Latest / Martin Animations / 3 FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE Horror Stories Animated

Transcript

3 FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE Horror Stories Animated · Martin Animations

0:01
Speaker 1: A couple of summers ago, I was having some serious
0:04
Speaker 1: car problems. At the time, I was going through all
0:07
Speaker 1: kinds of other crap. My boyfriend and I had just
0:09
Speaker 1: broken up. My savings were depleted. I was caught up
0:12
Speaker 1: in some drama at the place that I was working.
0:15
Speaker 1: In the middle of all this hectic time, my car
0:18
Speaker 1: starts acting funny, shaking whenever it started, blowing clouds out
0:22
Speaker 1: of the exhaust, the dashboard throwing codes and check engine lights.
0:26
Speaker 1: Pretty much everything that could go wrong seemed to be
0:29
Speaker 1: happening to my car all at once.
0:31
Speaker 2: Here's the deal.
0:32
Speaker 1: I know absolutely nothing about cars. And you can say
0:35
Speaker 1: it's because I'm a girl, but even if I were
0:37
Speaker 1: a guy, I still probably wouldn't know anything. I don't
0:40
Speaker 1: really care about cars. I don't care about understanding them.
0:44
Speaker 1: I'm more than happy to pay someone to do all
0:46
Speaker 1: that work. Back then though, especially being newly on my own,
0:50
Speaker 1: I had very little in the way of disposable income.
0:54
Speaker 1: So when the car started chugging and rattling, it had
0:56
Speaker 1: me sweating right away. If it was anything major, I
0:59
Speaker 1: would be out of a car because there's no way
1:01
Speaker 1: I could afford it. One of my friends made a
1:05
Speaker 1: suggestion to me, and that was to find a local
1:07
Speaker 1: mechanic online to just run simple diagnostics, locate the problem,
1:12
Speaker 1: and maybe work out a more feasible solution, depending on
1:15
Speaker 1: what it would cost me. My friend had just recently
1:18
Speaker 1: needed to get some work done, went through a guy
1:20
Speaker 1: advertising on Facebook, and not only did he fix everything
1:23
Speaker 1: wrong with our car, but he was totally transparent about
1:26
Speaker 1: the cost. The guy had since booked up and wouldn't
1:30
Speaker 1: be able to help me out for at least three
1:31
Speaker 1: weeks or maybe even more. My car was getting worse
1:34
Speaker 1: and worse every time I started it. I got to
1:37
Speaker 1: work finding someone else online, and I started with Craigslist,
1:40
Speaker 1: but quickly found out I didn't like how just anonymous
1:43
Speaker 1: it was. I threw up a post and got dozens
1:46
Speaker 1: of responses within a day, but none of them had
1:49
Speaker 1: anything to do with fixing my car. It mostly was
1:52
Speaker 1: just a lot of unsolicited pictures and offers for dates
1:55
Speaker 1: and other kind of weird stuff. I scrapped that post
1:58
Speaker 1: within 24 hours, and from there, ventured out into the
2:02
Speaker 1: world of Facebook Marketplace. This seemed to be way safer
2:06
Speaker 1: off of the jump. People could see my post, see
2:09
Speaker 1: what I was looking for, and the people that responded
2:12
Speaker 1: also had a name and a face. Half the people
2:15
Speaker 1: that I commented on I recognized from somewhere around town.
2:19
Speaker 1: They said they'd keep an eye out for an affordable
2:21
Speaker 1: mechanic for me. By that Friday, I got a message
2:25
Speaker 1: from a guy named Simon. And this guy seemed pretty legit.
2:28
Speaker 1: His profile was a few years old. Wasn't covered in
2:31
Speaker 1: over sexually posed or political propaganda. He seemed normal. And
2:36
Speaker 1: his account had a long history of doing mechanic work.
2:39
Speaker 1: Lots of photos of him working on cars and garages.
2:42
Speaker 1: Wearing jumpsuits in the shop.
2:44
Speaker 2: That kind of thing.
2:46
Speaker 1: Simon seemed legit from top to bottom. And with the
2:49
Speaker 1: situation that I was in, it was all I was
2:51
Speaker 1: really looking for.
