Hello everyone, my name is Lisa and here I will tell you my story which I describe as really terrifying and which unfortunately still affects my life today, you will understand why… Before I begin, I apologize for the grammatical errors, I am French and I am not good in English! I published the French text at the end for my francophone friends.
I decide to share it with you because it took place exactly 2 years ago and because I think it can serve to awaken the prudence of some (especially in this period where the days are shortening).
To put you in context, this happened on October 1, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was 17 at the time, and I had just left Ile de France (near Paris) for a provincial town to continue my studies. As a studant 4 hours by train from my parents, I obviously decided to take an apartment but the prices were unaffordable for me, so I settled in a brand new student residence. It is in the heart of a “rich”, “bourgeois” residential pavilion, contrasting with my small student residence.
Everything is fine, I normally go to school, but right from the beginning, the teachers tell us that unlike students in other disciplines, we will have lessons in presence (and not at a distance), so we will be the only ones to animate this part of the campus.
In short, the first classes are going pretty well, even though I have trouble fitting in like the others because of the masks and this nasty COVID. There is also a black shadow: on Thursdays and Fridays I finish at 8 pm, which makes me return to my little house around 8:45 pm (time to wait for the tramway that didn’t pass often during the pandemic, and make the 3 stops before walking 10 minutes to the residence).
As you understood, I was alone on my way to school… But in the week of September 21 to 27, when I went to class in the morning, I met strangely a man three times dressed in black, wearing a hood and whose face I could not really distinguish. What bothered me at the time was the fact that it didn’t fit in with the neighbourhood’s “chic” environment, but I’m not focusing on that anymore.
Finally arrives the night of October 1… As usual, I leave school, but unlike other days, I take the tramway about 1h later (I finally made a friend with whom I discussed the time of his bus). And as usual, I wait alone and once in the tramway I realize that just as at the stop there is nobody except the driver and me. So I decided to sit in the four-seat “squares” to make myself comfortable.
At the next stop (which is still in the campus area), as I turn my head before the doors automatically close, my eyes cross that of a man sitting alone in black. And in half a second, the man blocks the doors that were closing and enters. While the tramway is empty, he sits in front of me… Intimidated and understanding that the situation is suspicious, I look away (I prefer to look out the window).
The more time passes, the more my instinct leads me to believe that this man may have bad intentions. In my head, I begin to develop a plan to ensure that the person does not follow me when I have to go down. Once the tram arrives at its destination, I decide to leave at the last moment (just before the tram closes), as I start walking, I hear a cry and I turn my head… I see the man who managed to get out and obviously pinched his fingers blocking the doors.
The latter then begins to walk behind me. This time it is sure, I am followed… As I accelerate the pace, I hear the man do the same. I can even hear his breath coming closer. Then it came to me to pretend to be on the phone to scare him. That worked at first. Indeed, when the man turned around, my phone rang (I later learned it was my friend who just wanted to tell me he had the wrong bus). I was sure he heard the bell and therefore understood the deception. I turn around and see the man slip something in his hand (I see nothing because of the night). The latter starts screaming and running after me. While I am out of breath I rush into a crossing on a neighbor. I throw myself in the arms of the latter and shout loud “Great you came to get me”! At these words my neighbor immediately understood the situation and returned with me to the residence. Before that, I turned one last time and nothing… The man had disappeared.
Once I’m in my room crying, I think back to this man’s walk… Bingo! It looks like the person I met earlier this week!
I decide the next day to make a statement. During the day, I was called to tell myself that the surveillance videos of the tram had revealed the identity of the person. He was a wanted man for sexual assault and armed robbery. Apparently he found pleasure in assaulting «rich» girls to humiliate them, before stealing them. That’s why he prowled in my neighborhood.
Made my blood run cold and I decided to go home to my parents.
Apparently, the man was found two weeks later in another city for assaulting a young girl in a store.
The morality of history, pay attention to yourself, especially at night! And above all, nothing is better than to follow his instinct. Still today, we talk about it with my neighbor, besides he confessed to me last year, that he often saw the scene and especially rethinks my face decomposed by fear. He says he’s deeply shocked.
Even if this story ends well, it has developed in me a kind of distrust, I remain on my guard, especially when it comes to meeting people with hoodies. Now I keep a pepper spray in my bag!