This is one of these experiences that “marked” me as a kid. One of these experiences that kind of contributed to my present personality. I’m now an adult and this happened to me when I was 16. For context, I live in Madrid but back then I lived in a small town in Spain. I had a lot of friends but just three were my best. Their names were Liza, Greg, and Jayce. I called them “best friends” because I think that those were the ones that stood out from the rest. We used to chill at very random places really, like abandoned buildings, factories, and train stations. We liked graffiti too.
One day while at a junkyard, a little bit out of town, we came across a group of 3. They were kids our age mostly, two girls and one guy. I want to mention here that we had told our parents that we would have a sleepover at Greg’s, and Greg had told his parents that we would stay at Jayce’s so that we could be out all night and not worry about curfews and all that. At that time, it was past midnight, so it seemed off to us that we would have such an encounter at such a place.
Anyway, we met them because Liza spotted them and they heard us when she said “guys look!”. Almost immediately, the girl from the other group saw us and started walking toward us, she also beckoned her friends to follow her. She’s like “who are you?” Scared, Liza answered, “uh we’re just hanging around here”. The girl then replied, “just hanging…huh”. I couldn’t stand the awkwardness, so I went “hey, how come you’re here? I mean we are kind of lucky that we managed to be here at this hour…I’m Chris”. The girl then started laughing and after about a minute, she introduced herself as May.
After that, her other friends told us their names too, which were Mark and Annie. They were pretty cool and we all started talking about random stuff. They ended up explaining to us that they were just “chilling” too, they also were a bit older, and they didn’t have to lie to their parents.
Liza and the others talked way more with Mark and Annie than I did, mostly because I was with May. I don’t know why, but she had something in her so attractive. Maybe it was her appearance; she had black hair and wore fishnets on her hands and a skirt. Call her whatever you want, but to me, she was pretty hot. Or maybe it was her personality. She was very sweet. Although she was not very talkative with my friends or hers even, she always had a smile on her face when she was talking to me. She had a cute high-pitched voice, almost fake, and showed a lot of interest in my life. She kept asking me questions like what’s my school, what are my hobbies, my friends, my family, etc. It was addicting talking to her. I now realize that was the first red flag.
Despite her whole “sweet little girl” persona, she hid a sociopathic, manipulative, and deceitful self. That, I learned later. But that doesn’t mean that she or her friends didn’t make it clear before. I just couldn’t see. I now know that Greg and Jayce wanted to get along with Annie and Mark to “make a move”, and I was dumb enough to follow their lead. The first sign that gave away May’s true identity was one of the many incidents that happened that night about an hour after we met them.
So it was about 1 AM and we were all exploring the place. We found a small building and we went inside. It was pitch black and pretty much terrifying; we were all scared except May. The moment we stepped inside, she started smiling, and eventually, she burst out laughing at absolutely nothing. I asked if she was okay and she replied: “I’m cool” as she stopped. This random laugh of hers wasn’t the first; I think I can recall at least 3 other times it happened. I don’t find it odd now, but I did then when I didn’t know her. You know, I kind of admired her to be honest. It wasn’t a crush or anything, it was just that it was something unusual, different for me. I needed that. It gave me somewhat “courage” to keep going. But that lasted for 5 hours.
Although I haven’t told you the best part, I think you have a pretty clear picture of May’s personality. Her friends on the other hand were more mysterious. Both Annie and Mark were not quite the chatterbox, at least with me, unlike May. I think I exchanged about 10 words with each that night, including our little meet and greet. It was right as we left the small building that I heard them talking to each other for the first time. And it was not usual talking. It was whispering. I don’t remember any details but I’m pretty sure I heard the words “May”, “train” and “take”. I wish I could have heard more, that way I would’ve known what was coming. But I didn’t thanks to May continuously talking to me. When I stopped answering her, to listen to her friends, she wouldn’t let me. She immediately started calling my name to get my attention, she even clapped her hands. She was smart.
