Latest / Martin Animations / 7 TRUE 7 ELEVEN HORROR STORIES ANIMATED

Transcript

7 TRUE 7 ELEVEN HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

0:01
Speaker 1: It was around 11 at night and I had just
0:03
Speaker 1: finished working out at the gym. I went to the
0:06
Speaker 1: grocery store to pick up some food for the next
0:08
Speaker 1: couple of days. While at the grocery store, I decided
0:11
Speaker 1: to get $ 120 cash back, money that I owed my
0:14
Speaker 1: mom and, unbeknownst to me, as I left the grocery store,
0:18
Speaker 1: money that I came so close to losing. Instead of
0:21
Speaker 1: going straight home, I decided to go for a little drive.
0:25
Speaker 1: I'd just got my car not long ago and the
0:27
Speaker 1: novelty of driving stick hasn't worn off yet. After about
0:30
Speaker 1: a half hour of driving around the city, I decide
0:33
Speaker 1: it's about time to head home. As I pass a
0:36
Speaker 1: gas station on the edge of town, but close to
0:38
Speaker 1: my house, I decide that now's a good time as
0:41
Speaker 1: any to pull in.
0:42
Speaker 2: And fuel up.
0:44
Speaker 1: I pull in, and I'm the only one at the
0:45
Speaker 1: gas station. I'm in an industrial business part of town,
0:49
Speaker 1: the edge, like I said, so there isn't much around.
0:53
Speaker 1: There's an empty lot that's without light beside the gas station.
0:56
Speaker 1: and I notice an SUV sitting there about 100 to
0:59
Speaker 1: 200 meters away, but I don't think much of it.
1:03
Speaker 1: I get out and start pumping gas when I notice
1:05
Speaker 1: a woman come around the corner and walk straight towards me.
1:09
Speaker 1: As soon as I notice her, a shiver ran down
1:11
Speaker 1: my spine. I instinctively lock my car. She walked towards
1:16
Speaker 1: me quickly, hands in her pockets staring at me pretty
1:19
Speaker 1: intensely the whole time. I got in a fight with
1:22
Speaker 1: my boyfriend and he left me here. Can you give
1:24
Speaker 1: me a ride to my mom's house? She said casually
1:27
Speaker 1: in her raspy smoker's voice. Another chill ran down my
1:31
Speaker 1: spine as she repeated the question, word for word almost,
1:34
Speaker 1: in the same raspy voice. Uh, I have to pump
1:38
Speaker 1: gas first, I said to her, keeping my eyes on
1:41
Speaker 1: her the whole time. She walked around to the passenger
1:44
Speaker 1: side door. Beside me, the old port is on the
1:47
Speaker 1: passenger side, and grabs onto the door handle. Can you
1:51
Speaker 1: unlock your car? I'm cold. I've been here a while.
1:55
Speaker 1: I have to pay for the gas. I said. Deciding
1:58
Speaker 1: to cut the gas pumping short, I walked inside and
2:01
Speaker 1: talked to the guy behind the counter. I told him
2:03
Speaker 1: the girl outside was kind of suspicious and I didn't
2:06
Speaker 1: know her. He just kind of shrugged and I could
2:09
Speaker 1: tell he wasn't interested in getting involved so I walked out.
2:13
Speaker 1: I figured she was high or something but I would
2:15
Speaker 1: find a way to just get her to leave me alone.
2:18
Speaker 1: As I walk out, the SUV that I had mentioned
2:21
Speaker 1: earlier started up. I watched the driver maneuver himself so
2:25
Speaker 1: he could just drive out the exit. He stopped, engine
2:28
Speaker 1: still rolling. He was still like a hundred meters away.
2:32
Speaker 1: Can you open the door now? I'm really cold. So
2:36
Speaker 1: many alarm bells were going off in my head already. First,
2:39
Speaker 1: she just looked sort of sketchy. She was dressed well enough,
2:43
Speaker 1: but her face was pretty rough. She was pretty covered
2:46
Speaker 1: in makeup, but it didn't hide a nasty looking sore
2:49
Speaker 1: in her lip. Her sunken eyes were dull, bloodshot, and
2:52
Speaker 1: just dead looking. Second, she didn't seem like a damsel
2:57
Speaker 1: in distress not at all. She didn't seem upset and
3:01
Speaker 1: she spoke without much emotion. No, that's not my problem.
3:05
Speaker 1: I need to go home. I said to her as
3:08
Speaker 1: firmly as I could. Come on, you're driving me home, right?
3:13
Speaker 1: I can't. I have to get home right now. Reaching
3:16
Speaker 1: for my phone, I realized I had left it in
3:19
Speaker 1: the car.
3:20
Speaker 3: I'm cold.
3:21
Speaker 1: I've been out here for hours. She shouts, pretty angrily
3:25
Speaker 1: for someone who's asking a favor, I thought. Then I
3:28
Speaker 1: notice her look at the SUV. I started cluing into
3:31
Speaker 1: what was going on and raised my voice a bit.''
3:33
Speaker 1: That' s not my problem.'' I'm at the driver's side door now.''
3:38
Speaker 1: I' m freezing, you said you'd drive me home.'''' That' s not
3:42
Speaker 1: my problem.'' I started raising my voice. She started raising hers.
3:47
Speaker 1: We weren't yelling, but it was getting a little heated.
3:50
Speaker 1: We went back and forth like that for a couple
3:52
Speaker 1: of minutes. My mind was racing. I thought about losing
3:56
Speaker 1: my car and about getting stabbed or shot. About getting
3:59
Speaker 1: robbed for the $ 120 I had in my wallet. I
4:02
Speaker 1: just lost it on her.
4:04
Speaker 2: Get the f * * * back.