2:52
Speaker 2: Through DMs.
2:54
Speaker 1: I learned that Simon was branching out into his own
2:56
Speaker 1: self-employment and was doing all his own work. He had
3:00
Speaker 1: worked for a major dealership in town and then worked
3:03
Speaker 1: for a couple of shops after that. He was fully
3:05
Speaker 1: insured and certified. This was music to my ears. All
3:10
Speaker 1: the exact stuff that I wanted to hear. Simon said
3:13
Speaker 1: he had one job where he was finishing up and
3:15
Speaker 1: that I would be next in line. We exchanged phone
3:17
Speaker 1: numbers and I started saving all the cash that I could.
3:21
Speaker 1: I was anxious, but things were finally looking up I
3:25
Speaker 1: didn't really know what to expect cost-wise though, but I
3:28
Speaker 1: knew this was the best option, and the one that
3:30
Speaker 1: I could most likely afford. I let my worry take
3:33
Speaker 1: the back seat, and then tried to focus on things
3:35
Speaker 1: that I actually had control over, like my mood and
3:38
Speaker 1: how I performed at work. I scraped together a little
3:41
Speaker 1: extra cash, had a couple of good nights out, and
3:44
Speaker 1: just relaxed. Things were good, and if I let them,
3:47
Speaker 1: maybe they'd become great. Sure enough, I get a call
3:51
Speaker 1: a full day earlier than I was expecting. Simon was
3:53
Speaker 1: ready for me. He'd finish up with his last customer.
3:56
Speaker 1: The fix was easier than he first diagnosed, and the
3:59
Speaker 1: car was back on the road. Again, more music to
4:02
Speaker 1: my ears. I was starting to write all my problems
4:06
Speaker 1: off at this point, like a true sucker, until you
4:08
Speaker 1: get something in writing, or even better, and see the
4:11
Speaker 1: work with your own eyes. Never take anyone at their
4:13
Speaker 1: own word. That's how all of these marketplace websites work,
4:17
Speaker 1: and it makes for a very deep headache. We exchange information,
4:21
Speaker 1: and I gave him every little detail that I could
4:23
Speaker 1: about my car, The normal stuff, like the year, the make,
4:27
Speaker 1: the model, and symptoms of the issues that I was having.
4:31
Speaker 2: That kind of thing.
4:32
Speaker 1: He gave me the address to his garage in the
4:34
Speaker 1: time that I should have arrived. Everything felt professional for
4:37
Speaker 1: a guy that I just found online. So I was
4:40
Speaker 1: even more enthralled with getting it all done and finally
4:42
Speaker 1: over with. I told Simon thank you so much for
4:45
Speaker 1: your time and that I would see him tomorrow. The
4:48
Speaker 1: address that he gave me was about a half hour away,
4:51
Speaker 1: on the side of town that I wasn't super familiar with.
4:54
Speaker 1: He told me to be there by 10 a.m., and
4:56
Speaker 1: I didn't want to be late, so I planned on
4:58
Speaker 1: leaving at 9. That never happened, though. I woke to
5:02
Speaker 1: my phone buzzing around 5 in the morning.
5:04
Speaker 2: It was Simon.
5:06
Speaker 1: He said that his day had been thrown off schedule
5:08
Speaker 1: because he had an appointment later on in that day
5:11
Speaker 1: that he forgot about.
5:12
Speaker 2: He didn't want to leave me hanging.
5:14
Speaker 1: He asked if there would be any way possible that
5:16
Speaker 1: I could bring the car to him now so he
5:18
Speaker 1: could at least take a look.
5:21
Speaker 2: I didn't work today.
5:22
Speaker 1: I was already awake, and plus, I just needed this
5:24
Speaker 1: to happen already. I told him I would be there
5:27
Speaker 1: as soon as possible. He sounds super excited, said goodbye,
5:31
Speaker 1: and I started getting ready. I blasted through a shower,
5:34
Speaker 1: pulled some clothes on, and scarfed down this microwavable breakfast,
5:37
Speaker 1: and then I hit the road.
