and told him to get up and find a way home immediately. I also told him that I had to work but would check in on his progress because the next morning I was dropping him off at departures regardless of whether he had a way back or not. Went to work. He blew up my phone all day. Wanted me to come back to my place for lunch. Told him no, I'm way too busy. I finally get home from work and I'm chuckling at a text that I got about my dog and that's when I noticed that he rearranged everything and by everything I mean

every room of the house had been rearranged. I flipped my lid. I asked him why I thought it was normal to do anything that he did. Instead of answering he asked me who I'd been talking to. I said it wasn't really any of his business, but I had received a text from the guy watching my dog while I was on vacation. Color me shocked when he says that he doesn't want me to talk to that guy. No longer freaked, full force apocalyptic disaster is about to be unleashed and leave nothing but a smoking crater. The temperature drops about 10 degrees and I very calmly said to get his stuff. I was calling a cab to take him to the airport because he is a psycho. Side note, full rage has been achieved when it feels like

the temperature drops and I speak very calmly. If I'm complaining about something, it's a quick burn. If I go monotone calm and tilt my head to one side slightly, this is where I hit arctic levels of anger. So he, unaware of the environmental change that has occurred and that the chances of survival are dropping by the second, decides to tell me that he used my computer and got my ex's phone number and they both agree that I was just heartless. We're fast approaching the epic scale disaster and he finally seems to notice how deep into rage I had sunk. I had told him it was unlikely that he had gotten in my computer because it's a full quote of a part of The Art of War by Sun Tzu and that he would have to have been the processing power of the Hadron Collider computers

and it was obvious that was not the case. I told him he had three minutes to get his stuff and get out or I wouldn't be responsible for what would occur. So, still yelling insults at me, he gathers his stuff and leaves. I used to get calls and texts from him. I'd block one and six more would pop up but it eventually stopped. To this day I have no idea nor interest in knowing where he's at or if he made it back. I was 20 years old, a female at an anime convention. My 21st birthday was coming up a month later, so my roommates decided to let me get completely wasted as long as I stayed in the room or left with someone I trusted. I was staying with a large group of people in one of their nicer hotel rooms there. I had been to quite a lot of conventions and never

really had a bad experience outside of a few cosplay creepers and terrible people at times. The weekend went pretty normal except I was drunk and my group was throwing small parties. On the night of a particularly not so fun one I decided to drunkenly leave the room and go roam around the main lobby. This was when I met Steven. I have no idea how old Steven was but he was at least an adult, maybe a little older than me. We ran into each other at a manga table and he mentioned how he loved the manga that I was holding. I didn't really read manga and just liked the artwork. I'm an anime Andy so to speak but I still listened to him gush about the story for a few because

whatever he seems nice enough. I didn't say much to him outside of mm-hmm and yeah that sounds really cool. I thanked him for the info and walked away. After about an hour or so of roaming around I decided to head back up to my room. Back in my room I had taken two shots with my roomies and was laying on the couch when we got a knock on the door. The music and talking quieted down as it was customary to shush when someone knocked in case of con security coming to shut down our party. That's when my roommate who answered the door said, Veronica? Uh, yeah, she's here, come on in. Followed by silence and then my roommate calling my name and telling me, hey, someone's here for

you. Now two things drunk me didn't think about were the fact that i didn't tell steven my name our interaction lasted five minutes max and i gave no information to him on top of that my name is more complicated and hard to pronounce but maybe i assumed he just described me and my roommate knew who he was talking about but i didn't give him my room number we were several floors up in the suites area, you'd have to take a different elevator to get to the room than you would to get to a standard hotel room. I definitely didn't think about that though. I walked to the door and Stephen was smiling. He asked me to go for a walk with him and I drunkenly said yes. I mean he's just an awkward anime dude who just wanted a friend to hang out with.

Or so I thought. We were walking and he was talking to me about how he recently was watching an anime where the protagonist wouldn't stop killing the girl he liked. I've since googled that anime plot and have not been able to find one similar to what he was talking about outside of some yandere anime. I got a little creeped out as the hall was empty and we were walking with no plan of where we were going. He then began to talk about his favorite serial killers, how he was a huge crime junkie and how he followed a lot of cases. A big red flag went off in my head and I decided it was time to try to go back to my room. But then he stopped walking and stared at me. I know a

