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4 DRIVING AT NIGHT Horror Stories Animated · Martin Animations

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Speaker 1: Hopefully this is okay to post here. My story is
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Speaker 1: not one where I was the target of someone's stalking
0:06
Speaker 1: or harassment, but one where I was the guy who
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Speaker 1: was at the right place at the right time, and
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Speaker 1: I'm fairly certain that my inadvertent intervention may have saved
0:14
Speaker 1: someone I'd never met. Well, who knows what. This was
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Speaker 1: back in 2015 or 16. I'm a career tow truck driver.
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Speaker 1: At this point, I've been towing cars for most of
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Speaker 1: my adult life, and will most likely do so until
0:29
Speaker 1: I retire or die. whichever comes first. At the time,
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Speaker 1: I was working for a pretty small towing company with
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Speaker 1: only two employees. We rotated who was on call each weekend.
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Speaker 1: It was my weekend on call. It was summer. So
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Speaker 1: with people being out and about late and whatnot, I
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Speaker 1: was pretty busy cleaning up accidents, towing broken cars down
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Speaker 1: both in the city and off the highway. I was
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Speaker 1: fine with it because I was paid in commission at
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Speaker 1: the time. So the more calls I did, the more
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Speaker 1: money I made. It's Saturday night, now Sunday morning It's
1:01
Speaker 1: around 2.30 to 3. Like I said, I've been busy.
1:05
Speaker 1: I'm tired, I'm a little grumpy, and I kind of
1:07
Speaker 1: want to go home when my phone rings. It's an
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Speaker 1: insurance company calling asking if we could do a tow
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Speaker 1: for one of their customers who's broken down on the
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Speaker 1: side of the highway. The breakdown location they gave me
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Speaker 1: is about 15 miles out of town, which I normally
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Speaker 1: wouldn't do, but the tow destination happens to be a
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Speaker 1: dealership that's a couple of minutes from my apartment. So
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Speaker 1: I contemplate rejecting the call, but because I'm paid commission,
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Speaker 1: I figure screw it. I can run up, grab this car,
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Speaker 1: drop it off the corner from my place, then hopefully
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Speaker 1: I can just head home and get a couple hours
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Speaker 1: of shut-eye. So I take the call and hop onto
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Speaker 1: the highway. The insurance company provided me with a customer's
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Speaker 1: first name, which for privacy's sake we'll call her Kara,
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Speaker 1: and then gave me a phone number for her. I
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Speaker 1: usually try to make contact with the people who are
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Speaker 1: on the side of the highway to let them know
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Speaker 1: that I'm on my way, and give them an ETA.
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Speaker 1: I try calling her a couple of times, but she
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Speaker 1: didn't answer. Not unusual. After a short while, I see
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Speaker 1: hazard lights up on the way on the shoulder, so
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Speaker 1: I turn on my strobes and start slowing down. As
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Speaker 1: I approach, I notice that not only is there a
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Speaker 1: late model car that I'm looking for, but there's another
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Speaker 1: car on the scene as well that doesn't have its
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Speaker 1: hazards on, but it's parked in front of the car
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Speaker 1: I'm meant to tow. This is annoying but not uncommon,
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Speaker 1: as I needed to be able to get in front
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Speaker 1: of the disabled car in order to load it and
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Speaker 1: sometimes people don't realize that. but because the other car
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Speaker 1: is there, I instead pull up behind both cars. Standing
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Speaker 1: at the trunk of the late model car, which is
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Speaker 1: now directly in front of me, are a man and
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Speaker 1: a woman. The woman is probably in her early 20s,
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Speaker 1: dressed to the nines for a night out. She's maybe
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Speaker 1: 5'1 or 5'2. She's wearing tight leather-ish or something pants,
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Speaker 1: a halter top, long black hair, very pretty. The man
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Speaker 1: is probably 5'10 and skinny, maybe 150 or 160 pounds.