5:38
Speaker 2: I don't even think the sun was up yet.
5:41
Speaker 1: I coasted along until I didn't know the roads anymore,
5:44
Speaker 1: and it wasn't until I went past that last stoplight
5:46
Speaker 1: that I realized I wasn't even in a neighborhood anymore.
5:49
Speaker 1: There were still houses out here, but there were big
5:51
Speaker 1: empty lots, full of grass between them. Still, even with
5:56
Speaker 1: the dwindling civilization around me.
5:58
Speaker 2: I didn't think twice about it.
6:01
Speaker 1: At some point I reached over to grab my phone,
6:03
Speaker 1: check my messages, and change the song playing throughout my speakers.
6:07
Speaker 1: The second that I picked it up though, I get
6:09
Speaker 1: this incoming call from Simon, so I answered it right away.
6:13
Speaker 1: I put the phone to my ear as I prepared
6:15
Speaker 1: to say hello. I could hear Simon talking to someone
6:18
Speaker 1: else though. He sounded weird. It was his voice, but
6:21
Speaker 1: he was talking in a totally different manner. Not professional,
6:25
Speaker 1: or street, if anything, if you get what I mean. Nah,
6:29
Speaker 1: she'll be here soon, he explained to someone, who sounded
6:32
Speaker 1: just as weird.
6:34
Speaker 2: Shh, shh, I'm calling her. Then they both got quiet. Hello?
6:40
Speaker 2: I said into the phone. Jody? Simon asked, back to
6:44
Speaker 2: normal voice. Yeah, is everything okay?
6:47
Speaker 3: I asked.
6:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was just making sure you weren't having any
6:50
Speaker 1: trouble finding a place. I know it's kind of out there,
6:53
Speaker 1: he said. No worries, I'm on my way. I think
6:56
Speaker 1: I'm 15 minutes out, I said. Do you have another
7:00
Speaker 1: mechanic with you today?
7:01
Speaker 2: I asked.
7:03
Speaker 1: He kind of stammered a bit and said, No, why? Oh,
7:08
Speaker 1: I thought I heard you talking to someone when I
7:10
Speaker 1: first picked up.
7:12
Speaker 2: I explained.
7:14
Speaker 1: Must have been the radio or something, he said. Just
7:17
Speaker 1: checking to make sure you weren't lost. How far out
7:21
Speaker 1: is it?
7:22
Speaker 2: I asked.
7:23
Speaker 1: The map said it's not too far off the main road.
7:27
Speaker 1: You'll see, the address that I gave you was just.
7:29
Speaker 2: For the driveway.
7:30
Speaker 1: You'll have to drive about a half mile to get
7:32
Speaker 1: back into the shop, he explained. I was starting to
7:36
Speaker 1: get a little nervous now. He didn't mention that it
7:39
Speaker 1: was in the middle of nowhere, or that I would
7:41
Speaker 1: have to drive off-road. My car was already having problems
7:45
Speaker 1: bouncing around the country road, Sounded like the best way
7:48
Speaker 1: to make those problems worse.
7:50
Speaker 2: Still, I'd come this far.
7:52
Speaker 1: I still had hope that Simon was going to be
7:54
Speaker 1: my guy to get me through this and get it fixed.
7:57
Speaker 1: He could hear the apprehension in my voice and went
8:00
Speaker 1: right to saying all the stuff that I wanted to hear.
8:03
Speaker 1: How he'd check the engine, make sure everything's flushed, and
8:06
Speaker 1: it perked me right up and.
8:07
Speaker 2: Got me on my way. I said bye and hung
8:10
Speaker 2: up the phone.
8:12
Speaker 1: I'd caught him lying though, a skill that I picked
8:14
Speaker 1: up during my breakup earlier that summer He walked right
8:18
Speaker 1: into it and I couldn't tell why. Who'd he have
8:20
Speaker 1: with him that he didn't want me to know about?