really cool spot we can go. If you take the staff elevator you can go all the way to the top of the hotel. It's really pretty. He was suddenly breathing a little oddly and his hands were shaking. I said no as I had some sense left in my head. He then grabbed my arm as hard as he could and started pulling me, yanking me towards the staff doors. I pulled back asking him to stop and he told me to just be quiet. I yanked free of him and started running. He chased after me telling me to stop. I was nearly in tears and wondering why the hallways were so empty at one of the most crowded cons I'd ever went to. When I finally ran into a group of girls, they saw the fear on my face and immediately pulled me into their group,

asking me about my hair and makeup, wrapping their arms around me. I was crying, telling them what was happening, and when I looked back, Stephen was gone. I didn't see him for the rest of the con but I stopped being so friendly at cons because of him. I would also like to say Stephen is the name I gave him, I never got his name personally. I told cons security about him and my roommates and friends used the buddy system with me for the rest of the convention. I truly honestly believed, based on what he said and the way he acted when I tried to get away, that he was planning to take me to that beautiful view and push me off. For a little backstory, the legal drinking age in my country is 18,

so if you want alcohol and didn't have a fake ID or a parent to get it for you, then you had to wait outside of the off-license, which is like a liquor store for the americans until someone came by who agreed to go in and purchase the alcohol for you so we waited around found someone who was willing to go in and buy our alcohol for us and got him to purchase a few bottles of vodka for me and a few friends two of which i was with and the other we were meeting after we'd done this. Now as it was around 6pm we decided it was too much of a risk to decant our vodka into a less

suspicious looking bottle in the middle of the street as it was very busy so we did what we would usually do in this situation and found a nearby food place to quickly run in and use the bathroom to decant our alcohol so we could be on our merry way. This time we chose to do this in a nearby McDonald's. We'd done it in before so we knew it was a safe bet. So we go into the McDonald's and head straight for the bathroom as we'd done a million times before. As we get into the bathroom, me and my other two friends, we'll call them Harriet and Kara, all occupy one cubicle to get the job done and get out and back to our drinking ASAP. And as I previously mentioned, we'd done this lots of times before and usually opted to come into this McDonald's as it was

usually busy, which meant no one paid attention to three teenagers running straight to the toilet without purchasing anything. So anyway, we're all in there doing our thing when I could suddenly hear a lot of shifting and moving above us. I figured it was possibly the air conditioning and opted not to tell my friends as I thought it would freak them out. We get the job done and as we're about to leave the cubicle we hear a giggle and a, where he goes off to. I looked up and see the forehead and eyes of a male who looked to be about 30 just staring out from underneath the tile in the ceiling that he'd slightly lifted. We're all in shock just staring at this guy who proceeded to giggle down at us and ask our names, where we were going to and if he could come. We're all in shock because let's be honest,

who really expects there to be some random guy in the ceiling of a McDonald's? Being a teenager who thought I was untouchable, I proceeded to tell the guy that he was a perv and to F right off. The guy seemed to enjoy this and giggled a little more, still shifting around in the ceiling, never taking his eyes off of us. Now I should probably mention that along with pouring our drinks into other bottles, we pre-rolled a few joints so we were scared to alert anyone at this point as we were young and terrified of our parents finding out. The guy still staring at us proceeds to ask questions like, what age are you guys? Where do you live?

Can I have some of your drink and smoke of your weed? Still all the while twitching and fidgeting overhead. He then started to lift the tile and as we're all stuck in a cubicle with this guy above us, we knew the only way for him to get down was to come down directly on top of us. So we got out of there at that point pretty quickly. We went outside and discussed what we were going to do and I decided to go back in and alert someone as it's a very busy McDonald's and I knew that there would be women and children in and out of the toilets until closing time. I didn't want to risk that creep staying up there just to spy on them

especially since I knew he was there and had witnessed his behavior firsthand. So I go in, tell a member of staff that I'd been in the toilet for a long while talking on a phone call. Terrible lie, but my 15-16 year old brain was too scared to tell the truth in case they alerted the police. And that's when the guy had appeared and, to my shock, they were completely unsurprised. They were just angry more than anything. I've seen a few male members of staff enter the toilet and I figured they could handle it from there so I went on my way. We still went into that McDonald's but never had any encounters with that bathroom fairy or not even sure if the guy got caught as we didn't hear anything about it

afterwards. A couple of years ago, I, a 21-year-old female, was solo backpacking in France and made a day trip out to Versailles from Paris. You have to take two separate trains to both get out there and get back. I got on my first train heading back from Versailles and my phone was at 3%, so I had it on airplane mode and low power but had my headphones in without anything playing to deter people from approaching me. John didn't care. He came over and sat beside me speaking to me in French. I'd been walking around the gardens all day and wasn't really in the mood to entertain anyone so I pretended I didn't understand French. He pulled out his phone and went onto Google Translate asking if I wanted't understand French. He pulled out his phone and went onto Google