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Speaker 1: wearing a dark hoodie and dirty jeans. They're standing very close,
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Speaker 1: facing each other. She has her arms crossed, and he's
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Speaker 1: leaning down, talking to her. I step out of my
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Speaker 1: truck and approach them both, and I introduce myself. They
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Speaker 1: separate a few feet, and I look to the woman
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Speaker 1: and say, Are you Kara? She nods. I say that
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Speaker 1: I'm here from her insurance company, and ask what's going
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Speaker 1: on with her car. Immediately, the man pipes up and says, Yeah,
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Speaker 1: it's just some fuel issues. It's an easy fix. Can
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Speaker 1: you just drop it off at this commuter parking lot?
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Speaker 1: I'm going to fix it for her there. I'm rather
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Speaker 1: annoyed at this, because the commuter lot in question is
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Speaker 1: further up the highway, and I'm already 15 miles out
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Speaker 1: of town. Like I said before, I only took this
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Speaker 1: call because it was supposed to be coming back toward
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Speaker 1: my apartment, and I really wanted to go home. Not
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Speaker 1: only that, but in order to change the original tow destination...
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Speaker 1: I would have to call the insurance company back, wait
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Speaker 1: on hold for them for who knows how long for
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Speaker 1: a representative, and then let them know of the change
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Speaker 1: and try to get them to pay me extra for
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Speaker 1: the deadhead miles back home, after I unload. I really
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Speaker 1: didn't want to do any of this. Thirdly, this is
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Speaker 1: a late model car. I'm no mechanic, but it's new
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Speaker 1: enough that whatever is wrong with it is likely covered
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Speaker 1: under warranty, so the dealership is really the best place
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Speaker 1: for it to go anyways. I explain all this to
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Speaker 1: this guy, but he's not really having it. He gets
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Speaker 1: stern with me, saying something like, Look man, you just
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Speaker 1: need to take the car where I tell you to
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Speaker 1: take it. We go back and forth on this for
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Speaker 1: maybe 60 seconds, and he's just getting madder and madder.
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Speaker 1: Well you know what man, you're not the name insured.
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Speaker 1: Kara is. The easy way to settle this is to
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Speaker 1: ask what she wants me to do with the car.
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Speaker 1: Whatever she says is what I'll do. Fingers crossed she'll
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Speaker 1: want to take it to the dealership so I can
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Speaker 1: get home sooner. I turn to look at Kara to
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Speaker 1: ask her that question. I don't see her right away.
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Speaker 1: She's no longer standing where she was a minute ago,
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Speaker 1: which was slightly off to my right. I continue not
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Speaker 1: to see her until I've turned almost all the way around,
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Speaker 1: because she's standing directly behind me. And by directly, I
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Speaker 1: mean within an inch of my back, arms still crossed.
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Speaker 1: I look down at her, and she locks eyes with me.
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Speaker 1: Her eyes are wide as plates, almost owl-like. Immediately, it
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Speaker 1: feels like she's staring into my soul. She didn't have
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Speaker 1: to say a word, and she didn't have to. I
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Speaker 1: took a step back and did what I felt was
5:31
Speaker 1: like a double-double take. I looked at him, then at her,
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Speaker 1: then at him again, then back at her. It slowly
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Speaker 1: starts to dawn on me that maybe something isn't quite right.
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Speaker 1: I ask her, Do you know this guy? And she
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Speaker 1: ever so slightly shook her head no. The expression on
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Speaker 1: her face when I asked her that will forever be
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Speaker 1: burned into my skull. Turned to the guy and was like, Oh,
5:55
Speaker 1: you gotta go, man. Now, I'm not a tough guy.
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Speaker 1: I'm a total beta male, if there is such a thing.
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Speaker 1: And I don't care who knows it. I've got nothing
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Speaker 1: to prove. I'm super adverse to confrontation and will run
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Speaker 1: at the first sight of trouble. I'm not exactly the
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Speaker 1: biggest of guys either. I am, however, what I'd like
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Speaker 1: to call sturdy. I'm 5'8 and 240 pounds and have
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Speaker 1: a bit of a gut. I also have big thighs
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Speaker 1: and broad shoulders and people generally surprise to find out
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Speaker 1: that I weigh as much as I do. and I
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Speaker 1: think that might have been my saving grace for what
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Speaker 1: happened next. Without a word, the guy starts to move
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Speaker 1: for Kara, and I move to stay in between him.