4:06
Speaker 1: You do not know who I am. Get the f
4:07
Speaker 1: * * * back right now. I think I caught
4:10
Speaker 1: her off guard or something because she stepped back right away.
4:14
Speaker 1: You better get out of here right now then. She said,
4:17
Speaker 1: walking backwards. I was out of fight mode and into
4:21
Speaker 1: flight mode. I watched her until she got a decent
4:24
Speaker 1: distance away, noticing she was walking sort of towards the SUV.
4:29
Speaker 1: I didn't watch for much longer. I hopped in my
4:32
Speaker 1: car and peeled the fuck out of there. I turned
4:35
Speaker 1: into a random subdivision making sure I wasn't being followed.
4:39
Speaker 1: I called the cops and they said they'd send a
4:41
Speaker 1: car but there wasn't much that they could do because
4:44
Speaker 1: there was no real crime committed. But I did the
4:47
Speaker 1: right thing and she was most likely bait for some
4:50
Speaker 1: kind of robbery. I drove home as quick as I could.
5:01
Speaker 1: About 10 years ago I worked for a short time
5:03
Speaker 1: at a small gas station close by to my house.
5:07
Speaker 1: Both of my kids had started school and we always
5:09
Speaker 1: needed extra money. I was about 26 or 27 and
5:13
Speaker 1: had not ever really worked anywhere before but it was fun.
5:17
Speaker 1: We stayed a little busy throughout the day as there
5:19
Speaker 1: were three factories very close by and we'd get a
5:22
Speaker 1: lot of our traffic from the employees there, especially at
5:25
Speaker 1: shift change times. One weekday mid-morning I was working by myself,
5:29
Speaker 1: which was unusual, but my manager, who usually worked days
5:33
Speaker 1: with me, was out sick.
5:35
Speaker 2: No big deal.
5:36
Speaker 1: Was no more than I could handle. There were people
5:38
Speaker 1: in and out all morning, and nothing out of the
5:40
Speaker 1: ordinary was happening. Until a transfer truck pulls in, and
5:44
Speaker 1: parks to the side of the building. We didn't carry
5:47
Speaker 1: diesel fuel, but... It wasn't unusual to have big trucks
5:50
Speaker 1: pull in for drinks, bathroom, or whatever. The driver walks in.
5:55
Speaker 1: Tall guy, not unattractive, but a little creepy looking. He
5:59
Speaker 1: had a huge refillable coffee mug and asked me if
6:02
Speaker 1: there was fresh coffee and if he could fill up
6:04
Speaker 1: his mug. I told him no problem. He fills his
6:08
Speaker 1: mug and comes up to pay and starts chit-chatting. He
6:11
Speaker 1: told me that he had a delivery for one of
6:13
Speaker 1: the factories up the street and asked what would be
6:15
Speaker 1: the best way to get in there. So I told him.
6:18
Speaker 1: No big deal. Happens all the time. He then started
6:22
Speaker 1: telling me how he was from Arkansas and that after
6:24
Speaker 1: he dropped his load he was headed back home for
6:27
Speaker 1: a few days. I was just politely nodding my head.
6:30
Speaker 1: Then he asked me if there was a restroom. I
6:33
Speaker 1: told him yes and pointed to where it was but
6:36
Speaker 1: did not come out from behind the counter. He starts
6:39
Speaker 1: trying to chat with me again without going to the restroom.
6:42
Speaker 1: He asked me if I was working alone and that's
6:44
Speaker 1: when all kinds of signals started going off in my head.
6:48
Speaker 1: I told him my co-worker had to run an errand
6:50
Speaker 1: and would be back right away. He winds up staying
6:53
Speaker 1: in there for about 20 minutes, trying to small talk,
6:56
Speaker 1: and asked me at least 6 or 7 times where
6:58
Speaker 1: the restroom is. During this time, customers were coming in
7:02
Speaker 1: and out, and when someone would come in, he would
7:05
Speaker 1: walk around the store, kind of behind the shelves. At
7:08
Speaker 1: this point, I'm trying to stay calm and figure out
7:11
Speaker 1: what I need to do to get him the hell
7:13
Speaker 1: out of here. I looked out at the gas pumps.
7:17
Speaker 1: and saw a man from one of the factories up
7:18
Speaker 1: the street on a forklift, filling it with gas. When
7:22
Speaker 1: he comes in, I was trying to start a conversation,
7:25
Speaker 1: and ask him stupid questions to get him to look
7:28
Speaker 1: at my face, so I could gesture where creepy guy
7:31
Speaker 1: was standing, behind the potato chips. He didn't catch the
7:34
Speaker 1: hint until he walked out of the door, and turned
7:37
Speaker 1: back to look at me, and I mouthed to him,
7:40
Speaker 1: Help me. He turns around and comes back in, and
7:44
Speaker 1: by this time Creepy Guy had come out from behind
7:46
Speaker 1: the potato chips. Forklift Guy asks me if I am okay,
7:50
Speaker 1: and I tell him no. He asks if I needed help,
7:53
Speaker 1: and I say yes. All of this being said very
7:56
Speaker 1: low where Creepy Guy cannot hear. All of a sudden
8:00
Speaker 1: Forklift Guy runs around the chips, slams Creepy Guy into
8:03
Speaker 1: the coke cooler, telling him that the lady wants him
8:06
Speaker 1: to leave and to get the fuck out. Creepy Guy
8:10
Speaker 1: runs out, jumps into his truck, and hightails it out
8:13
Speaker 1: of there, while forklift guy stays with me until I
8:16
Speaker 1: call the police, and they get there. I make a report,
8:20
Speaker 1: gave my best description I could, called a co-worker to
8:23
Speaker 1: come and stay with me, and the police and forklift
8:25
Speaker 1: guy leave. About an hour later, one of the cops
8:28
Speaker 1: come back in to tell me that they caught the
8:30
Speaker 1: guy speeding on the highway leading out of town. He
8:34
Speaker 1: not only had an empty trailer on the back of
8:35
Speaker 1: his truck, he had not been to drop off his load,
8:38
Speaker 1: he didn't even leave in that direction. And no way
8:41
Speaker 1: did he have time to get to the factory, unload,
8:44
Speaker 1: and get back out to where he was pulled over
8:46
Speaker 1: in that amount of time. But he also had a
8:49
Speaker 1: pistol that had been reported stolen in Alabama and had
8:53
Speaker 1: just been released from prison where he had served two
8:56
Speaker 1: years for rape and was wanted in Missouri for not
8:59
Speaker 1: reporting into his probation officer after being released. I have
9:04
Speaker 1: no clue why he was in a transfer truck or
9:06
Speaker 1: what the hell he was doing in small town Georgia.
