twenty.
“When I was about 14, my childhood friend and I, both of whom have SUPER strict parents, used to sneak out in the middle of the night during our summer vacation just to hang out, walk around town, and generally sneak around feeling daring. One night, I went and stood outside her house at the usual time, but she never showed up. I finally gave up and walked back home. About halfway there, a car came down the street towards me. I was on the same side of the road and some instinct told me to cross to the other side. Just as I decided to do so, the car started to slow down. So I crossed and it sped up again. As it passed me, the driver turned his face towards me and gave me a piercing look. cooled me.”
“As the street was completely silent and deserted, I could easily hear the car reach the end of the street, then turn and head back in my direction. Thinking quickly, I waited until it had almost caught up to me before running to the other side of the street. This time, the look it gave me was unmistakably angry.
He sped up again and just as I was turning onto a side street, I ran towards it as fast as I could. I knew there was an alley on the other side that I could get home through and he couldn’t drive through there. Once again, I heard the car reach the other end of the street and turn again. As the sound of the engine got closer, I hid behind a parked car.
He was coming down my side street, driving very, very slowly. As I looked out, I saw the driver looking left and right as his car slowly moved down the road. He was obviously looking for me.
As soon as the car turned a corner and disappeared from view, I ran to a nearby gravel driveway that happened to have a couple of locked garages at the other end. By an incredible stroke of luck, I found one that wasn’t locked. I snuck inside, locked the door, crawled under a tarp in a dark corner, and just… waited.
A few minutes later, I heard a car door slam shut. Then I heard one of the scariest sounds I had ever heard in my life: footsteps on gravel.
They pulled up to my side of the driveway and just stood there for a while. I don’t even know how he knew I was there, as he wouldn’t have been able to see me drive up in his rearview mirror, unlike he presumably did with the side road, but apparently he did. Eventually, he seemed to give up and I heard footsteps receding down the driveway. Then the car door slammed shut and the engine revved.
I have no idea how long I was there, under that tarp, in total darkness, with my legs cramping, but it seemed like an eternity. It was already morning when I got home. This was almost 30 years ago, but I can still feel those shivers.
—u/tiptoe_only