I never expected to find myself in this situation. A broke university student with bills piling up and no idea how to make ends meet. So when I saw the Tinder profile of a man offering $700 a week with no sexual expectations, I was skeptical, to say the least. But I was desperate enough to take a chance, so I swiped right.
It was a match, and he messaged me immediately. His name was Tom, and he claimed to be in his mid-40s, although he looked younger in his profile picture. He said he owned his own business but never specified what kind of business it was.
After a brief conversation, he asked for my Venmo to send me the first payment. I was shocked when I saw the notification of $700 in my account. It was more than I made in a month working part-time at the local coffee shop.
But then came the catch. He needed me to do some favors for him. Nothing sexual, he assured me, but still, I was skeptical. He gave me an address and asked me to pick up a package and drop it off at his house. It seemed like an innocent enough request, so I agreed.
But when I arrived at the house, it was run-down and looked abandoned. A man greeted me at the door, and I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He handed me a stained and damp cardboard box, and I quickly placed it in the trunk of my car.
As I was driving to Tom’s house, I noticed that a car was following me. I tried to shake it off, but the car kept tailing me. When I finally arrived at Tom’s house, I saw the car pull into the driveway behind me. The driver got out, and I could see that he was holding something in his hand.
Tom opened the door, and I quickly ran inside. I tried to explain what had happened, but Tom seemed unconcerned. He just told me to leave the package on the table and leave.
As I was walking back to my car, I noticed that the driver of the other car was still standing in the driveway. I tried to avoid him and quickly got in my car, but as I was driving away, I heard a loud noise. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw that the man had thrown something at my car.
I managed to escape and drove straight to the police station. They took my statement, but there wasn’t much they could do. I thought it was all over, but then things started to get really weird.
I started getting strange phone calls at all hours of the night. At first, there was just heavy breathing on the other end of the line, but then the caller started leaving creepy messages. They knew where I lived and what I looked like, and they made it clear that they were watching me.
I tried to ignore it and went about my daily routine as usual, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being followed. Everywhere I went, I felt like someone was watching me. And then things got even worse.
One night, as I was walking home from my part-time job, I saw someone standing in the shadows. I tried to run, but they were faster than me. They caught up to me and grabbed me from behind. I struggled and screamed, but it was no use. They threw me into a car and drove off.
I was blindfolded and tied up, and I had no idea where they were taking me. I was terrified and didn’t know what was going to happen to me. When they finally stopped, I was dragged out of the car and thrown into a room.
I could hear voices whispering in the darkness, but I couldn’t see anything. And then the lights came on