8:22
Speaker 1: The road came up and I turned into what was
8:25
Speaker 1: a big dusty turnout along the road. From there, it
8:29
Speaker 1: was a little single rut dirt road that snaked off
8:32
Speaker 1: into the forest. My gut sank almost immediately. This was
8:37
Speaker 1: clearly not a road that led to a residence or
8:39
Speaker 1: business of any kind. There might be campsites back there
8:43
Speaker 1: at the very most and if not, piles of highway
8:46
Speaker 1: trash and shooting targets. I rolled my car through the
8:51
Speaker 1: lot and then onto that dirt road and bumped along
8:53
Speaker 1: for maybe five minutes, then brought my car to a stop.
8:58
Speaker 1: Even with the rising sunlight, there was nothing out here.
9:02
Speaker 1: No light in the distance, no big warehouse, no shop doors, nothing.
9:07
Speaker 1: I grabbed my phone and called Simon.
9:09
Speaker 2: Hello, he said.
9:12
Speaker 1: Hey, I don't see anything out here, like at all.
9:15
Speaker 1: How far did you say it was? I asked, knowing
9:19
Speaker 1: he had already said it a half a mile off
9:20
Speaker 1: the main road. Oh, about a half a mile. Well,
9:25
Speaker 1: I've already gone that far. I've been driving for a
9:27
Speaker 1: few minutes now, I interrupted him. Oh, well, you're almost
9:31
Speaker 1: here then. I don't log distance well. It might be
9:34
Speaker 1: further than a half mile, two miles maybe, but it
9:37
Speaker 1: has to be two miles at the most, he explained.
9:40
Speaker 1: My gut kept twisting into a knot. Things were starting
9:43
Speaker 1: to not add up, and I was feeling a fool
9:45
Speaker 1: for being out in the woods at 5 in the morning. Unbelievably,
9:50
Speaker 1: I kept pressing on, tapping my gas pedal, and daring
9:53
Speaker 1: my car to break down at any damn moment. I
9:56
Speaker 1: go just a little bit further when my phone lights up.
9:59
Speaker 1: It's Simon calling again. I answer and bring my car
10:01
Speaker 1: to a slow roll. Hey, I can see your headlights,
10:05
Speaker 1: he exclaims. I feel a bit of confidence for just
10:08
Speaker 1: a split second, but then I remember the string of
10:11
Speaker 1: buzzwords that he used to get me out here. I'm
10:13
Speaker 1: realizing this guy has to be a bull and a
10:16
Speaker 1: supremely good one at that. Anytime I expressed any kind
10:19
Speaker 1: of doubt, he started saying all the positive stuff that
10:22
Speaker 1: I needed to hear. And I just take him at
10:24
Speaker 1: his word from there. Yeah, just keep going. Just back
10:28
Speaker 1: through this tree line and you're here. Why is your
10:31
Speaker 1: shop out here, Simon? I just asked him point blank. Oh,
10:35
Speaker 1: you know, you know, he started. There is no shop,
10:40
Speaker 1: is there? I asked in a measured tone. I was
10:43
Speaker 1: just gauging his reaction at this point to see how
10:45
Speaker 1: much of what he was saying was a lie. Then
10:48
Speaker 1: he did something unexpected. He hung up on me. I
10:52
Speaker 1: looked down in disbelief, scoffed, then froze. Shadows flickered up ahead,
10:58
Speaker 1: just beyond my headlights. I slowly looked up, and to
11:01
Speaker 1: my horror, two, maybe three people were skulking through the
11:04
Speaker 1: tall grass, coming right at me. I screamed and hit
11:08
Speaker 1: the lock button, which was a relief, but I really
11:11
Speaker 1: needed to actually leave. I was panicking and wasting time.
11:16
Speaker 1: I grabbed my shift knob and slid it into reverse.
11:19
Speaker 2: Nothing happened.
11:21
Speaker 1: I could actually feel that nothing happened within transmission or
11:24
Speaker 1: anywhere for that matter. When I hit the gas, the
11:27
Speaker 1: car still went forward.
11:29
Speaker 2: Not good. I shifted into reverse and it set. And
11:32
Speaker 2: then I shifted back into reverse.
11:34
Speaker 1: Nothing still. I shifted back into drive.
11:38
Speaker 2: Still nothing.