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Speaker 1: He tries to push me out of his way by
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Speaker 1: shoving me in the chest, but, because I believe he
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Speaker 1: underestimated my weight, only pushed me hard enough to make
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Speaker 1: me take a single step back. Immediately, I took that
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Speaker 1: step forward toward him and body check him, hard. As
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Speaker 1: hard as I could, hard enough to completely knock him
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Speaker 1: over basically onto his ass. Because we rotated during the
6:55
Speaker 1: back and forth push bit, Kara is now in front
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Speaker 1: of me to my right, somewhat between me and the
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Speaker 1: guy who's trying to scramble to his feet. I reached
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Speaker 1: out and snatched up the poor girl by her waist,
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Speaker 1: spun her toward my truck, and yelled for her to
7:09
Speaker 1: get into the driver's side, and she does so. I
7:12
Speaker 1: turn back to the guy, who's standing up again at
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Speaker 1: this point, and he's breathing hard. He gets right up
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Speaker 1: in my face but doesn't do anything, just breathes at me.
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Speaker 1: I stare him right in the face mustering up the
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Speaker 1: best dad voice I can muster and just say, You
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Speaker 1: need to go. I'm shaking now. Absolutely terrified. I don't
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Speaker 1: know if he has a weapon. Don't know if he's
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Speaker 1: going to try to fight me. I don't know what
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Speaker 1: I would do if he did. Like I said before,
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Speaker 1: I'm not a tough guy. I don't even know how
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Speaker 1: to fight. I've never been in a fight in my life.
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Speaker 1: What if I get badly hurt? What if I get stabbed?
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Speaker 1: What do I even do now? I just want to
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Speaker 1: go home. I wasn't even going to take this damn call.
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Speaker 1: All this is running through my head at lightning speed.
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Speaker 1: After probably around 15 seconds or so, which felt like eons,
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Speaker 1: he huffs a bit, smiles one of the creepiest smiles
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Speaker 1: I've ever seen, and starts to back up, sucking his
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Speaker 1: teeth and rubbing his hands together. He slowly starts walking
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Speaker 1: backward a few steps, then makes his way to the
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Speaker 1: front of the car, gets in and drives off. I
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Speaker 1: stayed motionless. watching him until I could no longer see
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Speaker 1: his taillights. I got Kara's car loaded up onto the
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Speaker 1: tow truck as we made our way to the dealership.
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Speaker 1: She told me through tears that her car had shut
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Speaker 1: off while she was driving. She pulled over to the shoulder,
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Speaker 1: called her parents because she was on their insurance. Her
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Speaker 1: parents made the call to the insurance company, who eventually
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Speaker 1: dispatched me to her location. While she was waiting, a
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Speaker 1: bit after she made the call, the guy pulled up
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Speaker 1: in front of her, walked up to her passenger side window,
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Speaker 1: and tried to talk to her, ask if she needed help.
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Speaker 1: She told him she was fine, and that a tow
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Speaker 1: truck was coming, and she didn't need any help. He persisted,
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Speaker 1: and she tried to tell him off, eventually tried to
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Speaker 1: roll up the window. Apparently he stuck his arm in
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Speaker 1: the window and got the door unlocked, and opened up
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Speaker 1: the door. In fear, she jumped out of the car,
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Speaker 1: and ran to the back of her car, and stayed
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Speaker 1: put there, because it was in the line of sight
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Speaker 1: of traffic. Apparently, he was pretty lewd with her. Whenever
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Speaker 1: she tried to go back to her car, he would
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Speaker 1: prevent her from getting inside. Several minutes later, I showed up.
