I Just Had A Scary Experience
Actually, the scary experience happened almost 2 years ago and only became truly scary a few days ago.
I moved to this new town last year. I like it here but it's been lonely. At my age (72), it's not that easy to make new friends. Most of my old friends have either died or live a thousand miles or more away. I have never married, have no children. I was an only child, no siblings.
I have one friend in the next town over. She has a heart of gold and I am truly blessed to know her. She has introduced me to some potential friends during various social occasions she's hosted.
One lady was especially friendly and gave me her phone number. She was charming, intelligent and seemed interesting. It took me over a week to call her because something I could not pin down bothered me about her. I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding, remembering her face and wondering why she had a slightly secretive knowing smile at times, and why it bothered me.
Finally, I decided it was my usual intense social anxiety and I phoned her. The call did not go well. Although we had met on three social occasions, and it was only just over a week since we'd last seen each other, she said she didn't know me; I repeated my name a few times, spelled it, and felt embarrassed.
Finally, I said something like, "Well, maybe you'll remember me when we see each other tomorrow." We'd both been invited to my friend's Easter dinner the next day.
She said, "I can't see you tomorrow. I'm going to an Easter dinner at a friend's house." Now I felt thoroughly embarrassed as I explained that I was going to the same dinner party!
Eventually she phoned me, made an appointment to get together with me-- but she never showed up, never called. That was over a week ago and I haven't heard from her. Easter dinner went OK but she seemed to avoid talking to me. With that and her not showing up or calling a few days later, I just decided that our possible friendship wasn't meant to happen.
In a way, I was relieved. Because I still had that weird feeling about her.
The scary part: Late last night I suddenly remembered where I had seen her!
About two years ago I was living in Hollywood, California. It was Halloween and it had just started getting dark. I was out of milk and decided to go to the store a block away and get the milk before all the crazy Halloween nightlife began.
On my way back, right after sunset, as I crossed my street to go to my apartment, a car careened around the corner. I glanced at it half a block away and took in a lot of important life preserving information in a couple of heartbeats; the man driving the car was driving too fast, had a determined look in his eye, and [i]was aiming the car directly at me[/i]!
As I ran, then jumped out of the way, I could see there were two women in the back seat. One young woman looked the other way. But one of them, a gray haired old woman, was staring at me and flashed me a sadistic grin as the car missed me by an inch or so and they sped on.
It was a horrifying experience because there was no doubt that car was aimed at me like a weapon; it was no accident. And it was obvious that the woman was enjoying my fear and wanted me to know it. There was murder in her eyes. I shook for quite a while.
And now I remembered that [i]this was the same woman who'd given me her phone number.[/i]
It's hard to forget a face when your life has been in danger. And although it took me a while, I had not forgotten; it was the lady who'd been so strange on the telephone, my friend's friend; that was the same lady I'd seen with the evil grin who'd been openly enjoying an attempt to injure or kill me on that Halloween night.
I moved to this new town last year. I like it here but it's been lonely. At my age (72), it's not that easy to make new friends. Most of my old friends have either died or live a thousand miles or more away. I have never married, have no children. I was an only child, no siblings.
I have one friend in the next town over. She has a heart of gold and I am truly blessed to know her. She has introduced me to some potential friends during various social occasions she's hosted.
One lady was especially friendly and gave me her phone number. She was charming, intelligent and seemed interesting. It took me over a week to call her because something I could not pin down bothered me about her. I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding, remembering her face and wondering why she had a slightly secretive knowing smile at times, and why it bothered me.
Finally, I decided it was my usual intense social anxiety and I phoned her. The call did not go well. Although we had met on three social occasions, and it was only just over a week since we'd last seen each other, she said she didn't know me; I repeated my name a few times, spelled it, and felt embarrassed.
Finally, I said something like, "Well, maybe you'll remember me when we see each other tomorrow." We'd both been invited to my friend's Easter dinner the next day.
She said, "I can't see you tomorrow. I'm going to an Easter dinner at a friend's house." Now I felt thoroughly embarrassed as I explained that I was going to the same dinner party!
Eventually she phoned me, made an appointment to get together with me-- but she never showed up, never called. That was over a week ago and I haven't heard from her. Easter dinner went OK but she seemed to avoid talking to me. With that and her not showing up or calling a few days later, I just decided that our possible friendship wasn't meant to happen.
In a way, I was relieved. Because I still had that weird feeling about her.
The scary part: Late last night I suddenly remembered where I had seen her!
About two years ago I was living in Hollywood, California. It was Halloween and it had just started getting dark. I was out of milk and decided to go to the store a block away and get the milk before all the crazy Halloween nightlife began.
On my way back, right after sunset, as I crossed my street to go to my apartment, a car careened around the corner. I glanced at it half a block away and took in a lot of important life preserving information in a couple of heartbeats; the man driving the car was driving too fast, had a determined look in his eye, and [i]was aiming the car directly at me[/i]!
As I ran, then jumped out of the way, I could see there were two women in the back seat. One young woman looked the other way. But one of them, a gray haired old woman, was staring at me and flashed me a sadistic grin as the car missed me by an inch or so and they sped on.
It was a horrifying experience because there was no doubt that car was aimed at me like a weapon; it was no accident. And it was obvious that the woman was enjoying my fear and wanted me to know it. There was murder in her eyes. I shook for quite a while.
And now I remembered that [i]this was the same woman who'd given me her phone number.[/i]
It's hard to forget a face when your life has been in danger. And although it took me a while, I had not forgotten; it was the lady who'd been so strange on the telephone, my friend's friend; that was the same lady I'd seen with the evil grin who'd been openly enjoying an attempt to injure or kill me on that Halloween night.