Scary Stories

1. A few weeks ago I was getting in my car at the Walmart parking lot when I noticed the car parked in front of me had two men sitting in the front seat. When I saw one of the men pointing out at me I hurried to get in my car and locked the doors. One of the guys came and knocked on my window. I asked him what he wanted through the glass. He asked me to open my door, I said, "What do you need?" He told me that their car was dead and they needed a jump. I explained (through the glass) that I didn't have jumper cables. He said they did and asked me to get out. I have heard too many bad stories that started this way, so I said, "no" and told him I needed to leave to pick up my son. Who knows, maybe I turned down an opportunity to help someone, but I didn't feel safe.

2. Today I left the elementary school and a silver car with a sun-roof pulled out behind me. I didn't think anything of it until it made the same 3 turns I did. I turned onto a road that turns back onto the road I was already on, the car followed. I thought that was strange, and the car continued to follow me very closely as I continued to turn on roads leading back to my house. I started to think maybe the car was following me, so I drove past my road and turned onto a different road. He followed. My body started to literally shake as I realized that this man was following me. For probably 5-10 minutes I was turning onto every road, speeding, trying to follow the advice given on "Burn Notice" (kind of funny now) for how to lose someone. I went 45 mi/hr on 30/hr neighborhood roads, turning as often as I could. Finally, I could not see the car behind me, so I drove out to a main road, and the guy drove past me and looked right at me and smiled. Then he turned at the next opportunity and got behind me. I finally went to a public parking spot, and I didn't see him anymore. The boys and I went into a small restaurant for lunch and I kept looking out the window, hoping not to see this silver car. I called Joe and he asked my why I didn't call the police; I explained that I felt like a paranoid girl calling the police to say someone was following me--but I KNOW without a doubt that he was. I did finally call the police so that they could make a note of it in case I see the guy or his car again. I hurried in the house and locked all the doors, shut and locked all the windows. I'm nervous to let the kids play outside today. I never drove by the house, but that guy followed me all over the neighborhoods around here--what if he comes back to look for our van? We haven't been parking in the garage because there are too many bikes/scooters/ toys. . . but maybe we will have to figure out a way to park in there. 

Who knows--maybe the guy saw our BYU license plate and wanted to ask me about being a Mormon. . . but I tell you what, I am still shaking, and it's been almost 2 hours.

On the way home from the police station a silver car with a sunroof was behind me, and I started worrying that somehow he was still following me--even from the police station. 

Someone knocked on the door after we got home--probably some salesperson--but I took the boys in our upstairs closet and shut all the doors in-between, hoping the people outside couldn't hear our noise. 

This is no way to live. 

I need to invest in some Mace or self-defense classes.