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Speaker 1: Who knows what would have happened had the timing been
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Speaker 1: any different. Her parents were waiting at the dealership when
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Speaker 1: we arrived. She told them what had just happened. Her
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Speaker 1: parents gave me a $ 20 tip, which was all the
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Speaker 1: cash they had on them at the time. And Kara
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Speaker 1: gave me a very tight and clearly heartfelt hug before
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Speaker 1: I left. Never saw her again. I tell you what,
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Speaker 1: every guy has daydreamed at some point of coming to
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Speaker 1: the rescue of a pretty girl in trouble. Myself included.
9:59
Speaker 1: You think you're going to be here? that you're going
10:01
Speaker 1: to be the cat's ass, you're going to slay the
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Speaker 1: dragon and get the girl and ride off into the sunset,
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Speaker 1: like the king you think you are. But for me,
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Speaker 1: being in that situation, in the moment, was one of
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Speaker 1: the most terrible feelings I've ever had in my entire life.
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Speaker 1: Forced into a confrontation I didn't want, nor was I
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Speaker 1: prepared for. not knowing what to expect from a clearly
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Speaker 1: not well-hinged individual. I didn't feel like the cat's ass.
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Speaker 1: I didn't feel like a hero. I felt like a
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Speaker 1: scared little kid encountering a bully on the playground for
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Speaker 1: the first time. If I'm ever in a situation like
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Speaker 1: that again, I will never not intervene. I really just
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Speaker 1: hope I don't have to. Thanks again for reading.
10:46
Speaker 2: Back when I was 18 years old, for about six
10:49
Speaker 2: months my boss drove me to work I know that
10:52
Speaker 2: may sound a little weird, but I didn't get a
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Speaker 2: license yet and he knew my mom. It also helped
10:57
Speaker 2: that he lived about two minutes from my house. It
10:59
Speaker 2: was just a weird situation and no matter how I
11:01
Speaker 2: try to preface it, I just know that it sounds weird.
11:05
Speaker 2: Most mornings the drive to work was uneventful. We'd usually
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Speaker 2: get to work at around 6.30am and neither one of
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Speaker 2: us would talk in the car. He was usually hungover
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Speaker 2: and I just wasn't the talkative type. I'm a quiet
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Speaker 2: person by nature, but I was even quieter back then.
11:22
Speaker 2: One day, we had to go to work at 3
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Speaker 2: in the morning for inventory. My boss decided it would
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Speaker 2: be good to show me, so I got up extra
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Speaker 2: early for that 3am shift. On the way into work
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Speaker 2: that morning, my boss said that he wanted to grab
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Speaker 2: some coffee at the gas station since it was the
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Speaker 2: only place that was open. When we parked, as he
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Speaker 2: was getting out of the car, he told me that
11:43
Speaker 2: he was going to hit the restroom as well. I
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Speaker 2: just nodded and decided to wait in the car. I
11:49
Speaker 2: was exhausted from staying up way too late playing video
11:51
Speaker 2: games and I was planning on just resting my eyes
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Speaker 2: until we got to work. I'm assuming a few minutes
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Speaker 2: had passed. I don't know exactly how long it was
12:00
Speaker 2: because I was falling asleep while I was waiting for
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Speaker 2: my boss. With no notice, the back seat door opened
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Speaker 2: and it startled me in my half-asleep state. I just
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Speaker 2: thought it was my boss and then I felt movement
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Speaker 2: behind me. I finally looked behind me and just sitting
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Speaker 2: there in the back seat, was a woman. She didn't
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Speaker 2: appear to be homeless or look like she was on anything.
12:24
Speaker 2: She just looked strange. And we made eye contact for
12:28
Speaker 2: a few seconds and then I went back around trying
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Speaker 2: to process what was happening. I'm a really quiet person
12:34
Speaker 2: and I was even more quiet back then like I
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Speaker 2: said and I didn't know what to say or what
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Speaker 2: to do. I was just hoping my boss was going
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Speaker 2: to come back out soon. I started to finally work
12:45
Speaker 2: up the courage to ask what was going on and
12:48
Speaker 2: I was immediately freaked out when I turned around. She
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Speaker 2: was sitting there, now smiling, but looking forward. I don't
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Speaker 2: really know how to describe her eyes. They were cold
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Speaker 2: and dark and seemed almost lifeless even though she was
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Speaker 2: kind of pretty. Even as I write this, I still
13:06
Speaker 2: can't get the image of her out of my mind.