Translate asking if I wanted to learn French. I responded with no thank you and went to put my headphones back in and appear even more uninterested since my body language wasn't enough for him. He continued to ask me questions through his phone and the next one being where are you sleeping? I lied and said that I was in a large hotel with my family and was heading back to them. He asked where it was and all I replied with was Paris. He then asked if I was getting off at a specific stop of the subway which I said yes to, another lie, and he said that he'd go with me. I immediately said no and ended the conversation. I got my headphones in and completely closed them off from talking to me which prompted him to leave me alone for a couple of minutes.

He then got a phone call and said to his friend, yeah I'll get off at X stop and you go to Y stop. This set off the danger danger alarm in my head because Y stop is the actual stop that I was getting off at. We got to the transfer station and he got up and off the train and waited for me at the doors. I took my sweet time getting up and made sure I had everything to the point that it was very obnoxious I was doing it on purpose. He then left to get on the other train and I slowly made my way off into the next train. I mean painfully slow. I got on the train at the very front and was watching everyone around me to make sure that nobody was being suspicious

or watching me to the point that they all probably thought that I was on something. We got to x stop and I'm watching the people going off and coming on as well as anyone on the platform but I see no sign of him or anyone paying much attention to me. We get to Y-stop and I get off with the crowd, turn the corner and he's there with four friends scanning everyone coming out. I turned around so fast and went the exact opposite way, taking my hair out of my bun and trying to change my appearance as much as I possibly could. As soon as I got out of the train, I ran back to my hostel and refused to leave it unless I was with one of my roommates. I'm a 17-year-old male living in a relatively quiet life in rural northern Montana. I don't party a lot or do stupid stuff, but I do love driving in the mountains.

Little did I know this could have cost me my life. It's August of this year, 2020 and I was enjoying some free time on my day off of work and I decided to go take a drive in the mountains north of Kalispell. I drive a red Nissan Frontier straight out of the 90s with a super temperamental transmission for context. The drive there was really uneventful. Typical idiot drivers, big diesels, northern highway dreariness. It was a foggy, cold, rainy day so I figured nobody would be in the mountains at this time and I would be all alone up there. When I pulled off the main road and up the mountainous dirt road I felt

normal like nothing was wrong other than my stupid transmission. I am driving up the road for about two hours until I hit a peak and get out to take some pictures, something I usually do for memories. And nothing was really out of the ordinary, and it was silent other than the wind whistling through the trees and rain. I was truly alone. Until I got the feeling you know that feeling you get in your core when someone or something is looking at you i was just standing there motionless listening to any noises that might alert me to someone's presence but there was absolute stillness i started slowly walking back to my truck when I heard a loud boom and a sound like you hear in those old western movies. My fight or flight was instantly in sixth gear and I sprinted

back to my truck, started it and by the grace of god or some higher being was able to get it into first quickly and sped off. I found a spot big enough and turned the truck around and hauled as much butt as this little four banger could do back down the mountain road and onto the highway. I drove completely flat out down the highway to the nearest gas station where I stopped. I was pooping bricks at this point because it wasn't hunting season. I didn't see or hear anyone else and there was no way I could be mistaken for an animal. I get out to see if the truck was damaged at all and lo and behold, there was a massive bullet hole. I'm going to guess a 7mm round size hole in the side of my truck.

It went in by the rear fender and came out through the tailgate. I immediately called the county sheriff but since there was no bullet or evidence that they had done it, there wasn't much they could do. Nothing else has really happened since then and I worked in the mall in my town. My town is relatively calm, never have any major crimes committed but the city that's about 15 minutes out used to have the highest murder rates in Canada. The mall I worked in was pretty small, the usual type of customers were moms with their kids or older people just trying to pass the time. Not a sketchy type of mall at all and very safe to work at. One day I was on my break and I went to the food court to get a

drink and sit down and just browse my phone as usual. I noticed two women walking towards me and my first instinct was they saw my uniform and they were going to ask me something about a product my store sold. I thought nothing sinister of it. They come up to me and sit down right away. They both had heavy heavy accents though i'm not sure what kind because it hadn't been something i'd ever heard they were dressed very classy as if they were going to church and they relatively seemed completely normal one of the women pulls out a book and they begin asking me some odd questions such as do you go to church do you believe in god mainly just stuff that has to do

with religion, so I assumed they were some sort of missionaries. They then began to tell me about God the mother. With me being extremely shy, I just listened to them talk. They then asked me if I was able to come with them to a youth group that they had organized that was going on tonight. I told them that I was at work and just on break so I couldn't go but they continued to insist. Finally they got the message that I couldn't go with them so they asked me for my phone number and told me that they'd text me next time they arranged one and I could go. I really didn't want to talk to them anymore. I wanted to get them to leave so I agreed and gave them my phone number. A couple of days later I got a text from them trying to arrange something but