11:40
Speaker 1: My eyes slowly split wide open as I realized I
11:42
Speaker 1: was stuck in neutral. The car problems I was having...
11:46
Speaker 1: were about to get me murdered. I continued playing with
11:49
Speaker 1: the stick, played with the pedal, but nothing was working.
11:53
Speaker 1: The engine revved, but one of the gauges just spun circles.
11:57
Speaker 1: Everything else was totally still. Everything but those phantoms beyond
12:01
Speaker 1: the windshield. There were definitely three of them, and they
12:04
Speaker 1: fanned out and closed in at a sickening pace. I
12:08
Speaker 1: could feel bile steaming up my throat from my anxiety,
12:10
Speaker 1: from my desperation that led me out there, and tears
12:14
Speaker 1: began blurring my vision. but I knew the car was
12:16
Speaker 1: my only hope. I kept playing with the stick until
12:20
Speaker 1: it clicked. The car dumped into reverse and suddenly I
12:24
Speaker 1: was rolling backwards, the way I came. That dirt road
12:28
Speaker 1: was bumpy and uneven, but for the most part, it
12:30
Speaker 1: was a straight shot. I didn't even bother to use
12:33
Speaker 1: a mirror at first, just started jetting backwards as quickly
12:36
Speaker 1: as the car would take me. I could feel myself
12:39
Speaker 1: hitting the bumper here and there, but that was a
12:41
Speaker 1: small price to pay in the face of whatever.
12:43
Speaker 2: These dudes had planned for me. Hey, get back here.
12:47
Speaker 2: We're going to get you fixed up. I heard someone
12:50
Speaker 2: yell over my engine. Come on, you were so close.
12:54
Speaker 2: Another voice hollered. And then, nothing.
12:59
Speaker 1: I bucked back out into the main road. I shifted
13:01
Speaker 1: into the drive and blasted towards town. Thankfully, the car
13:05
Speaker 1: was operating better than it ever had. Like that off-road
13:08
Speaker 1: session had corrected some of its own issues.
13:11
Speaker 2: Whatever the case... I was thanking.
13:13
Speaker 1: God that I didn't get caught up in whatever the
13:14
Speaker 1: hell was going on back in those woods. It didn't
13:18
Speaker 1: even occur to me until I got back into town
13:20
Speaker 1: that I should probably call the police. I looked back
13:23
Speaker 1: into my messages, and of course, Simon had blocked me.
13:26
Speaker 1: I figured he did the same with the phone, which
13:28
Speaker 1: was probably just some kind of burner. Thankfully, I got
13:32
Speaker 1: back home without any incident. I wanted to just go
13:35
Speaker 1: back to bed and sleep it all away, but I
13:37
Speaker 1: was so riled up from that experience. I ended up
13:40
Speaker 1: calling the police, and they took a full report. I
13:43
Speaker 1: didn't do any kind of follow-up or anything, but in
13:45
Speaker 1: my gut, I have a feeling that they found him.
13:48
Speaker 2: I keep an eye on the.
13:49
Speaker 1: Public bookings, people they pick up for various crimes, and
13:53
Speaker 1: I saw Simon amongst the names one week. Only time
13:56
Speaker 1: I ever saw it. The last names didn't match what
13:59
Speaker 1: he had before, but the whole Facebook account was just
14:02
Speaker 1: a lure, or so I believe, to get girls like
14:05
Speaker 1: me to go out into the woods.
14:07
Speaker 2: And the scariest part of it all is the guy
14:10
Speaker 2: almost got me.
14:14
Speaker 3: Last year, my laptop broke, and I really needed a
14:17
Speaker 3: new one. I looked around online, and also went to
14:20
Speaker 3: Best Buy, but then I had the idea to look
14:23
Speaker 3: on Facebook Marketplace as well. It seemed like it could
14:26
Speaker 3: be the cheapest and fastest option. I didn't need it
14:29
Speaker 3: to be brand new, and I also didn't want to
14:31
Speaker 3: wait for the shipping time of buying a used one online.
