yessleep

I’m a 20 year old college drop out and I still live with my parents. After I dropped out, I started working at this place near home. I don’t have my license so I don’t have a car.

My parents and I didn’t have the best, most ideal relationship and considering I dropped out after this last semester, it’s safe to say it isn’t any better. Luckily, the job I have isn’t too far but isn’t necessarily close either. It’s about a 30-40 minute walk, depending on which route I’d take. I stuck with the shorter one for obvious reasons.

Asking my parents for rides to work just seems a little awkward in my eyes and chances are they won’t do it anyways. They have jobs of their own, my fathers usually gone for the majority of the day, working 6 days a week and my mother works from home, in meetings all the time. She tends to snap at me when I come to talk to her while she’s in these meetings so I’ve learned my lesson. Not to mention their little golden child they prefer to take care of and look after and give the world. My 16 year old sister, honor student, athlete, already has several scholarships waiting for her and colleges accepting her left and right. I’m not surprised they care about her more than me. I’m almost 21 anyways.

A little more insight on my parents schedule, my father works Monday - Saturday. He leaves around 5 am and doesn’t return until about 9 pm so I rarely see him. My mother works from 8 am to 4 pm and usually spends the rest of her day cleaning, cooking, and spending time with my sister.

And then there’s me, working from 7 am to 7 pm every single day as a waitress at a local restaurant. I live off tips and work everyday in hopes I can take my drivers test, buy a car, get a better job and move the hell out.

I’ve been working at this restaurant for a little over a month now and have been saving up ever since. My main issues aside from making very little at work is how I will ever get to my DMV to take my test. But I choose not to worry about that right now. I always feel bad for asking people for help because I don’t want to be an inconvenience.

When I first started walking to work I’ve always been alone considering how early I have to wake up. I would usually be out of the house by 6:15 to try and make it to work early or leave time for any inconveniences that come my way. I did that everyday for the first month of working. But after that, I started noticing there would always be the same person way ahead of me.

It never really scared me or anything but I always found it pretty unusual that someone would be up and out around this time (aside from myself). I started coming up with possibilities on why I would see this person. Maybe they started a new job and also walk to work. Maybe an early morning walk? Who knows, it’s none of my business.

A few days later after this stranger caught my eye, they seemed to be closer in distance to me. Like they aren’t as far ahead as they were a few days prior. Am I walking too fast? Are they walking a little slower? Have they left their home a little later? It wasn’t too out of the ordinary but I find myself pretty antisocial. I’m not the biggest fan of being close to people or partaking in small talk… especially not when I’m alone at 6 o’clock in the morning so I prefer to keep as much distance between us as possible to avoid potentially walking side by side or anything.

Since I’ve been closer to this stranger I realize that their route is very similar to mine. They take all the same turns as me which is strange because I swear I’ve never seen them in the same area as the place I work. I assumed I’ve just never paid much attention. They are still too far to make out any distinct features.

More days go by and it seems like they went from being 500 ft in front of me to being about 100 ft (if I had to guess). They’re close enough to make out clothing and such.

The figure is very very tall, I’d say no shorter than 6’5 or something. They always wore all black. Black, rundown, long-sleeve shirt. Very dingy black pants that appear to be way too big for him, even at his height. Huge black boots that looked like they were falling apart.

All in all, the man basically looked homeless, like he hadn’t showered in months. I even noticed a slight limp and he looked severely underweight. But I still can never tell where he’s headed or where he’s coming from. He’s just always on the same path as me.

Thoughts would constantly rush through my head about why he seems to walk with me everyday. It was like he was following me but… in front of me? I don’t know, it didn’t make much sense to me.
What started to really freak me out was the pattern at which he walked, however. It was so similar to mine if that makes sense. When I slowed down, he slowed down. When I stopped he stopped. When I sped up he sped up. I blamed the darkness of the early morning for possibly messing with my eyes and thought I was just thinking too much. I hate to admit it but I was scared, not at the fact that there was a homeless man walking the same trail I was everyday, but the fact he moved the way I did. Or at least that’s what it looked like.

On my walk back from work I scout my surroundings to make sure I’m not being followed or in any potential danger. Not once have I ever encountered that man walking behind me so that was a good sign. My family and I live in a pretty small town so that puts me at ease on my dark walks home.

Over dinner with my mother and sister, I brought up the fact that there was this strange man walking my usual route to work. “There’s this man that I see every day when I walk to work. It’s pretty weird but he’s usually very far away from me.”

My mother paused for a second then responded, “Have you spoken to him?” She asked.

“No, I haven’t. He’s too far away. If I want to speak to him I’d practically be yelling.” I said.