So after what had happened back then, I understood something not so obvious at the start. I came to the conclusion that May and her friends would stall their time before they struck. You will get why later. It was 5 AM and usually, my friends and I take the train to get home. We told them that and they seemed okay with coming with us to the station. The first train was at 5 and we were there at 4:30. We waited and waited, all together, we talked to each other every once in a while and everything was cool. Annie and Mark said they were going to fetch something they forgot and Jayce and Liz stayed with me. It didn’t take long before it happened. The noise. The running. My heart racing. Everything was suddenly black. I clearly remember fainting but I was so confused because it happened so quickly. Why? I could not think of any reason why it had to happen.
I woke up, still seeing black, felt something on my eyes and head, like something wrapped around my head. “Probably clothing covering my eyes,” I thought. I was right. My hands and feet tied up. It was as if I was about to be executed. And then came the screams. A lot of screams. Anything from “HELP” to “YOU’RE FUCKING INSANE!”. I was petrified. Well, not that I was able to move anyway. I was able to briefly make out those screams. They sounded like Jayce and Greg. The next sound was the one that activated my fight or flight mode or… fright in that case. It was a loud horn from the train. That meant two things: 1) I…or we were still at the station and 2) something fucked up was going down. My mouth was open so I shouted “WHAT’S GOING ON” and “MAY?”, hoping she would answer. She didn’t right away. But the others did. “SHE’S TRYING TO KILL US” and another “HELP” this time coming from Liza. I then heard “shut up” from a male and I knew that was definitely Mark.
However scared I was, I knew I had to do something. I moved and crawled like a snake trying to find anything useful in my environment. Something pinched me and I knew it was something sharp. It was then that I heard May for the first time muttering something not quite understandable. She was going really fast and I was scared for my life. I managed to touch that thing and cut the ropes in my hands, breaking free, removing the blindfold, and what I saw made my heart skip a beat. It was Annie and Mark above a laid down and tied Liza, Jayce, and Greg on the train tracks. I couldn’t believe it. It was not happening. I genuinely thought my friends were gonna die. A bit further was May up on a car making that muttering-whispering sound as she was reading a book. Now, you make your own conclusions.
I hurried and went straight to my friends as I heard another train horn. I quickly managed to get Greg out with that sharp object but then Mark hit my head. And it hurt so bad. It was probably the same object that they used to knock me out earlier. I backed out screaming in pain. Knowing that one of my friends was out of this nightmare gave me the strength to keep fighting. I rest there for about 1 minute not doing anything. I briefly saw Greg fighting with Annie and Mark but I couldn’t see more. My vision was impaired. I check my watch and I remember to this day, that it was 4:58. We had two minutes for the train.
I gather all of what’s left of me and slowly walk to May and climb to the car roof. With tears in my eyes, I screamed “WHY?” “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?” She acknowledged me but continued reading the book. Without anything else to do, I pushed her down, she fell and gave me a look. Not just an angry look. A look full of rage and vengeance, as if I had just killed her whole family. She charges at me shouting “I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS” “I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HELP ME!” She was a deranged psycho. We fought and fought but I was so exhausted, that I couldn’t anymore. I couldn’t win. I blacked out again and the last things I heard were May whispering again, and Mark saying something among the lines of “fucking get them” or something like that.
I then woke up in a hospital. My head hurt like hell. My friends were there. They were okay. No injuries. I was with all 3 of them. I had the biggest relief in my life. Seeing all 3 of them like that. I couldn’t be more happy. Tears began falling down my eyes again. We just sat there and had the longest conversation in our lives, regarding what just happened. I remember checking my watch again, it was noon. It was tomorrow. We had made it.
I, to this day, do not have the slightest idea of what those strangers’ intentions were that night. Were they trying to kill us? Definitely. Were they trying to sacrifice us? Maybe. We of course contacted the police and they investigated the whole place the other day. They found blood, but only blood. No traces of anyone else being there that night except my friends and me. The object that I used to untie myself turned out to be a broken piece of glass and the one Mark hit me with was a large broken pipe. We explained everything, but I’m not sure either the police or our parents really believed us. They just acted like they did. But I’m sure they were glad we were safe. This experience was crazy and of course, it took me a long while to heal, but I learned things. I learned not all people are friendly and not all people want good for you.