Let's Not Meet Again

The Midnight Stalker

I grew up in a military household which mean't that my family was always moving around. Some might find it interesting because you get to see new places and meet new people. I on the other hand despised it.

In the year 2013 I was a sophomore in high school in southern California. I had recently moved to a city called Menifee which is mainly a suburb for the working folk of Riverside County. This had been the first time my parents were finally able to buy a house of their own instead of living on military bases or renting a home. Being the new kid, especially in high school, I would've thought it'd be harder to make new friends but I did within the first week. Their names were Bradly, Jacob, and Austin; Bradly still being a very close buddy to this day.

They were the main group of friends that I preferred to hang out with when not in school and I did very frequently. Anyways there's this one particular day that sticks out from the rest.

I remember it being a Friday in that year's fall season. My trio of friends all happened to live on a cul-de-sac which was over a mile away from where I lived. Since my neighborhood consisted of mainly elderly people I usually spent most of my time over at theirs. Frankly I don't remember what we actually did that day. All I do remember was since it was a Friday, my mom allowed me to stay out later.

When the time reached around midnight my mom texted me and told me to come home as she and my dad were going to sleep. I would've asked my friends if their parents could give me a ride home but on second thought they'd probably be also heading off to bed and I didn't wanna bug by asking if I could sleep over. So I gave my friends a farewell and headed home.

I honestly didn't mind walking. The air was nice and cool and I always loved the night sky. Between mine and my friend's homes there was an elementary school with a wide, green, flat park right next to it. The park at the time had no lights surrounding it and was totally pitch black except on its corners where there were lampposts.

As I was about to pass the park I noticed a man sitting on a bench near one of the park's corners about 100 feet away. When I got closer and was about to pass him up I gave a quick glance towards him. I couldn't see his face because his head was facing down but could decipher that he was a bald Caucasian man wearing a black hoodie and shorts. Besides that I didn't really pay much mind to him and continued on my way.

I kept moving forward, occasionally glancing at my phone for no particular reason. Maybe to just past the time. As I neared a lamppost I noticed when glancing down that a second shadow had been cast alongside mine. Somebody was behind me, maybe the guy from earlier. I quickened my pace while trying not to make it too obvious to get some distance between myself and whoever was behind me.

Now some people probably wouldn't mind or care if they had to share the sidewalk with a stranger but since it was late at night and because I'm a pretty skinny dude, I didn't want to risk being mugged. Eventually I decided to cross the street. I looked both ways for cars but obviously it was to see who was behind me and sure enough it was the same man. It was a little brighter due to there being more streetlights and I was able to get another look at him. He was built and over 6 feet.

After I crossed, I continued down my same route but shortly after I noticed that the guy had also crossed the street and was once again right behind me. Okay now I was starting to really freak out as my heart began to beat faster. Up ahead the street which turned off the road and into my neighborhood was within sight. At first I felt relieved but then realized that I didn't want the guy to follow me home and know where I lived.

Instead of turning into my street I continued walking forward until I approached another street coming off the main road. I quickly sped up and turned into the street and once I knew I was a little out of sight I began to jog away quickly but quieting my footsteps. When I was like 100 yards away from the mouth of the street I twisted my head around to clarify if the man had continued following me.

He was...and not just following. He was full on sprinting. There was no way I could take him on in a fight or know if he was armed. At that moment I decided fuck it and also began to sprint away. I didn't even know where I was at that point or which new street I'd be running into, all that mattered was getting away. After running for a while I ended up thinking of the idea to run to the side of a house that had two trash bins next to it and laying on my stomach behind them. I was flat on my belly and was facing the street. Luckily for me I had been wearing a black jacket so I was hoping to be able to blend into the darkness around me. I laid there for like a minute when the guy happened to stop running on the sidewalk near where I was laying. He stood there and scanned the area around him really fast. My heart stopped when he faced my general direction. When he couldn't see me he cursed under his breath and continued running in the direction he had been previously heading. I waited there for like 5 minutes so I could be sure that he was long gone.

Afterwards I bolted straight home but it still took half an hour to get there because I was unfamiliar with these neighborhoods. My biggest fear was bumping into that man again. I never told my parents about that experience since we had finally settled in and I had already made my own group of friends and didn't wanna risk moving again. My only precaution was to never walk home alone at that time again.

The event itself slowly faded from my mind until recently when I came across stories similar to mine on online forums and internet posts. I never found out who that guy was but in the years following I discovered that in the early 2000's the local high school had a neo nazi problem but had since been rooted out.

I'm not positive that's why he ran after me or if he was just trying to get money out of me but it does seem possible that a white supremacist wouldn't mind roughing up a small Latino in the middle of the night with no one else around. So to the midnight stalker, lets not meet again.