“Well go up to him and hello! Maybe he’s nice and needs a walking buddy.” My sister said. She’s so naive and young.

“No!” My mom said back, quickly. Her body seemed to have reacted as well, almost as if she were in a panicked state. She cleared her throat and continued. “Um… just….. What does he look like? Have you gotten close enough to see his clothes?” she asked.

“Um… yeah, I have.” I said hesitantly. “He wears all black. Super tall. Long and very dirty silver hair I think. Can’t see much of it though.”

My mom paused for a minute or two, felt like hours though. She looked like she was thinking. “Please, Reagan, whatever you do, don’t speak to him… if he ever gets close”.

My heart sank. What the hell did that mean? Does she know?! How? I couldn’t get a word out for some reason. She just got up and threw the rest of her food away without even getting halfway through her plate and went upstairs.

“What was that about?” my sister asked. And I didn’t have an answer for her.

It was the next day and I was about to leave for work. I barely got any sleep because I was thinking so much about my mothers reaction to what I told her last night. What does that reaction mean? Has she been aware of this strange man this whole time? I think it stressed me out more because she still expects me to walk to and from work everyday. This is actually pretty terrifying.

As I get ready for work, I keep my mothers advice in mind.

Don’t speak to him.

That one sentence was running through my head like crazy.

I decided to take the long way to work to avoid a possible encounter so that mean leaving earlier.

I opened the front door and my heart sank into the ground. I stood, paralyzed with fear as I saw the man down our porch, slightly off to the left side on the sidewalk, facing the left. He was just standing there, not moving, as still as…. I was.

I stood in the door frame for what felt like an eternity, waiting on the strange man in black to move but he never did. Not until I took that first step out of the house. When I lifted my right foot up, he lifted his. He mimicked my next few steps after I slowly made my way down the steps.

Once I made it down I paused again, so did he. I couldn’t fathom what I was experiencing. My heart was racing, 200 beats per minute. I was probably no more than 15 ft behind this dirty old homeless man. I was close enough to smell him and he reeked. I couldn’t even describe the smell but it basically burned my nostrils. I moved my hand up to cover my nose and his hand goes up with mine. I think I’ve accepted the fact that he mimics every single one of my movements.

He continued to face forward, never turning to look at me so I had no idea what this man’s face looked like.

I didn’t realize how much time had gone by as it was almost 6:30. There wasn’t much time for me to take the long way but what use would it be if he was here in front of me.

I started on my journey a lot slower than I would like. I considered going back in the house to steal my mother’s keys and drive myself but would that mean he could follow me inside my house? I wasn’t going to take that chance.

5 minutes into the walk it had been apparent that the man was harmless for the most part. he never turned around or even spoke. There were a few cases where he twitched violently causing me (or us, rather) to stop abruptly. Aside from that, it was just a dirty old man walking to the same destination as myself presumably. Being behind him I could really get a gist at how tall this guy is. Probably way taller than 6’5, maybe pushing 7 ft

I made it to the restaurant. I walked toward the door but it seemed like he walked way past it. I turn to go through the door and he turns and faces the brick wall to the left of me and just stands there. I continue to move forward slowly but the man hadn’t moved, assuming he couldn’t keep walking because of the barrier. I took this as an opportunity to tell my boss about the man following me since it became very clear he was.

I ran to the back in a panic and rushed my boss to the door in hopes he would do something about the strange man in black.

“He’s outside to the right! He’s been following me for days now!” I said frantically.

My boss stepped outside and looked right. Then looked left. One more look right and he walked back in, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t see any old man in black.”

Is he serious? You can’t miss him, nor his smell. I rushed out the door and looked both directions, he was right. The man wasn’t in sight. And I couldn’t smell that odor at all, like he had never been there. No, there was no way I imagined it.

“You have to believe. I’ve seen him for days, weeks even. I was just behind him my entire walk here he has to-“ I was cut off by my boss.

“You told me he was following you. Now you mean to tell me you were behind him? Reagan, your story isn’t making any sense. We’re opening soon, please hurry up and clock in and get to work. I’m not in the mood for your games today.” He walked off back to his original location.

I couldn’t believe he didn’t take me seriously. What was there to lie about? I know what I saw, I know I’m not a liar. I couldn’t have imagined any of that… right?

I sighed. Before I walked back to clock in, I turned to the door one last time. I screamed at the top of my lungs to see the man standing in front of our glass door. He appeared to be slouched down because of his height to get a view inside. His hands were cuffed around the glass but his head was turned… like mine was. His body faced the glass and his hands were positioned as if he was peering through but turned when I did.

