It was around one year ago I was 18 and going through the usual trials and tribulations
of being and adult you know Unemployment, yearning for independence and figuring out
what to do with the rest of your life.
I handled these by going on walks and clearing my head by following the worn-down footpaths
of nearby forests and going to bars.
It starts with a visit to one of the bars around the area I live.
I would usually just have either a Fanta or a Coke and leave in about a couple hours.
this night was different I left the bar and started the walk back to my motorcycle.
I sling my leg over and I take a look around and I spot someone peeping around a corner.
Unnerved I try to avoid his gaze and just focus on getting home.
I pull out of the bar parking lot.
Halfway through the journey I begin noticing a car behind me a 2005 Vauxhall Astra following
me everywhere.
Once again, I felt unnerved by what seemed like a coincidence.
Turn after turn it followed flawlessly.
eventually I was at my street and the car turned left into one of the cul-de-sacs I
then breathed a sigh of relief thinking it was just one of our neighbours.
I pulled into the driveway and entered my house.
Still shivering from the thought of having to face down a burglar or worse.
The next morning, I awoke My parents at that time were out of the country for their anniversary.
I did my usual routine of getting breakfast and ready for the day ahead.
last night’s events brushed off as a misunderstood coincidence or me just being paranoid.
Later that day around 6 at night I went out for a walk and I decided to head out to a
forest around 5 miles away.
I arrived and began walking down one of the dirt trails.
Enjoying the remainder of the sunlight before the sun went down.
Around 500 meters up the trail I got a feeling that I was being watched I took a cursory
look around and see some movement in the trees.
My first thought is a deer or some birds.
I look around a bit and see nothing no people.
It’s completely silent, I press on anyway thinking that I’m just paranoid.
On the way back up the trail no sooner than 5 minutes later I hear rustling noised coming
from the trees and bushes.
I turn around to see someone coming out of the bushes.
They were tall, dark and wore a hoody with the hood up which obscured everything on his
face besides his eyes.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul well this guy just from his eyes alone looked
insane.
And to top it off he laughed, and this laugh wasn’t just a small chuckle it was a fully
formed pennywise the clown laugh.
It sent shivers down my spine which sent my brain into an unending tirade of questions
“who is this guy” “what is he doing here” “what is that in his hand”.
Looking over him I see he has a massive rusty hunting knife.
I just turned and ran with his psychotic laughter following me down the trail my brain thinking
up more and more screwed things this guy would do if he caught me.
I went off the usual trail and into some lesser used ones.
This, I would argue was my biggest mistake.
He followed me down it laughing and yelling incoherently.
I looked back and didn’t see him so I hid in the bushes and stayed still as possible
I hear footsteps and heavy breathing.
He stops looks around and continues on.
I waited until I could no longer hear him.
I make a break for it and start running back.
After I break from the bushes, I hear a yell.
it’s darker now and I can’t see him.
I keep running until I reach the place I parked my bike.
Right next to it was the same car I had seen the night before.
Then I heard “There you are” yelled behind me I grabbed my keys got on my bike and sped
off going as quick my crappy 125 would allow me to go.
I arrive home and put my bike into the back garden.
I stay hidden in my house for the rest of the evening almost unable to sleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night around 1am to sirens and yelling.
I take a peek out of the window and I see police and ambulances in the middle of the
street.
I watch as they take a man struggling against the police out and throw him into a police
car.
I watched a little longer the police took him away.
I went to sleep safe with the knowledge that I and my neighbours were safe.
The next morning, I went to the police station and told them I was there about the incident
last night.
They took me to a detective’s office and I told him all the happenings from the last
2 days.
The detective told me that the guy had tried to break into my neighbour’s house and he
got the idea that I lived there from the fact that he also owned a motorcycle and had left
it in his driveway that night.
Turns out the guy suffered from mental illness and was off his anti-psychotic medication.
After a bit of questioning I left the police station a bit shaken but relieved that the
guy was off the street hopefully getting the help he needed.
My girlfriend is 17, she has 2 outdoor working type jobs which she loves.
She works up in the hills of Western Australia where she has to drive an hour each day to
get to her work.
It kind of sucks as there is no mobile connection up there so I have no idea the times she gets
home from work.
She works as a high ropes course instructor at a camp site for kids and adults that come
for the day, sometimes she can work pretty late and end up driving home when it’s dark,
and let me say she doesn't exactly have the best car.
It’s well known for the amounts of times it breaks down by overheating, especially
in the summer.
Luckily her dad taught her how to fix this as there is no reception up there for help.
The roads home are long, empty and barren with no sign of life anywhere.
As usual every now and then my girlfriend’s car decides to break down, this time I was
getting nervous as it was nearing 8pm and she was still not home.
She rung me when she got to the nearest town with reception crying and unable to speak
on the phone.
I desperately tried to calm her and ask her what had happened.
She choked back her tears and explained this story from the beginning for me.
She had been driving home as usual as the sun set on the horizon blaring out her AC-DC
cds down the long empty straight roads home.
Her car had begun jerking and she was unable to push down on the accelerator without it
sticking.
Anyways, long story short her car had broken down AGAIN.
It was getting pretty dark but still light enough for her to see as she was head deep
under the hood of her car trying to find the problem.
About half an hour past and at this time she was considering sleeping in her car for the
night until help came around.