9:09
Speaker 1: but he clearly was making his rounds through the southeast.
9:26
Speaker 3: A few years back, I was on a road trip
9:28
Speaker 3: by myself. I was driving across about three different states
9:32
Speaker 3: to go home and visit my parents and.
9:33
Speaker 2: Some other family.
9:35
Speaker 3: I had made the trip a couple of times before
9:36
Speaker 3: since I had started living where I was.
9:39
Speaker 2: The drive took a total of about seven.
9:41
Speaker 3: Hours, so I would do it all in one day,
9:44
Speaker 3: but it was still a really long drive. On the
9:47
Speaker 3: day that I left, I was able to get out
9:48
Speaker 3: of work a couple of hours early, which was nice.
9:52
Speaker 3: The drive went well for the most part. I stopped
9:54
Speaker 3: for gas a few times, and food as well. At
9:57
Speaker 3: about 9pm, I found myself around two hours away from
10:00
Speaker 3: my parents' house. My car was running low on gas,
10:04
Speaker 3: and I was running low on energy, so I pulled
10:06
Speaker 3: off the freeway for what would probably be my final stop.
10:10
Speaker 3: After I got off the freeway, I drove down a
10:12
Speaker 3: quieter road for maybe a mile before seeing a gas station.
10:16
Speaker 3: It was a 7-Eleven, and I pulled in and drove
10:18
Speaker 3: up to a pump. The gas station was very quiet,
10:21
Speaker 3: and nobody else was there that I was aware of.
10:24
Speaker 3: After filling my tank, I started walking inside to get
10:27
Speaker 3: an energy drink or something.
10:29
Speaker 2: When I was headed towards the door, I.
10:31
Speaker 3: Noticed that there was a man, kind of standing in
10:33
Speaker 3: a darker area on the side of the building. I
10:36
Speaker 3: went inside and went to the drinks. I found something
10:38
Speaker 3: with some caffeine, and then went over and paid for it.
10:41
Speaker 3: Nobody else was inside the store, other than the employee.
10:44
Speaker 3: After leaving, I was heading back to my car, which
10:46
Speaker 3: was still at the pump. When I got inside, I
10:49
Speaker 3: cracked open my drink and took a few sips. I
10:52
Speaker 3: was casually looking around and drinking when I noticed the
10:55
Speaker 3: man who had been standing at the side of the building.
10:57
Speaker 3: He was suddenly walking over to me, and the way
11:00
Speaker 3: he was walking was really aggressive. Based on the fact
11:03
Speaker 3: that a random guy who had been standing around the
11:05
Speaker 3: side of a gas station was rushing towards me, I
11:08
Speaker 3: decided to leave. I quickly started up my car and
11:11
Speaker 3: began driving away. When I pulled out, the man was
11:15
Speaker 3: probably within 20 feet of me. I was happy to
11:17
Speaker 3: get out of there, but I noticed the man start
11:19
Speaker 3: running to the back of the parking lot of the
11:21
Speaker 3: gas station where a smaller, old-looking red car.
11:24
Speaker 2: Had been parked. I had assumed that car was the employees.
11:28
Speaker 3: I saw the man get in, and I was now
11:29
Speaker 3: driving down off the road headed back for the freeway.
11:33
Speaker 3: The guy started speeding away, almost recklessly. He caught up
11:36
Speaker 3: with me rather quickly, and I hadn't been driving slow either,
11:39
Speaker 3: but I wasn't going to risk getting a speeding ticket.
11:42
Speaker 3: Now I was really concerned. I had no clue who
11:44
Speaker 3: this guy was. I was not aware of any reason
11:47
Speaker 3: at all for him to follow me. I soon merged
11:49
Speaker 3: back onto the freeway and started driving down it. The
11:52
Speaker 3: guy behind me was right on my tail the entire time.
11:56
Speaker 3: The freeway was pretty quiet, but there were a couple
11:58
Speaker 3: of other cars and trucks here and there. As I drove,
12:01
Speaker 3: I switched lanes a few times. The guy behind me
12:03
Speaker 3: would always copy me and do exactly the same. The
12:07
Speaker 3: following distance that he maintained the whole time was probably
12:10
Speaker 3: like one car length or so. It made me really uncomfortable.
12:14
Speaker 3: After driving on the freeway for probably five minutes, I
12:17
Speaker 3: decided to take an exit. I exited at the very
12:20
Speaker 3: last second, hoping it would confuse the man. When I did,
12:23
Speaker 3: the guy pulled off right behind me. I slowed down
12:26
Speaker 3: when I got up to a quieter street, and when
12:28
Speaker 3: I came to the stop sign, I thought the guy
12:30
Speaker 3: was going to crash into the back of me. I
12:32
Speaker 3: drove down another quiet road and passed by a gas
12:35
Speaker 3: station and a fast food restaurant that was closed. Now,
12:39
Speaker 3: I was in what looked like a quiet small town
12:41
Speaker 3: with lots of farmland nearby.