14:35
Speaker 3: So I looked to Facebook Marketplace of people that were
14:37
Speaker 3: close to me. Luckily, I live in an area with
14:40
Speaker 3: quite a few other people, I was able to find
14:43
Speaker 3: the laptop that I wanted and found one for a
14:45
Speaker 3: reasonable price as well. It was not too far away,
14:48
Speaker 3: and I contacted the seller and said that I would
14:50
Speaker 3: like to buy it as soon as possible. The seller
14:53
Speaker 3: got back to me a short time later and told
14:55
Speaker 3: me that I could come over to his house. I
14:57
Speaker 3: didn't like this idea though. Possibly nothing bad would happen
15:01
Speaker 3: and it would be fine, but I didn't want to
15:03
Speaker 3: go to a random guy's house. I responded to him
15:06
Speaker 3: and said that I would rather meet in a public
15:08
Speaker 3: location that was in the area. The man asked why.
15:11
Speaker 3: and I said that I just didn't want to go
15:12
Speaker 3: to someone's house that I didn't know. After a little
15:16
Speaker 3: more of a conversation through Facebook messaging, he finally agreed.
15:20
Speaker 3: He gave me a name of a local restaurant to
15:22
Speaker 3: meet him at and said that he would be there
15:24
Speaker 3: at 9 p.m. I agreed and then went to withdraw
15:27
Speaker 3: some cash. I wasn't all that happy that the man
15:30
Speaker 3: wanted to meet at 9 o'clock at night, but at
15:33
Speaker 3: least it was a public location. I had never been
15:36
Speaker 3: to the restaurant before where he wanted to meet, but
15:38
Speaker 3: that night I drove there. and it was a smaller
15:41
Speaker 3: and older looking place. There was nothing else really that
15:44
Speaker 3: close to it, and it was kind of away from
15:46
Speaker 3: the other businesses in the area. The parking lot was
15:49
Speaker 3: in the back, and I parked and then messaged the seller,
15:52
Speaker 3: letting him know that I was there. He responded saying
15:55
Speaker 3: to come inside. After that, I got out of my
15:58
Speaker 3: car and walked inside the restaurant. The place seemed pretty old,
16:01
Speaker 3: and also appeared to be more of a bar than
16:03
Speaker 3: a restaurant. I found a small open table and sat
16:06
Speaker 3: down at a stool and looked around. I couldn't tell
16:09
Speaker 3: where the guy was. His profile picture from Facebook was
16:13
Speaker 3: not of himself, but a logo of a sports team.
16:16
Speaker 3: I looked around to see if there was a guy
16:17
Speaker 3: with a laptop or by himself, but I didn't see anybody.
16:21
Speaker 3: I messaged him, saying that I was there and inside,
16:24
Speaker 3: and asked him where he was. A couple of minutes
16:27
Speaker 3: went by, and I still didn't see him, and he
16:29
Speaker 3: didn't reply either. Finally, after about five minutes, I got
16:33
Speaker 3: a notification that he responded. When I read it, he
16:36
Speaker 3: said that he was sorry, but he couldn't make it.
16:39
Speaker 3: I was really confused. He had just texted me earlier
16:42
Speaker 3: telling me to come on inside as if he was there.
16:45
Speaker 3: Now he says he's not going to make it? I
16:47
Speaker 3: was frustrated and decided to just leave. I didn't even
16:50
Speaker 3: want to buy the laptop from him anymore. The guy
16:53
Speaker 3: was just too weird. I was sure that there were
16:55
Speaker 3: plenty of other good laptops for sale, and I wouldn't
16:58
Speaker 3: have a problem finding another one. So I got up
17:01
Speaker 3: and left the bar. I headed out to my car
17:03
Speaker 3: in the parking lot behind the bar and then got inside.
17:05
Speaker 3: Then I started to drive back home. The bar was
17:09
Speaker 3: maybe 15 minutes from my house, and when I got
17:12
Speaker 3: back onto the roads, they were very quiet. But after
17:14
Speaker 3: beginning to drive home, a car left the bar right
17:17
Speaker 3: behind me. I thought nothing of it at first, but
17:20
Speaker 3: the more I drove, it remained right on my tail.