This was until she saw the headlights of another car coming out of the tree line about 500
metres from the dense bush littered with empty camping grounds.
My girlfriends not the most confident person but this time she really needed help so she
decided to flag down the car.
She said it was a silver soccer mom car that was covered in red dirt, she assumed it to
be a camper who decided to leave late and was now being waved down by some crazy teenage
girl.
The car pulled up slowly a short distance behind hers and a tall lanky young man stepped
out, wearing a football themed cap and dirty clothing.
This was the usual for my girlfriend as she’s used to seeing dirty campers every day at
work so it didn’t strike her as worrying.
Now the thing that did worry her was that the man’s car had no numberplate.
The man grabbed her attention by shouting over what tools he’d need to grab out of
his car to help her, he seemed nice enough.
He brought an old bag full of car appliances in to temporarily fix the car so she could
make it back home.
By this time my girlfriend was having to use the light on her phone so they could both
see what they were doing, she told me he was very quiet and barely spoke a word while stood
next to her, only the crashing of tools was breaking the silence of the empty woods.
Suddenly, the man looked up at her and said “hey…would you mind going and getting
the duct tape out the back door of my car so I can patch this pipe up real quick?”.
My girlfriend has a good heart and sometimes can trust people too much, so she did as he
said and walked over to his car.
He shouted back at her that the car door was stiff so she would have to yank it open to
get inside.
She pulled open the door and was struck by the foul smell of body odour, the car was
filthy and full of tools.
Now my girlfriend has seen quite a few horror movies so she’s always got that paranoid
side to her in the back of her mind.
She spotted the duct tape among a pile of rusty tools on the far seat and was reaching
over the seat to get it when she felt someone shove her by her back legs into the car, she
turned around screaming at the man to get off her and kicking him in the head as he
tried holding her down by her ankles on the back seats.
She told me she reached down and grabbed one of the tools laying on the floor and swung
it at his head when he leaned in close enough.
He swung his head back and fell onto the road as she stumbled out the car with her phone.
She didn’t pause for a second and sprinted toward the tree line, only looking back to
see the man on his hands and knees, spitting blood onto the tarmac.
She ran into the nearest set of bushes that led to the woods and didn’t stop until she
reached a campsite.
She ran into a camp of 2 men with their kids who were eating dinner at the time.
She couldn’t stop crying and told the men what had happened.
One of the men ran off in the direction she had come from to find the sick fuck who had
tried to abduct her.
The other sat with her around the campfire, desperately trying to calm her.
It wasn’t long before the other man came back, saying he had only found an empty car,
which was hers, and a spurt of blood on the ground a few metres from her car.
They towed her car back to the nearest town that same night and contacted the police.
Nothings come of it so far, just a few routine searches around the area for that car, but,
let’s just say my girlfriend hasn’t wanted to mention it until now
A little background information.
I worked the night shift at a local gas station when I was 19.
I am a female about 5'6" and was the only employee in the store, as usual.
On Christmas eve I had to work the overnight, 10pm-6am into Christmas day.
It was a normal night.
No customers and my cleaning was almost finished.
I had just got done eating and decided to go out for a smoke when I hear someone walking
towards the store in the distance.
Nothing out of the ordinary, until the person gets to the pumps and I can actually see them.
It was a male, about 5'9" and somewhat thin.
He was wearing a dark hoodie, jeans and was carrying a gift bag.
As he got closer I noticed he was bleeding from his forehead.
As he approached me I asked if he was okay and if he needed help.
I noticed that the bag was empty which should have been my first red flag.
The guy looked me in the eyes, looking dead inside, and said, "You want to help?
Then don't call the fucking cops."
I agreed and told him there was a first aid kit inside and I'd be happy to help him with
his wound (crazy I know, but I was just trying to be nice to him since he was someone who
could have been a threat.)
We went inside the store and I got the first aid kit.
As I pulled out the stuff for him to clean himself up with, he said he needed to use
the restroom and once again told me not to call the cops.
I told myself that if he wasn't out of the bathroom within a reasonable amount of time,
I was going to call the police.
He did not come out, so I went outside and called.
The dispatcher told me to stay out of the store and find somewhere safe to be until
the officers arrived.
I stood at the side of the store where he wouldnt be able to see me but I could see
if he came out of the bathroom, he didnt.
The police arrived and asked where he was, I pointed and they went in.
Just as they got to the door he opened it, and tried to lunge at one of the officers.
They tackled him, threw a knife that he was holding, and promptly arrested him.
As they were walking him out of the store, he told me that I was lucky the police got
there when they did, and that he'd see me again soon.
I was a little shook by that.
One of the officers came to take my statement after the other took the guy away.
I told the officer what all had happened and then I asked something I really wish I didn't
know the answer to.
"What was he doing in the bathroom?"
The officer told me that it was a good thing that I called them when I did because the
guy had shot up some heroine in the bathroom, then was going to come out with a knife, stab
me, and run with what money was in my register, that's what the bag was for.
This guy had a lot of problems and a lot of anger inside of him.The reason he was so angry
was also the reason his head was bleeding, he owed his dealer money and got beat because
of it.
His solution to the problem was robbing the store.The officer told me, if I didn't call
when I did, I'd either be critically wounded or dead because he wasn't going to allow me
to stand between him
and that money.