12:43
Speaker 2: I really didn't know exactly where I was.
12:46
Speaker 3: I turned at a random road and then turned again
12:48
Speaker 3: at another one a short time later. I didn't really
12:50
Speaker 3: know where I was going or what I was doing.
12:53
Speaker 3: I was just hoping that the guy would stop following me.
12:55
Speaker 3: Maybe if he realized that I knew he was following
12:57
Speaker 3: me and I was just going to keep turning all
12:58
Speaker 3: the time, he would give up. But the guy didn't
13:01
Speaker 3: seem like he wanted to do that. I drove around
13:04
Speaker 3: this random small city for like 10 minutes. The guy
13:06
Speaker 3: kept up behind me the entire time. I was about
13:09
Speaker 3: to turn around and go back to the freeway when
13:12
Speaker 3: I noticed something. I was driving on what appeared to
13:14
Speaker 3: be one of the main roads of the city that
13:16
Speaker 3: I was in. When I was driving down it, I
13:18
Speaker 3: noticed we were coming up on a police station. I
13:21
Speaker 3: saw some of the patrol cars parked in the parking lot,
13:23
Speaker 3: and I decided to pull in.
13:25
Speaker 2: I signaled to turn, and at first, the guy behind
13:28
Speaker 2: me did the same.
13:29
Speaker 3: But as I was pulling in, he suddenly veered around
13:31
Speaker 3: me and sped away, going straight instead. When I got
13:34
Speaker 3: into the parking lot, I saw an officer and figured
13:37
Speaker 3: I would tell him about what had happened. After speaking
13:39
Speaker 3: with him and letting him know, I went back on
13:41
Speaker 3: my way. The rest of the way home, I never
13:44
Speaker 3: saw the guy again. To this day, I don't know
13:47
Speaker 3: why he chose to follow me. I'm a female and
14:05
Speaker 3: a former 7-Eleven employee. I worked there two years ago
14:08
Speaker 3: for a span of about six months. During that time,
14:11
Speaker 3: I was finishing up my education I mostly worked overnight
14:15
Speaker 3: shifts there, which were fine with me. Sure, being alone
14:18
Speaker 3: at nights is a little strange sometimes, but hardly anybody
14:21
Speaker 3: would come in. For the most part, it was easy.
14:25
Speaker 3: One night, I was working like any other. I sat
14:27
Speaker 3: behind the counter, going on my phone and listening to music.
14:31
Speaker 3: I had been alone, all by myself, with no customers,
14:34
Speaker 3: for probably an hour. A few people had gotten gas,
14:37
Speaker 3: but none of them came inside. The time was probably
14:40
Speaker 3: two o'clock in the morning. Then I suddenly heard the
14:43
Speaker 3: door opening and saw a guy walking in. I hadn't
14:46
Speaker 3: seen a car pull in, and the gas station is
14:48
Speaker 3: not really at a location where people walk to. He
14:51
Speaker 3: walked in and came up to me at the counter.
14:54
Speaker 3: I said hi to him and asked him how I
14:55
Speaker 3: could help. The man asked me where the beer was,
14:58
Speaker 3: and I pointed to the back of the store where
15:00
Speaker 3: they were. We also had some cases sitting around, which
15:02
Speaker 3: I pointed out as well. The man looked around and
15:06
Speaker 3: then walked to the back of the store. I kept
15:08
Speaker 3: sitting there and then went back on my phone. A
15:11
Speaker 3: few minutes later, the man came back up to me
15:13
Speaker 3: at the counter. This guy was sort of tall and thin,
15:16
Speaker 3: was balding, and looked to be in his 40s or 50s.
15:19
Speaker 3: When he came back to the counter, he was not
15:20
Speaker 3: holding any beer. The guy said to me that he
15:23
Speaker 3: liked my tattoos and pointed to my arms. Then he
15:26
Speaker 3: just kind of stood there. I said thanks and asked
15:28
Speaker 3: if he needed help with something. The guy just stared
15:31
Speaker 3: at me for a second and then kind of wandered
15:33
Speaker 3: out of the store. He seemed a little bit off
15:35
Speaker 3: to me. And after he left, I just went back
15:38
Speaker 3: to minding my own business. I had a co-worker coming
15:41
Speaker 3: in at 5 a.m., and I would be getting off
15:43
Speaker 3: at 6. Over the next hour, I only had one
15:46
Speaker 3: other customer come inside and pay for gas. At about
15:50
Speaker 3: 3 a.m., I suddenly noticed something out of the corner
15:52
Speaker 3: of my eye. It was coming from the window near
15:55
Speaker 3: the front door. When I looked, I saw the guy
15:57
Speaker 3: who had been inside earlier who had seemed a little
15:59
Speaker 3: bit off. He was looking inside and pressing his face
16:02
Speaker 3: up against the glass window. The look on his face
16:04
Speaker 3: was rather disturbing and creepy. He was looking straight at
16:08
Speaker 3: me as well. I looked at him and then looked away.
