Chased By A Stranger

It was a hot, humid summer day and my aunt was having a small get together at her house. My family went over in the afternoon. After a few hours, there was a lull in the action and my cousin and I wanted to go for a walk and enjoy the air as it was getting a bit cooler. We had no particular route in mind when we set off, but after about a mile, my cousin suggested we continue on to our other aunt's apartment, which was a neighborhood over, and check in on her. The idea didn't sit well with me (I was, and still am, a very cautious person), but she was older than me and assured me it would be fine. We wanted to keep walking anyway, so why not, right?

We walked for so long that the sun began setting as we crossed over a bridge that traversed a creek and brought us into the more urban neighborhood in which my aunt lived. We stopped to take a short break, admiring the water while we chatted. I remember seeing the orange and red deepen in the sky and the shadows of the trees along the bank lengthened and gently swayed. At this point, I was getting a bit tired so I was happy when my cousin said we only had a few more blocks to go.

We kept on a sidewalk that ran the length of the right side of a very wide road. As we kept going, we noticed on the left side of the road there was a smaller one that branched off at about a 30 degree angle. Given the fading light, we could also make out the figure of a large-framed person walking in our direction.

He was about 1,000 feet away when he saw us and roared at the top of his lungs, "HEY! HEEEYYY!". He flailed him arms to get our attention. Then, he pointed and hollered, "YOU!" My cousin and I were taken aback. I remember thinking why he would scream like that... even if he thought he knew us, the manner and tone of his yell was unsettling. It was about 5 seconds before our mix of surprise and concern quickly turned to pure fear as this man took off in an all-out sprint towards us. Now, 1,000 feet seemed decently far away, but he was coming at us like Usain Bolt and he was closing this distance FAST.

Fortunately, my cousin snapped into "flight" mode and we took off running as fast as we've ever ran in our lives. With all the adrenaline pumping through me, I barely felt my feet hit the ground with each spring forward. Even so, I was just barely keeping up with my cousin, so she grabbed my wrist and held it firmly as we ran, keeping me alongside her. The guy shouted once again as he chased us and my cousin glanced back. I'll never forget the look of terror on her face. She must've had an extra rush of adrenaline because she burst forward even faster, my wrist in hand. We were flying.

As we closed in on my aunt's place, I could hear the man's footsteps getting a little louder. I could tell from the sound that he wasn't directly behind us, but I prayed we'd managed to keep enough distance to turn right at the next block and get to my aunt's yard unscathed. Thankfully, the sun was almost fully set and it was even darker than before, so I knew it would be harder to see where we went once we turned off the main road.

Within a few seconds, we were rounding the corner and slowing down to open my aunt's gate. She lived in a basement apartment on a corner lot which had a yard that was fenced in all around by 6 foot tall wooden panels. As my cousin went through the gate and ran into the yard first, I was the one to close it. We had been going so fast and had so much adrenaline, my first impulse was to slam it and run down the steps to the apartment door, but my instinct told me that the noise might alert him to where we were, so I closed the gate as quietly and quickly as possible. I looked for a lock, but there was none.

I ran to where my cousin was on the steps leading down to the door. We stood on the steps with our eyes just above ground level, trying to keep as quiet as possible. A few seconds later, I heard the man's footsteps and saw him run to the cross street that flanked my aunt's yard. He stopped for a moment to look around, breathing hard and mumbling expletives. I held my breath as I saw his eyes and the top of his head swivel around wildly, searching for any sign of us. In a flash, he suddenly took off down the side street past the yard, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

We knew we had to get indoors now. (We had waited to knock on my aunt's door before because we didn't want to make noise). We knocked on the door, being careful not to bang and draw attention, but there was no answer. NO ONE WAS HOME. My cousin began looking for a spare key that she may have hidden, while I tried to get the small window by the door open. No luck.

At this point, we were trying not to panic but it started to dawn on us the danger we were in and the fact that we didn't have any good options for safely getting inside or back home. It was dark now. We were both tired and knew we couldn't outrun him again if he doubled back and saw us. We didn't want to be sitting ducks, especially since the gate didn't have a lock, and trying to run back was too risky given how far it was.

Fortunately, my prayers were answered some minutes later when the neighbor's backyard light turned on and we heard barking. A couple was letting their small dogs out and they stood on their deck, talking, while the dogs ran around. My cousin and I crept over to the fence and could see through a few cracks in between the panels. We managed to get their attention and explained what just happened. They were definitely surprised, but were also very nice and understanding. They must've heard the panic and desperation in our voices because they took us seriously. They offered to drive us home, and we gratefully accepted. As they drove us back to my aunt's house, I remember being so glad that they went outside when they did.