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Speaker 2: It had probably been about 30 seconds since all this
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Speaker 2: started and I finally uttered my words when I asked her, Hey,
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Speaker 2: is everything okay? you know this isn't your car, right?
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Speaker 2: Instead of answering with words, she just started to scream erratically.
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Speaker 2: It was so erratic that it was shaking the entire car,
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Speaker 2: it felt like, or maybe just my head. I jumped
13:34
Speaker 2: back just out of panic, confusion, and shock, and I
13:38
Speaker 2: saw my boss walking out of the gas station. I
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Speaker 2: just dove out of the passenger side door and shut
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Speaker 2: it behind me. My boss was confused and asked me
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Speaker 2: what the heck was going on and I just pointed
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Speaker 2: to the woman in the back seat of his car.
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Speaker 2: We both just stood there, almost in amazement and disbelief.
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Speaker 2: She was still screaming, shaking and rocking back and forth.
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Speaker 2: We could physically see the car shaking from her wild
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Speaker 2: movements from inside the car. My boss approached the back
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Speaker 2: seat where she was sitting and as he grabbed the
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Speaker 2: door handle, she put both her hands on the window
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Speaker 2: and I kid you not, I started to hiss and
14:16
Speaker 2: growl at my boss. He said, nope, and walked back
14:21
Speaker 2: towards me. I was standing probably ten feet away at
14:24
Speaker 2: this point. He immediately called the police and we were
14:28
Speaker 2: hoping that they would arrive soon since it was a
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Speaker 2: small town. The entire time that we were waiting for
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Speaker 2: the cops, we could hear the woman screaming and the
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Speaker 2: car still shaking. After a minute or two of waiting
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Speaker 2: for the police, we went inside and watched her from
14:42
Speaker 2: inside the gas station. There was just something unsettling about
14:46
Speaker 2: the entire situation. She wasn't trying to rob us. She
14:50
Speaker 2: only looked like she wanted to cause harm when we
14:52
Speaker 2: got near the car. I mean, she was sitting in
14:55
Speaker 2: the back seat, so she wasn't even trying to steal
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Speaker 2: the car. It was just all so weird. The cops
15:01
Speaker 2: showed up maybe five minutes after the call. We went
15:04
Speaker 2: outside to greet the officer and fill him in on
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Speaker 2: the situation, and he looked confused, and I'm not going
15:10
Speaker 2: to lie, he almost looked kind of amused by the
15:12
Speaker 2: whole situation. The officer tried to get the woman to
15:16
Speaker 2: come out calmly but after a minute of her screaming
15:19
Speaker 2: and growling he basically went into the car and apprehended her.
15:23
Speaker 2: And this is where this bad dream truly turned into
15:26
Speaker 2: a nightmare. Upon arrest, the officer had to remove four
15:31
Speaker 2: knives from her person. Yeah, you heard that right. This
15:35
Speaker 2: woman had four sharp objects on her. Thankfully, she never
15:40
Speaker 2: showed us the knives or even hinted at the fact
15:42
Speaker 2: that she had them. But Even more disturbing, perhaps, is
15:46
Speaker 2: the fact that she didn't have an ID on her
15:48
Speaker 2: and she wasn't talking, so the officer had no idea
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Speaker 2: who she was. This complete stranger came out of nowhere.
15:55
Speaker 2: She got into my boss's car without saying a word.