16:11
Speaker 3: I wasn't amused by this. It seemed really weird. When
16:14
Speaker 3: I looked back over again about a minute later, he
16:16
Speaker 3: was still there. I tried to just ignore it, but
16:20
Speaker 3: then he started knocking on the window. This guy had
16:23
Speaker 3: to be crazy or something. I decided to get up
16:26
Speaker 3: and ask the man what he was doing and probably
16:28
Speaker 3: tell him to leave as well. I got out from
16:30
Speaker 3: behind the counter and walked over. I opened up the
16:33
Speaker 3: front door to the building, but as soon as I
16:35
Speaker 3: opened it, the man started sprinting away at what appeared
16:37
Speaker 3: to be full speed He ran all the way past
16:40
Speaker 3: the road and out of my sight. Oh well, I thought,
16:43
Speaker 3: and went back inside to work, shaking my head. For
16:45
Speaker 3: the next few hours, things were peaceful and went on
16:48
Speaker 3: like normal. At five, my co-worker Alex showed up, and
16:52
Speaker 3: things were really easy then. And at six, I was
16:55
Speaker 3: off for the day and could finally leave. When I
16:57
Speaker 3: was walking out to my car in the parking lot,
17:00
Speaker 3: I happened to notice the man again. He was standing
17:03
Speaker 3: kind of in the grass between the parking lot and
17:05
Speaker 3: the road. The guy was looking right at me. I
17:08
Speaker 3: hurried up and got inside my car and left. After
17:11
Speaker 3: I left, I called my coworker Alex and let him
17:13
Speaker 3: know about the guy just to be aware. Luckily, the
17:16
Speaker 3: man didn't follow me out of the parking lot when
17:18
Speaker 3: I left or anything like that. Now, fast forward two days.
17:22
Speaker 3: I worked one of the two days and didn't come
17:24
Speaker 3: across the man or anything strange. But on the second day,
17:28
Speaker 3: I was hanging out with a few friends. There's a
17:30
Speaker 3: diner in town that we hang out at a lot.
17:32
Speaker 3: We're friends with the owner and their family, and my
17:34
Speaker 3: friends and I have been going there for years. I
17:37
Speaker 3: was there, sitting in a booth with two other friends.
17:39
Speaker 3: We were just hanging out, talking, and having some food.
17:42
Speaker 3: Out of nowhere, I happened to notice the guy who
17:44
Speaker 3: had been at the gas station. He was sitting by
17:47
Speaker 3: himself on the other side of the diner. The whole
17:50
Speaker 3: place wasn't very big. It had maybe like ten booths
17:52
Speaker 3: and then seats.
17:53
Speaker 2: At the diner. The guy was facing me, and I
17:56
Speaker 2: caught him staring. I told my friends about him and
17:59
Speaker 2: who he was. We weren't really sure what to do, though.
18:02
Speaker 3: I felt like the chances of this being a coincidence
18:04
Speaker 3: were really slim. But still, he wasn't bothering me, and
18:07
Speaker 3: hadn't come up to me or anything like that, so
18:09
Speaker 3: I decided to just ignore it. The man never tried
18:12
Speaker 3: talking to me or anything. When I left, he didn't
18:15
Speaker 3: follow me outside either. For the next few days, the
18:18
Speaker 3: man was completely absent from my life, and that's the
18:21
Speaker 3: way I would have liked it to stay. But then
18:24
Speaker 3: came the last time that I saw the man. It
18:26
Speaker 3: was a typical work shift, and for 90% of it,
18:29
Speaker 3: everything went fine. I didn't see the guy, and had
18:31
Speaker 3: dealt with mostly normal customers. When my coworker Alex came
18:35
Speaker 3: in in the early morning like he often did, he
18:37
Speaker 3: let me know that it looked like someone was messing
18:39
Speaker 3: around near my car in the parking lot.
18:41
Speaker 2: I walked over to the window and looked.
18:44
Speaker 3: That same guy was appearing to try and open one
18:46
Speaker 3: of my windows or something. It looked like he had
18:48
Speaker 3: some kind of tool as well. I opened the door
18:51
Speaker 3: and yelled out to him, asking what he was doing.
18:54
Speaker 3: The guy looked at me and then ran off down
18:55
Speaker 3: the street. It was so strange. I went over and looked,
18:59
Speaker 3: but luckily he hadn't broken in, at.
19:01
Speaker 2: Least not yet.
19:03
Speaker 3: After that though, I never saw the guy again. I
19:06
Speaker 3: only worked at the 7-Eleven for about another month after that.
19:08
Speaker 4: Gas stations in the middle of the night can be
19:25
Speaker 4: a weird place.
19:26
Speaker 3: A few months back, I was driving home from visiting
19:29
Speaker 3: some friends. I didn't time out the drive very well,
19:32
Speaker 3: and I found myself on the road at nearly 3
19:34
Speaker 3: o'clock in the morning. I still had a ways to go,
19:38
Speaker 3: but I had lots of caffeine and was doing fine.
19:41
Speaker 3: When my car was starting to run out of gas,
19:43
Speaker 3: I decided to stop at the next place. I took
19:46
Speaker 3: an exit when I saw a sign that there would
19:48
Speaker 3: be a 7-Eleven at the next one.
19:50
Speaker 2: They're usually a good gas station, and I go there
19:52
Speaker 2: all the time.
19:54
Speaker 3: When I pulled in, there was another car getting gas
19:57
Speaker 3: and somebody else in the parking lot. I pulled up
19:59
Speaker 3: to one of the pumps at the south side of it,
20:01
Speaker 3: sort of far away from the building. I paid at
20:04
Speaker 3: the pump and then began fueling my car. As I
20:07
Speaker 3: stood near the car, the other person getting gas drove off.
20:10
Speaker 3: This revealed that there was just one guy now, and
20:13
Speaker 3: he was standing near some of the other gas pumps
20:15
Speaker 3: about 20 feet away, but there were no other cars there.
20:19
Speaker 3: About a minute into me fueling my car, I saw
20:21
Speaker 3: the man start to walk over and approach me. He
20:24
Speaker 3: had a beard and wore kind of baggy and dirty clothes.
20:28
Speaker 3: He walked right up to me, which made me a
20:29
Speaker 3: little bit nervous.
20:31
Speaker 2: When he reached me, he asked me if I had
20:33
Speaker 2: a cigarette he could borrow. I told the guy no.