I just blocked the number and thought nothing of it. It's not that I thought they were planning to hurt me, I just wasn't really into going to a youth group. Then a couple of months later, I was reading the news and there was a story warning young girls about a human trafficking scheme in my city. It said that women would come up to you and talk to you about God the mother and try to get you to leave with them. So thank goodness I hadn't finished my shift yet and thank goodness that I never responded to their text. It's so weird to me to think that if I would have, I probably wouldn't be in Canada right now This happened to me two weeks ago. I started university in September and therefore live in a students-only apartment complex.

There are four other apartments in my hallway and sometimes we just spend time in each other's apartments. I had the absolute chance, that's ironic, to lose my keys the first week of university. It wasn't a big deal, I simply paid for another key. After a week in my apartment, I started to notice that some of my stuff wasn't in the same place as I thought I'd put it. It didn't scare me because I know I'm a distracted person. On the day of the incident, I was coming home earlier than usual with another student, Thomas, the boy that lives in the apartment next to mine. We got in and when I unlocked my door, I saw a woman inside my apartment. Of course, it scared me, but as I was

about to ask her what the F she was doing here, she told me, oh sorry, i didn't know you'd be home this early i'm the janitor i clean the rooms weekly she then smiled at me and went out i didn't know we had a janitor but this kind of explained why my stuff was moving thomas then noticed that she had left her keys on my desk and said that i should give them back to her. When I took a closer look I just realized those were my lost keys. The night passed and I decided to talk to the man in charge of the complex about this. I told him about the janitor that had my lost keys so I didn't really lose them and I asked for my money back. He just looked at me in total incomprehension and told me, but we don't have a janitor. I just froze. Then who went into my apartment for the past few weeks?

Why was she still there? We didn't call the police because nothing had been stolen, but I still searched for cameras in my apartment. You never know with these psychopaths. I haven't seen her since that, and I'm glad to know that she can't enter the complex anymore without a badge on the keys. The first job I had was at a pizza place in my hometown. It's a really small town with a little over a thousand people. We're right next to a main highway that's about 30 minutes away from a major city. One night at around September to October, I'm working with two other co-workers and our manager. Our whole shift has been pretty slow and we're just getting ready to close at 9pm.

Around 8.30pm, two men and a little girl at around the age of 7 or 8 come in. I go up to the front and ask them if they need help with anything or if they're going to place an order. One of the men, the shorter one, says that they are just passing through and then asks about the prices of different items on the menu. He also asks what time we close. I answer and he just says ok and walks away to sit down with the little girl at a booth. The taller man then leaves the building and gets into their car parked out front. The smaller man gets up after about five minutes, whispers something to the little girl then leaves. My co-workers and I are watching this all go down and talking about how strange it is.

The little girl gets up and starts dancing around to the radio station we have playing. After a couple of minutes of this I walk up to her and ask her if she's hungry or if she wants a drink. She says she only wants a water which I get for her. She takes it back to the booth and sits down. I ask her who she's waiting on and she says her dad. My co-workers and I are starting to get worried for her because the two men haven't come back yet and it's 8.50pm. We start to think that neither of one of them are her dad at all. My manager decides to call the police. Our town's too small for our own police station so we have to wait for them to come from the next town over which takes at least 15 minutes. I go to sit with

her at the booth. I'm making small talk with her trying to make sure she's safe and nothing happens before the cops can get there. In the middle of our conversation she gets up and says she has to leave. My manager and I try to tell her she needs to stay in the restaurant until her dad comes back but she starts crying and screaming and insists on leaving. A couple of days later, my manager said the cops found her walking down the road alone later that night. We never heard any more information about the situation afterwards. I just hope that she's safe now. To be continued... bell to be alerted of all future narrations. If you got a story, be sure to submit them to my subreddit, r slash let's read official, and give and receive feedback from the community, and maybe even hear your story featured on the next video. And join my discord to interact with me and other

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