15:58
Speaker 2: She went from smiling to off the wall insane. Then,
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Speaker 2: to cap things off, she had no ID and four
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Speaker 2: deadly weapons on her. I've had some wild things happen
16:09
Speaker 2: to me over the years, but I'd have to say
16:11
Speaker 2: that this was probably the strangest and Most terrifying that's
16:14
Speaker 2: ever happened to me. It's been years and I remember
16:17
Speaker 2: this moment like it was yesterday. I'll never forget that
16:20
Speaker 2: woman's face. And I honestly wonder what she's up to now.
16:27
Speaker 2: When I was in college, I attended film school and
16:31
Speaker 2: let me tell you, I loved it. What a great experience.
16:34
Speaker 2: I met so many awesome people and learned so much.
16:37
Speaker 2: And I always loved it when we had a chance
16:39
Speaker 2: to create a short film. A chance to be able
16:41
Speaker 2: to tell stories with your unique vision. For me, I
16:46
Speaker 2: had a really hard time brainstorming and coming up with
16:48
Speaker 2: ideas while I was physically at the school. I couldn't
16:52
Speaker 2: concentrate in the dorms and the library and places like
16:55
Speaker 2: that just didn't give the creative vibe. So, I started
16:59
Speaker 2: going on these long night drives whenever I needed to brainstorm.
17:03
Speaker 2: I'd throw on some tunes and just drive around letting
17:05
Speaker 2: my mind go to all sorts of wild places. On
17:09
Speaker 2: one of these night drives, I started to see flashing
17:11
Speaker 2: lights in my rearview mirror. When I looked back, the
17:15
Speaker 2: lights were getting closer and it was clear that I
17:17
Speaker 2: was getting pulled over for something. I pulled over and
17:21
Speaker 2: noticed that the car pulled over behind me. The lights
17:24
Speaker 2: went off and I just sat there for a minute
17:27
Speaker 2: or two contemplating what I could have done possibly to
17:30
Speaker 2: get pulled over like this. I took the key out
17:33
Speaker 2: of the car and set it on my dashboard. I
17:35
Speaker 2: don't know if that's like a universal thing but I
17:37
Speaker 2: was always told when you get pulled over, put the
17:39
Speaker 2: key there. I started to look in the mirror, trying
17:43
Speaker 2: to make out any details that I could but it
17:45
Speaker 2: was just too dark. From what I could tell, it
17:48
Speaker 2: looked like a pickup truck but I couldn't be 100% certain.
17:53
Speaker 2: I started to have my doubts that this was even
17:55
Speaker 2: a real cop. I had just never seen a pickup
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Speaker 2: truck cop car. And I started thinking that it could
18:01
Speaker 2: have been an undercover cop but I still kept going
18:04
Speaker 2: to that same point which was What did I do? Finally,
18:09
Speaker 2: someone emerged from the vehicle. It was dark, but I
18:12
Speaker 2: could clearly see that this person was wearing black pants
18:15
Speaker 2: and a black hooded sweatshirt. Full alarm bells were going
18:19
Speaker 2: off because I was sure that I had never seen
18:22
Speaker 2: a cop with a hoodie on, but it didn't speed
18:24
Speaker 2: away because I still had that fear of, what if
18:27
Speaker 2: this was a cop? I would be fleeing the police
18:30
Speaker 2: and they would have my license plate, and it was
18:32
Speaker 2: a whole mental battle that I was having. He looked
18:35
Speaker 2: like wobbling all over the place as he was walking
18:38
Speaker 2: towards my car, and when he got to my window,
18:41
Speaker 2: which was rolled down about a quarter of the way,
18:43
Speaker 2: I could see most of his face, even through the hood,
18:46
Speaker 2: as it was firmly on. He starts shouting from outside
18:50
Speaker 2: the window, step out of the vehicle now. I could
18:54
Speaker 2: immediately smell the booze reeking out of his breath towards
18:57
Speaker 2: my face through the little crack in the window, and
19:00
Speaker 2: I know I'm stupid, but it took me this long
19:02
Speaker 2: to finally be sure that this wasn't a real cop
19:06
Speaker 2: and I just yelled through the window no. Grabbed my
19:09
Speaker 2: keys and tried to start my car. While I was
19:13
Speaker 2: struggling to find the keyhole the man shouted again that
19:16
Speaker 2: I said get out right now. He then lifted part
19:19
Speaker 2: of his sweatshirt and started to pull something out that
19:22
Speaker 2: looked like a firearm but I couldn't be sure. I
19:25
Speaker 2: just ducked down, put the car into gear and drove
19:28
Speaker 2: off as fast as I could. I couldn't enjoy any
19:31
Speaker 2: relief in that moment though. because within seconds, I now
19:35
Speaker 2: saw him following me. He didn't turn on the flashing lights,
19:40
Speaker 2: but got close enough to my car that he was
19:42
Speaker 2: straight up tailgating. If I switched lanes, he switched lanes.