20:36
Speaker 3: I didn't smoke and even if I did, I certainly
20:39
Speaker 3: wasn't going to give him a cigarette right next to
20:40
Speaker 3: a gas pump. There are literally signs everywhere that say
20:43
Speaker 3: no smoking. The guy stood there looking at me for
20:46
Speaker 3: a moment or two after I had answered him. Then,
20:49
Speaker 3: he turned away and started walking. He walked back over
20:52
Speaker 3: to another pump as I continued to fill my tank,
20:54
Speaker 3: which always takes a long time. Then, out of seemingly nowhere,
20:58
Speaker 3: the man yelled something and punched a gas pump.
21:01
Speaker 2: It made a loud noise.
21:02
Speaker 3: He hit it a few times, which was really disturbing
21:05
Speaker 3: to see. Then, He angrily started walking over towards the
21:08
Speaker 3: convenience store. He got next to it where they had
21:11
Speaker 3: rocks up against the building. The man proceeded to grab
21:14
Speaker 3: a few rocks in his hands and start throwing them
21:16
Speaker 3: in my direction. He missed badly with the first couple,
21:19
Speaker 3: but he started walking closer. I couldn't believe my eyes.
21:23
Speaker 3: I had no idea why he was doing this. I
21:25
Speaker 3: quickly stopped getting gas and got inside of my car.
21:29
Speaker 3: A rock actually hit my car after I had gotten
21:31
Speaker 3: back inside. I drove off with the man still firing
21:34
Speaker 3: rocks in my direction. When I was out of there
21:37
Speaker 3: and back on the road, I called the police to
21:39
Speaker 3: report him. I was afraid for whoever was working inside
21:42
Speaker 3: the 7-Eleven, or if anybody else would try to get
21:44
Speaker 3: gas there. They let me know that they would have
21:47
Speaker 3: an officer there shortly to check out the situation. I
21:50
Speaker 3: really hoped that nobody was hurt and everything was resolved.
21:53
Speaker 3: The man definitely seemed like he was on some sort
21:55
Speaker 3: of drugs. He certainly was not in his right mind.
21:58
Speaker 3: It's a pretty scary experience that I will never forget,
22:01
Speaker 3: and I hope the man and everybody else are okay.
22:14
Speaker 3: This story happened back when I was younger. I was
22:17
Speaker 3: about 10 or 11 at the time. During that time period,
22:20
Speaker 3: I lived with my parents in a smaller house near
22:22
Speaker 3: the city. We would often walk to a few stores
22:25
Speaker 3: or gas stations to get things.
22:27
Speaker 2: I would go with one of my.
22:28
Speaker 3: Older siblings a lot, and there were several places within
22:31
Speaker 3: walking distance. This was on July 11th, because on 7-11
22:34
Speaker 3: they used to give out free Slurpees. I'm not sure
22:37
Speaker 3: if they still do or not, but my older sister
22:39
Speaker 3: asked me if I wanted to go with and get one.
22:42
Speaker 3: Of course, I said yes. We walked there down the sidewalk,
22:45
Speaker 3: which took maybe ten minutes. It was sometime in the afternoon,
22:49
Speaker 3: maybe even the early evening if I remember correct. When
22:52
Speaker 3: we arrived, I went straight for the Slurpees, and my
22:55
Speaker 3: sister did as well. There were a few other people
22:58
Speaker 3: all around inside, and I had to wait for somebody
23:00
Speaker 3: else to get a Slurpee. My sister and I got them,
23:04
Speaker 3: and then my sister went to the back of the
23:05
Speaker 3: store to go look at something else. I went to
23:08
Speaker 3: go see if there were any good snacks that I wanted,
23:10
Speaker 3: so I went in a different aisle. When I was there,
23:13
Speaker 3: A woman started walking down that aisle. She was holding
23:16
Speaker 3: a small dog. As she approached, she noticed me looking
23:19
Speaker 3: at the dog. It was one of those dogs that's
23:22
Speaker 3: extremely small. She asked me if I liked her dog,
23:25
Speaker 3: and I said yes.
23:26
Speaker 2: I thought it was really cute.
23:28
Speaker 3: The woman then asked me if I would watch her
23:29
Speaker 3: dog for a minute while she used the bathroom. I
23:32
Speaker 3: said that I would, and the woman then asked me
23:34
Speaker 3: if I could actually watch it outside. She said that
23:36
Speaker 3: the dog sometimes didn't like to be held by strangers,
23:39
Speaker 3: and she didn't want to get in trouble for walking
23:41
Speaker 3: it around inside. It seemed fine to me, and I
23:44
Speaker 3: said yes. We both then walked outside of the building.
23:47
Speaker 3: The woman started walking over to a small grass area
23:50
Speaker 3: that was next to the 7-Eleven building. The area was
23:52
Speaker 3: really small, but I guess was a good place.
23:54
Speaker 2: For the dog to walk around.
23:56
Speaker 3: Before we got there, though, there was this van parked
23:59
Speaker 3: in the last parking space before the grass area. A
24:02
Speaker 3: man was standing in front of it. He suddenly reached
24:05
Speaker 3: out and grabbed me as I was passing by. He
24:08
Speaker 3: held both of my arms, and the woman then told
24:10
Speaker 3: me to get inside of the van. The side door
24:12
Speaker 3: to it was already open. I didn't want to, but
24:15
Speaker 3: the man was much stronger than me and was pushing
24:17
Speaker 3: me in the direction of it. Everything was happening really fast,
24:20
Speaker 3: and I didn't know what to do. It was then
24:23
Speaker 3: that I heard my sister's voice. She was basically yelling
24:26
Speaker 3: and screaming and told them to let me go. This
24:28
Speaker 3: caught the attention of two other people nearby, and they
24:31
Speaker 3: started to look over. The guy finally let me go then.
24:34
Speaker 3: Him and the woman's attention now shifted to trying to
24:36
Speaker 3: get away. I ran back over to my sister, who
24:39
Speaker 3: was just outside the front door of the 7-Eleven. as
24:41
Speaker 3: the man and woman got inside the van and sped off.