17:22
Speaker 3: After making several turns, it didn't seem like a coincidence anymore.
17:26
Speaker 3: It seemed like whoever was driving that car was deliberately
17:29
Speaker 3: following me, especially because of the fact that they were
17:32
Speaker 3: following really close behind, and if I went faster or slower,
17:36
Speaker 3: they would maintain about the same speed as I was
17:38
Speaker 3: going When I got within five minutes of my apartment,
17:41
Speaker 3: I started to really worry. But part of me was
17:44
Speaker 3: just telling myself, there's no way this car is actually
17:47
Speaker 3: following me. It's just me being paranoid. It was a
17:50
Speaker 3: pickup truck that was following me and about average size.
17:53
Speaker 3: I really could just see the headlights though and couldn't
17:56
Speaker 3: tell who was behind the wheel. Finally, I made it
17:58
Speaker 3: to the turnoff for my apartment. I lived in a
18:01
Speaker 3: pretty large complex that had multiple buildings and a huge
18:04
Speaker 3: parking lot. When I pulled in, so did the truck.
18:08
Speaker 3: That was my worst fear. I drove through the parking
18:10
Speaker 3: lot but did not stop. Instead, I drove all the
18:13
Speaker 3: way through and then left the parking lot on the
18:15
Speaker 3: other side. The truck also left with me. At that point,
18:19
Speaker 3: it was pretty much confirmed 100% to me that I
18:21
Speaker 3: was being followed. My adrenaline was rushing and I was
18:24
Speaker 3: desperate to lose the car. But still, I knew better
18:28
Speaker 3: than to speed or drive recklessly. Instead, I started turning
18:31
Speaker 3: onto random streets and into random businesses and restaurant parking lots.
18:35
Speaker 3: Then I would exit out the other side and go
18:37
Speaker 3: back onto the road. It was probably very clear to
18:40
Speaker 3: whoever was behind me now that I knew they were
18:43
Speaker 3: following me and I was trying to lose them. This
18:45
Speaker 3: went on for quite some time though, probably 30 minutes.
18:49
Speaker 3: Soon though, my light came on signaling that I needed
18:51
Speaker 3: to get gas soon. I got really worried. I couldn't
18:55
Speaker 3: keep this up for much longer. The truck was still
18:57
Speaker 3: right on my tail. I kept doing what I was
19:00
Speaker 3: doing and would probably be able to go for about
19:02
Speaker 3: 40 more miles or so. Then when I made a turn,
19:06
Speaker 3: the truck just went the other way. I couldn't believe it,
19:08
Speaker 3: but it was finally over. I guess he finally gave up.
19:12
Speaker 3: After the truck drove away, I went and got some
19:15
Speaker 3: gas and then went back to my apartment. I was
19:17
Speaker 3: very careful the entire time, and I did not see
19:20
Speaker 3: the truck for the rest of the drive. After getting
19:22
Speaker 3: back home, I realized that the driver of the truck
19:25
Speaker 3: was likely the seller of the laptop. I hadn't really
19:28
Speaker 3: thought about it when I was being followed, but it
19:30
Speaker 3: all made sense now. He told me that he was
19:32
Speaker 3: inside the bar to try to get me to go in.
19:35
Speaker 3: I went back to look at the listing, and it
19:37
Speaker 3: was now gone, The user had blocked me as well,
19:39
Speaker 3: whoever he was. I was a little bit worried, because
19:43
Speaker 3: originally I did drive to my apartment complex, but I
19:46
Speaker 3: just hoped that he thought it was the first of
19:47
Speaker 3: all the random places that I turned in to lose him.
19:50
Speaker 3: He also wouldn't know which building I lived in or
19:52
Speaker 3: which unit was mine. Luckily though, I never saw him again.
19:56
Speaker 3: I also haven't used Facebook marketplace since that incident. I'm
20:04
Speaker 3: one of those people that's always getting a new phone.