19:46
Speaker 2: The speed limit on these dark roads was 45 miles
19:49
Speaker 2: per hour, and I was driving over 65 miles per
19:52
Speaker 2: hour trying to lose this guy. Before I knew it,
19:55
Speaker 2: I was almost 30 minutes away from campus and this
19:58
Speaker 2: guy was still directly on my tail. I then did
20:02
Speaker 2: something that I had seen a million times in movies
20:05
Speaker 2: and I couldn't believe that it actually worked. I was
20:08
Speaker 2: closing in on an on-ramp for the highway. I waited
20:11
Speaker 2: until the last possible second and then swerved over and
20:15
Speaker 2: got onto the highway, forcing him to miss the ramp
20:18
Speaker 2: or he may have crashed. About two minutes passed and
20:22
Speaker 2: I saw no lights behind me. I hoped that I
20:24
Speaker 2: had finally lost this madman. Instead of getting off at
20:28
Speaker 2: the next exit, which I had a feeling that he
20:31
Speaker 2: may have thought was my plan, I made an illegal
20:34
Speaker 2: U-turn on the highway and got to the other side.
20:37
Speaker 2: I made the short drive back and got off the
20:40
Speaker 2: exit that I got on. I had no idea where
20:43
Speaker 2: I was. I drove around slowly for a while until
20:46
Speaker 2: I found a 24-hour gas station, and I go inside
20:49
Speaker 2: and told this guy what had happened and basically just
20:52
Speaker 2: begged him to call the police in that moment, which
20:54
Speaker 2: thankfully he did. I also had to ask him for
20:57
Speaker 2: directions back to the school. Now this was before everyone
21:00
Speaker 2: had cell phones all the time, so I couldn't just
21:02
Speaker 2: GPS my way back. I had a brick phone that
21:06
Speaker 2: I usually just kept in my dorm. and when the
21:08
Speaker 2: cops showed up, I gave them all the information I could,
21:11
Speaker 2: which honestly wasn't that much since it was so dark.
21:15
Speaker 2: I mean, how many people own a pickup truck and
21:17
Speaker 2: a hoodie? Probably millions. The cop was honest and told
21:21
Speaker 2: me that they most likely would never find out who
21:23
Speaker 2: the man was since I didn't get any plate information.
21:27
Speaker 2: He was super nice, though, and escorted me back to
21:29
Speaker 2: the school just in case that man resurfaced. I think
21:33
Speaker 2: about that night a lot, and just how crazy it
21:35
Speaker 2: was and how stupid I was. I wanted to punch
21:38
Speaker 2: the past version of myself for pulling over and not
21:41
Speaker 2: reacting faster. Whenever I have a truck tailgating me at
21:45
Speaker 2: night now, I'm always reminded of that night, and I
21:48
Speaker 2: just hope that all these years later that that truck
21:51
Speaker 2: man never returns.
21:56
Speaker 1: When I was younger, each summer and almost every new year,
21:59
Speaker 1: my family would pack the car and go on a
22:01
Speaker 1: road trip to visit family in Mexico. We never had
22:04
Speaker 1: any problems until one particular trip when I was eight.