24:44
Speaker 3: I remember somebody yelling to call the police as they
24:46
Speaker 3: sped off, and another person yelling to get the license
24:48
Speaker 3: plate number. My sister and I went back inside and
24:51
Speaker 3: waited until the police got there. My parents were called
24:55
Speaker 3: and came down and picked us up after we were
24:56
Speaker 3: done answering questions. It was a really scary experience. Luckily,
25:01
Speaker 3: the man and woman were both located later in the day.
25:04
Speaker 3: I still can't believe that I was almost kidnapped. Every
25:07
Speaker 3: time I think about it, it gives me the creeps.
25:27
Speaker 5: It was a somewhat nippy autumn night, and I was
25:29
Speaker 5: about halfway into my shift. I was a young man,
25:33
Speaker 5: and I took up any job I really could at
25:34
Speaker 5: the time. In this case, it was a late shift
25:37
Speaker 5: at 7-Eleven. In the United States, 7-Elevens are open 24
25:42
Speaker 5: hours a day and 7 days a week. This meant
25:45
Speaker 5: that someone had to take up that horrid night shift,
25:48
Speaker 5: and that person was me. As much as the job
25:51
Speaker 5: messed up my sleep schedules, It did help me do
25:53
Speaker 5: my coursework during the day, and it did pay a
25:56
Speaker 5: bit better than the normal shifts. I've been told that
25:58
Speaker 5: working in a convenience store is among the most dangerous
26:01
Speaker 5: jobs in the states, and this claim was honestly understandable.
26:05
Speaker 5: Although my city is decently safe, the people who go
26:08
Speaker 5: to 7-Elevens late at night are a lot different than
26:11
Speaker 5: your normal shopper. From what I saw, it was either
26:13
Speaker 5: crazy crackheads higher than a kite, or a bunch of
26:16
Speaker 5: drunken teenagers falling all over the place trying to make
26:18
Speaker 5: another booze run. This was extremely annoying. My coworker Colin
26:22
Speaker 5: and I were largely responsible for kicking these people out.
26:26
Speaker 5: And while it was an inconvenience, it never got truly
26:29
Speaker 5: out of hand or unsafe. This all changed one Thursday night, however.
26:33
Speaker 5: My coworker Colin had some sort of family emergency to
26:36
Speaker 5: take care of, and this resulted in him having to
26:39
Speaker 5: skip a few shifts. This meant that I was in
26:41
Speaker 5: charge of handling the dreaded 8pm to 4am shift completely alone.
26:46
Speaker 5: This truly annoyed me. Colin was a really chill guy.
26:50
Speaker 5: His conversations made the hours go by much faster, and
26:53
Speaker 5: without him, I'd just be alone in some dirty store
26:56
Speaker 5: in the middle of the night. Regardless, I received my
26:58
Speaker 5: orders from my manager, and I had to do what
27:01
Speaker 5: I had to do. I arrived at my shift around
27:03
Speaker 5: five minutes late as usual, and things were initially going
27:06
Speaker 5: by completely normal. The people that walked in consisted of
27:09
Speaker 5: the usual late-night shoppers and people in their pajamas stopping
27:12
Speaker 5: for gas last minute. It seemed like a completely normal
27:15
Speaker 5: weekday night at first. But then, a little past the
27:19
Speaker 5: midnight hour, things got really strange. It was 12.15 at night,
27:23
Speaker 5: and I was sitting on my small chair next to
27:25
Speaker 5: the counter. I had just plugged in my phone into
27:27
Speaker 5: a charger as it was running low on battery from
27:30
Speaker 5: using it all night, and that's when I noticed a
27:32
Speaker 5: car pull up to one of the pumps.
27:34
Speaker 2: It was a.
27:34
Speaker 5: Large black SUV. The windows in the back were either
27:37
Speaker 5: completely shattered or lazily replaced with cardboard and duct tape.
27:42
Speaker 5: A tall and rather large-built man stepped out in a
27:44
Speaker 5: trench coat and boots. He turned over to the front
27:47
Speaker 5: door of the store and started to calmly approach it,
27:50
Speaker 5: I just kept glancing at my phone, however. Most people
27:52
Speaker 5: walk in, quickly get something, and leave. There was no
27:55
Speaker 5: need for formalities at this hour. You call this customer service?
28:00
Speaker 5: The man said in a low, husky voice. It took
28:03
Speaker 5: me a second or two to process that. The people
28:05
Speaker 5: who come in here, especially at this time, aren't exactly
28:07
Speaker 5: expecting award-winning service. Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Is there anything
28:12
Speaker 5: I can get for you? The man just laughed. Oh, kid.
28:16
Speaker 5: There's nothing you can get for me. but there is
28:19
Speaker 5: something you can do. At first, I thought the man
28:21
Speaker 5: was going to ask for some weird sexual favor. Funnily enough,
28:25
Speaker 5: I'd been asked this before while I was on the job.
28:27
Speaker 5: You see, I'm not a young man like you. My joints,
28:31
Speaker 5: they don't function like they used to. And you see
28:34
Speaker 5: my car over there? Well, I could use a wash
28:37
Speaker 5: and fill. The man's attitude and overall demeanor were really weird.
28:41
Speaker 5: The way the guy was talking was unsettling as it is.
28:43
Speaker 5: I mean, if the guy could walk all the way
28:45
Speaker 5: over here just fine, why couldn't he fill his own
28:48
Speaker 5: gas or wash his own windshield? However, state law says
28:51
Speaker 5: I have to assist any handicapped or impaired customers if
28:54
Speaker 5: they request it. There was no handicapped sticker on the
28:57
Speaker 5: man's car or any sign that he was disabled in
28:59
Speaker 5: any way. But hey, if they request it, I have
29:02
Speaker 5: to help them. Alright sir, give me a moment, I
29:06
Speaker 5: replied as I placed my phone to the side. I
29:09
Speaker 5: then turned on the pump for my control panel and
29:11
Speaker 5: started heading towards the car. Look at those youthful muscles work.
