I’m not really sure where to start or how to go about this so I’ll just start, well at the start. About a year ago. So, I live really close to this supermarket, it’s a Tesco express for all the British people here, and I go there sometimes if I need something small, like snacks, usually strawberries. And it’s only really like a 5-minute walk away, however, between my house and the street that shop is on, there is kind of nothing, and it gets really dark at night, which is fine because it’s such a short walk, but I still always feel slightly uncomfortable, like most people probably would. It’s never been a problem though, until one day.
So, most people from England probably know about the amount of homeless people here, they’re kind of everywhere but mainly around city centres and they never really bother you.
But the one day, when I was walking to the shop at night, there was this guy there who I’d never seen before, he kind of appeared from thin air as I was watching TikToks and it was really dark, so I didn’t see him until he was really close. I jumped as he said something because he spooked me, but quickly recovered. He had a friendly smile and a surprisingly well-kept beard for a homeless man. He asked for some change, but I didn’t have any, so I apologised and moved on.
While I was there, at Tesco I felt bad for him so I bought him some strawberries, even googled if you can eat strawberries without washing them, should be fine. When I walked back, instead of watching TikToks, I used my torch, so I’d be able to spot him. He seemed to be gone however, I also didn’t really feel like looking for him, so I planned on keeping the strawberries in case I’d run into him again. I turned off my torch and got back on tiktok, and after a short walk I was getting close to home. I messaged my girlfriend if she could open the door because, like always, I forgot my keys. I just hoped her phone wasn’t on flight mode as her phone has the worst battery and dies ridiculously fast.
When I got to the door, she hadn’t replied yet, so I went to knock on the door, hoping she’d hear it, but then suddenly the man was there, waiting at the door. I was kind of stunned, not really sure what to do but really struggled to control my panic. I asked him what he was doing here and what he wanted. He just smiled as he slowly approached me. He reached into his pocket and all my instincts told me to run, but he didn’t pull out a knife. He pulled out a set of keys, they had my girlfriend’s keychain. A little picture of her hometown. I almost forgot about the man and immediately tried calling her, but it immediately went to voicemail.
The man still had that same friendly smile, which now just seemed sinister to me. He dangled the keys in front of my eyes and said: “Keys cost money.” I was really confused and panicked so I had to take a moment to gather my thoughts before I could respond to him but eventually managed to tell him that I didn’t have any change, but that he could have both packs of strawberries and that one of them was already meant for him. His smile immediately disappeared and took place for a cold, chilling emotionless expression. “Keys. Cost. Money.” I tried to tell him again that I didn’t have any money on me, but he interrupted me. “Time to go.” And before I could even comprehend what just happened, he had disappeared into the darkness and as soon as he was gone my girlfriend opened the door.
I rushed in, slammed the door behind me and broke out in tears while hugging her. She, for good reason was really confused but her confusion changed to concern when I told her what had just happened. She also proceeded to show me that her keys were on her, safely stored in her backpack. After that night I tried to stay around my girlfriend as much as possible, and we luckily both work from home so that was easy enough, I also stopped going out to Tesco at night and asked my girlfriend to tell me when she went out so I could come with her. We didn’t run into the man after that day, and everything seemed fine again.
We slowly started going outside without the other again, until one day when I got back home from a workout and the door was wide open, it had been over a month since my run in with the man so I just thought my girlfriend had forgotten to close the door after a shop, so I went inside and closed the door. I yelled that I was back to no response which was odd, I also didn’t hear the office playing from the TV which was probably even stranger than the lack of response, so I walked into the living room and there I didn’t see my girlfriend, but there was the man, sitting on our small sofa. I immediately called 999 (the emergency number here in the UK) but he was already talking to me. “Life costs money. She didn’t have money.” I tried to focus on the person answering the phone and managed to push the word police out of my throat, but tears were running down my face. I was convinced he really had murdered her. Just because that one time I didn’t have change for him. “Life costs money.” He said again, staring deep into my soul with piercing eyes. I put my phone down and frantically started looking for money, I don’t ever use cash but managed to find about 8 quid and handed it to him. He smiled at me again with that terrible smile. I thought he approached me, but walked past me, dropping my girlfriend’s keys on the floor, and walked off.
Police arrived not long after and I told them everything, but they never found the man. They did however find my girlfriend, she was wandering the streets around my house and looked like she hadn’t eaten in weeks, but she was alive, and fully recovered after a few weeks. We never leave each other’s side now and only order our groceries. We haven’t seen or heard from the man in almost a year now, but we’re still constantly on edge and considering moving to my home country.