20:06
Speaker 3: I get one almost every year, For me, it's just
20:09
Speaker 3: a personal preference. A lot of times, I traded my
20:12
Speaker 3: old phone for a new one, but that's not always
20:15
Speaker 3: the case. I happened to just buy a new iPhone
20:18
Speaker 3: a while back, but I still had my old one,
20:20
Speaker 3: so I decided to sell it on Facebook Marketplace. The
20:23
Speaker 3: phone was still pretty new, and I figured that somebody
20:26
Speaker 3: would want it. I listed it for a reasonable price,
20:29
Speaker 3: and within a day, someone had made me an offer.
20:32
Speaker 3: I sold it to them, and after receiving payment, I
20:35
Speaker 3: shipped it to the buyer, which was a man named Elliot.
20:38
Speaker 3: Now everything seems normal, and it was. He got the phone,
20:41
Speaker 3: and I thought that was the end of that. But
20:44
Speaker 3: maybe like a week later, I got a friend request
20:46
Speaker 3: on Facebook from Elliot, the buyer of the phone. I
20:49
Speaker 3: didn't know him at all, other than that he bought
20:51
Speaker 3: my phone. I clicked on his profile, and I knew
20:54
Speaker 3: that he lived in the same state, in a city
20:56
Speaker 3: that was like an hour or two away. When I
20:58
Speaker 3: clicked on his profile though, there wasn't all that much information,
21:01
Speaker 3: because we weren't friends. I thought that it was kind
21:04
Speaker 3: of weird though, so I declined his request. The next day,
21:07
Speaker 3: he sent me a message. He asked me why I
21:09
Speaker 3: declined his request and said that he really wanted to
21:12
Speaker 3: be friends with me. I told him, I just sold
21:15
Speaker 3: you the phone. I don't know you at all other
21:17
Speaker 3: than that. Please don't take it personally. I just don't
21:20
Speaker 3: know you. He kept sending me messages though. He called
21:23
Speaker 3: me some things that I will not repeat here and
21:25
Speaker 3: he seemed pretty angry. At that point, I blocked him.
21:29
Speaker 3: It was really strange to say the least, but I
21:31
Speaker 3: thought that was the end of it. Now, Elliot did
21:34
Speaker 3: not contact me through Facebook or any other social media
21:37
Speaker 3: for that matter after that. What he did was much worse.
21:41
Speaker 3: The next night, a few hours after I had gotten
21:43
Speaker 3: home from work, there was a knock on the front door.
21:47
Speaker 3: I walked over to the front of my house and
21:49
Speaker 3: looked out the window to see what looked like Elliot
21:51
Speaker 3: standing there. I couldn't believe that he was actually at
21:54
Speaker 3: my house. I never would have guessed that he would
21:56
Speaker 3: have done that. When I saw this, I jumped back
21:59
Speaker 3: and walked away from the door. He knocked again. There
22:03
Speaker 3: was no way that I was answering the door. This
22:05
Speaker 3: guy had to be insane. I heard him yell that
22:08
Speaker 3: he knew I was home from the other side of
22:10
Speaker 3: the door. I'm not sure how he knew that. Maybe
22:13
Speaker 3: he heard me walking when I went by the door.
22:15
Speaker 3: I didn't think that he saw me when I looked
22:17
Speaker 3: out of the window. Still, I wasn't going to answer it. Instead,
22:21
Speaker 3: I called the police. I told them that a man
22:23
Speaker 3: who I had met on Facebook showed up at my
22:25
Speaker 3: house unannounced and uninvited and would not leave. I was
22:29
Speaker 3: told that somebody would be there shortly. and the police
22:31
Speaker 3: got there much faster than I expected. Elliot basically stayed
22:35
Speaker 3: on my front step. He didn't try to force entry,
22:38
Speaker 3: but he sure wasn't leaving.
22:39
Speaker 2: When the police.
22:40
Speaker 3: Got there, they talked to him, and then they talked
22:43
Speaker 3: to me as well. Eventually, they got Elliot to leave,
22:46
Speaker 3: and told him that if he came back, he would
22:47
Speaker 3: be arrested. He agreed not to come back, and luckily,
22:51
Speaker 3: he kept his word. I haven't seen him or been
22:53
Speaker 3: contacted by him since then. I still can't believe that
22:57
Speaker 3: he did that, though.