29:16
Speaker 5: I love to see it. For whatever reason, I ignored
29:19
Speaker 5: the man's creepiness and continued heading towards the car. The
29:23
Speaker 5: sooner I cleaned his windshield and filled his tank, the
29:25
Speaker 5: sooner he'd be out of there. At least that's what
29:28
Speaker 5: I hoped. As I stepped out of the building, the
29:30
Speaker 5: man seemed to remain in the store. He seemed to
29:33
Speaker 5: be browsing up and down the shelves or something. Whatever.
29:36
Speaker 5: I got to the vehicle, and sure enough the gas
29:38
Speaker 5: cap was wide open and ready for me. As I
29:41
Speaker 5: was filling the van with gas, I couldn't help but
29:43
Speaker 5: think about what the man said. He seemed honestly fine
29:46
Speaker 5: and was totally capable of putting a nozzle in the
29:49
Speaker 5: gas tank. It made me wonder why I was even
29:51
Speaker 5: out there in the first place. But hell, if I
29:53
Speaker 5: could just get this weirdo out of there, I could
29:55
Speaker 5: get back inside to just messing around with my phone.
29:58
Speaker 5: After about a minute or two, The tank was full,
30:01
Speaker 5: and it was time for me to wash the man's windshield.
30:03
Speaker 5: As I stepped around towards the back of the van, however,
30:06
Speaker 5: I heard the back door shut. As weird as this was,
30:09
Speaker 5: keep in mind the car was really beaten down and old.
30:12
Speaker 5: It's kind of expected for a car like that to
30:14
Speaker 5: make weird noises, especially on a windy night like this one.
30:17
Speaker 5: I quickly pulled out the sponge and squeegee, and started
30:20
Speaker 5: to get to work. But as I was cleaning the glass,
30:23
Speaker 5: that's when I felt it. The discomfort. The odd sensation
30:27
Speaker 5: of being watched or stalked. As I turned around, I
30:30
Speaker 5: felt a hand go over my eyes, and soon my mouth.
30:33
Speaker 5: I barely had any time to comprehend what was even happening.
30:36
Speaker 5: One second I was cleaning glass, and the next I
30:38
Speaker 5: was being headlocked. I then heard the familiar sound of
30:41
Speaker 5: the front door to the store opening, and heavy footsteps
30:44
Speaker 5: coming my way. Too many thoughts were racing through my
30:46
Speaker 5: head at this moment, but somehow, somewhere, I mustered everything
30:50
Speaker 5: I had and flung myself as back hard as I could.
30:53
Speaker 5: The person holding me down crashed into the gas pump
30:56
Speaker 5: and shrieked in pain. Damn it, Carl, the tall man said.
31:00
Speaker 5: I rolled back onto my feet and sprinted as hard
31:02
Speaker 5: as I could, my breath getting heavier and heavier every
31:05
Speaker 5: large stride I made. I managed to run across into
31:08
Speaker 5: a neighborhood and dive into the bushes, slowly peeping my
31:12
Speaker 5: head out to see if they were still following me
31:13
Speaker 5: in the van. After the longest ten or so minutes
31:17
Speaker 5: of my life, my adrenaline died down and I finally
31:20
Speaker 5: got the courage to step out of the bush. Just
31:23
Speaker 5: as I was about to call my manager and then
31:25
Speaker 5: the cops, it hit me, my phone was still in
31:28
Speaker 5: the store charging. Thankfully, however, a close friend of mine
31:31
Speaker 5: lived in the neighborhood I ran away towards. I knocked
31:34
Speaker 5: on his door and told him everything. Naturally, we called
31:37
Speaker 5: the police. When we went back to the station after
31:40
Speaker 5: the police told us they'd arrived, my manager was already there. Somehow,
31:44
Speaker 5: my manager and the police were as or more surprised
31:46
Speaker 5: than I was. Things like this rarely happen in my city.
31:50
Speaker 5: We always considered it a safe place. The police immediately
31:54
Speaker 5: looked through the CCTV footage as my manager suggested, and
31:57
Speaker 5: what we saw shocked us even more. When I had
31:59
Speaker 5: stepped out to wash and fill the van, the man
32:02
Speaker 5: jumped over the counter and tried to find and disable
32:05
Speaker 5: the security cameras and their footage. He couldn't manage to
32:08
Speaker 5: do this, so he just stepped outside and decided that
32:10
Speaker 5: deleting the footage wasn't worth all the time. We managed
32:13
Speaker 5: to capture the men's faces on video right after I
32:15
Speaker 5: made my escape. We then submitted the footage to the
32:18
Speaker 5: higher level police to see what was happening. It turns
32:21
Speaker 5: out the men were known human traffickers and were on
32:24
Speaker 5: the run from previous kidnappings. The license plate on the
32:28
Speaker 5: van seemed to be fraudulent or stolen, as the numbers
32:31
Speaker 5: only matched a completely different vehicle on the other side
32:33
Speaker 5: of the state. The investigators believed that the men stopped
32:37
Speaker 5: by my city on the way to somewhere else, as
32:39
Speaker 5: they figured it was a safer area and people wouldn't
32:41
Speaker 5: expect them to be there. I quit my job at
32:44
Speaker 5: 7-Eleven immediately after that. The events scarred me. Every time
32:48
Speaker 5: I stepped into another gas station, I would always get
32:51
Speaker 5: reminded of how I almost got kidnapped. Needless to say,
32:55
Speaker 5: I would never pick up a job like that again.