My boss ran out of the room one last time, yelling at me, “What the hell is wrong with you, Reagan?! What’s with all this screaming?!”

“The door! He’s at the door-“ I turned back to the glass, and to my surprise, the man left. Am I going crazy? Did I just imagine all that?

“Are you out of your mind?! There’s nobody at that door!!” he snapped.

“B-but… Mr. Q I-I promise you, I’m not making this up, I saw him I really did I-“ I stuttered over my words before he spoke up.

“Is this supposed to be some game or something? Some joke, because I don’t find it funny! You’ve got one more time or you’re being sent home for the day, I don’t have time for this! Get to work, NOW!” He stormed off one last time.

I stood in the middle of the restaurant for a minute and turned back to the door. He wasn’t there.

I have a million thoughts racing in my head, but I can’t think about my tasks or duties for the life of me.

About 3 hours ago go by and after a few spilled drinks, several dropped plates, and many messed up orders, my boss took the initiative to send me home for the day. I was supposedly “letting my imagination get the best of me” and “needed to rest for the day”, but I know what I saw… no one was going to make me seem crazy.

Before I left, I asked if he or one of my other coworkers could at least watch me walk away to lessen the chances of this strange man in black following me, since he doesn’t seem to appear when there’s other eyes on him. He said he couldn’t go himself but he would send one of the cooks who was getting off to watch me walk before he went on his way.

His name was Rodney. Rodney was a quiet guy, looked to be around my age. It was an awkward silence between the two of us so I decided to break by telling him the story about the strange man in black.

Before I could finish my story, Rodney seemed to panicked. “Wait… you said he’s really tall and wears black?” He asked

“Y-yeah,” I responded hesitantly, “why, what’s wrong?”

“Does he smell like a mix of road-kill and sewage almost?” he asked. He was incredibly spot on.

I froze and stopped walking, so did he. I looked around to make sure I was still safe.

“Dude.. you shouldn’t have told me that…” Rodney’s face goes red and he looked very scared, looking around like he was running from something.

“W-why not… why can’t I tell you?”

“It…. he…” He stuttered over his words, and at this point he looks completely freaked out.

“Rodney, you’re scaring me, why shouldn’t I tell you that? What’s gonna happen.” Now he’s got both of us freaked out. I’m shaking while I wait for him to respond.

“He gets a little angry when you talk about him. Just a little more aggressive, kind of.” He said.

“What the hell do you mean ‘aggressive’?!”

He paused, “How many people have you talked to about him?”

“My mom, my sister, Mr. Q, and you…”

“Holy shit… okay uh..” He said, “did you bring up his smell to anyone?”

“N-no, not his smell. I only just started smelling him today.” I mention.

He sighed a sigh of relief, “okay… okay that may be okay. That means he’s close to you but he won’t be too aggressive just…..” he paused again.

“Just what?”

There was a small silence between us for a few seconds.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I can’t walk with you anymore. I will watch you go from here but you’re gonna have to walk the rest of the way yourself. He won’t show up if I’m watching you so you should be fine for the most part. How long is your walk?” He asked me.

“About 30 minutes…”

“Oh man, you’re fucked. I mean-! You’re not, I think you’ll be fine just…. whatever you do, don’t speak to him. And don’t look at him.”

My heart was through the ground at this point, beating out my chest. This is now the second person to tell me not to speak to whoever this strange man in black is.

I didn’t speak to him again, I just started to slowly walk away. “Good luck..” he said faintly as I put distance between us.

I looked back at him every 8 seconds, he was always still there. He really was going to watch me walk away. Unfortunately, I was coming up to a street where I’d have to take a left.

I crossed the street and turned left, my head still looking left and back across the street where Rodney slowly started to disappear around the corner, giving me one last wave.

I didn’t want to face forward, it was like my face was stuck looking to my left.

I felt a slow breeze brushing through my hair which I found strange considering there wasn’t a breeze anywhere else.

I turned my head forward and what I saw made my heart rush so fast I couldn’t even tell it was beating anymore.

To my right, was a long, wrinkled, dirty face only a few centimeters away from my right cheeks. From the very corner of my eye I can see that the strange man in black was walking right beside me, not making a single sound with his steps. Body facing me, torso slouched down to be at the same height as me. He was walking sideways in a way, still keeping up with my steps, never missing a beat. His smell filled my nose and I was so close to gagging and throwing up.

I felt his breath on my face and it sent chills down my spine every 2 seconds. My head and heart was racing. I almost passed out. My body felt heavy and lifeless but was on auto-pilot. Just walking even though I felt I couldn’t control my limbs. Those two rules were rushing through my brain at the speed of light.