22:08
Speaker 1: Like every road trip before, we left our home in
22:11
Speaker 1: North Texas around 6 p.m. in order to reach our
22:13
Speaker 1: destination the following morning. So around 2 a.m., we crossed
22:17
Speaker 1: into Mexico. That's when things got weird. When you're on
22:22
Speaker 1: an only stretch of freeway in the middle of a desert,
22:25
Speaker 1: you don't tend to freak out about having the same
22:27
Speaker 1: car behind you for miles. It was practically pitch black
22:30
Speaker 1: on the outside of our car windows. The only visible
22:33
Speaker 1: shapes being the dotted stars and the eerie silhouettes of
22:36
Speaker 1: the cacti. We'd been in Mexico for an hour and
22:39
Speaker 1: a half. Still had a few more hours to drive.
22:42
Speaker 1: And I remember sleeping, but not being semi-conscious of what
22:45
Speaker 1: was around me. Because I didn't have the skill to
22:48
Speaker 1: really fall asleep in a car. So when my mother
22:51
Speaker 1: suddenly spoke my dad's name, I heard her. Miguel, that
22:57
Speaker 1: car behind us, it's been behind us since we left Laredo.
23:02
Speaker 1: My dad peeked at the car and shrugged off my
23:03
Speaker 1: mom's tension. A lot of cars use this road. He's
23:07
Speaker 1: probably going to Reynosa or another city, and left it
23:11
Speaker 1: at that. Despite his sureness, my mom kept a weary
23:16
Speaker 1: eye on that car behind us. By this time, my
23:19
Speaker 1: siblings and I were hyper-aware of the car, and entertained
23:22
Speaker 1: ourselves with watching it through the gaps in the luggage
23:25
Speaker 1: that blocked the rear window. We got tired pretty quickly.
23:30
Speaker 1: He's getting closer, my mother noted. We turned to watch
23:33
Speaker 1: as the car inched closer and closer to ours. He's
23:38
Speaker 1: too close, Miguel. She was right. By this time, the
23:42
Speaker 1: car was practically pressed against the rear of our car,
23:45
Speaker 1: on a lowly stretch of the highway, in the middle
23:47
Speaker 1: of nowhere, with another few hours until daylight. It was
23:51
Speaker 1: downright scary. We couldn't do much. My dad didn't slow down,
23:57
Speaker 1: didn't stop, and he didn't speed away either. He just drove.
24:01
Speaker 1: And that car followed. The next 30 minutes were the
24:05
Speaker 1: most tense we had ever experienced. The car would ease
24:08
Speaker 1: off sometimes, only to press its blinding headlights against our
24:11
Speaker 1: rear once more. Like he knew he was freaking us out,
24:15
Speaker 1: and enjoyed it. It was during one of the periods
24:18
Speaker 1: that the car had pulled away, that my mom spotted
24:21
Speaker 1: a police car up ahead, parked on the side of
24:23
Speaker 1: the road. And she didn't miss a beat. Pull over.
24:27
Speaker 1: Right in front of the police. Pull over right now, Miguel.
24:30
Speaker 1: And he did. And that car kept driving. I wonder
24:35
Speaker 1: how confused the policeman must have been as he watched
24:37
Speaker 1: my dad park her car right in front of him.
24:41
Speaker 1: The policeman came over and asked what was wrong. My
24:43
Speaker 1: mother urgently told him everything. The car, the way it
24:47
Speaker 1: followed us and taunted us. The policeman took her claims
24:51
Speaker 1: seriously and told us how people were victimized and had
24:54
Speaker 1: their car stolen on these empty highways by thugs and criminals.
24:58
Speaker 1: Then he offered to drive behind us for a while
24:59
Speaker 1: to make us feel safer. We drove off with that
25:02
Speaker 1: police cruiser behind us.
25:04
Speaker 2: Believed.
25:06
Speaker 1: Until about 10 minutes later when we saw something that
25:08
Speaker 1: confirmed the policeman's words and my mother's worst fears. We
25:13
Speaker 1: saw that car pulled over on the side of the road, waiting.