I first noticed this individual a couple of weeks back. He stuck out to me because his head of blond curls hung in a way that kept his face out of view, his right arm rigidly stuck in his short’s pocket, seemingly gripping something, and his agitated demeanor was discomforting, to say the least. It’s not like he did anything to me then, I’m not even sure if he saw me.
The grocery store is very close to my house and right by a high school, which made my first thought, “He could be an antisocial teenager…”, I was one myself and recall my hoodie don’t-talk-to-me days, who am I kidding I still have those days. However, I remember feeling something was off and that the guess I made might be incorrect. I felt fear wash over me when I passed him and thought it was silly to have such a strong reaction to someone whom I didn’t know, so I shook it off and moved on.
That all leads me to tonight. We needed some groceries and typically, my sister and I walk over to get everything, and we almost did but tonight we decided on driving. I am so very glad we drove. We walked in and at first all was fine, we headed to grab some soup and then made a beeline for the chips isle, which is when I first took notice of his presence. He was by the cold foods just outside the isle, at first it looked like he was walking aimlessly but then I realized he was hovering near our isle.
For reference, my sister and I have had some rather unfortunate experiences at grocery stores, been followed enough times that I lost track, so being hyper aware of our surroundings is ingrained at this point.
I was alert, but not really sure if he was hovering near our isle or not. Then, we walked out and headed towards the dairy section, and as we entered an isle I saw him walk over, he then paced back and forth outside this isle too, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. We couldn’t find what we needed so we switched to the last isle we needed to go down. He passed the isle and I looked over, but still couldn’t see his face. And then I didn’t see him. I felt relief, thought I was just being overly cautious, until we went towards check out and I was face to top of his hoodie with him. Everything was the same as last time, same hoodie, same blond curls, stiff arm shoved into his pocket, and that unsettling demeanor.
As we walked to check out I glared at him, a short look which I don’t know if he saw because I still couldn’t see his face, but I wanted him to know that I saw what he was doing. Then as we were heading to the door, I noticed he was on the other side of the checkout counters keeping pace heading towards the exit as well. At this point, I looked over to my sister and gestured to him with my eyes, she gave me the, “I know and I see him too.” Look and I was glad to know she was aware as well.
We walked out the door and I turned to look back, sure enough his figure was silhouetted in the door frame. I can’t begin to describe the utter terror I felt in that moment, to see his shadowy figure standing there so threateningly, my heart was pounding in my chest, my throat and in my ears. He was watching us, and I still couldn’t make out any details. He then made a dash for his car as we were buckling up, we both quickly made the decision to take the long round about way home and luckily a car made it between us as we exited, we were ready to pull over and park lights off, but then we took a turn and lost him.
I wish I could say I felt fine, but I can’t shake this pit of fear I feel in my stomach, in every bone in my body. What were his intentions? What happens if or when we see him again? What if he followed us there in the first place? What if he can see us in our living room, through the cracks in the vertical blinds? At least tonight we are safe, and we have a big, very protective dog so I can take solace in that.