Real Encounters

*Once I was followed home and I didn't even realize it*

A few summers ago, right before I left to study abroad in Ireland, I was spending all my time with my best friend Jon. We'd hang out till you could just see the faintest dark purple color the sky goes when it's almost dawn. We sat on his porch in his busted-up lawn chairs smoking just enough pot to not feel stupid talking about ancient alien theory, books we wanted to write, stupid stoner philosophy and so on.

I still lived at home, so I'd have to drive to the other side of town after leaving his place. I always stayed long enough to sober up completely but it was still a dark, quiet drive home. It was hard to stay awake some nights and I saw all sorts of animals, a coyote crossing a (usually) busy intersection once, another time a raccoon.

One night I left his place much later than usual. He encouraged me to stay and sleep on his couch until morning but I'm a girl and even though he offered it felt disrespectful to my parents to leave them hanging. I should note, my dad is a fireman and he works 24 hours on, 48 off and this particular night he was at work, so only my mom was home.

The drive started off pretty normal. I drove through campus, where I went to school and then made my way down a semi-highway in the almost pitch black. There were no other cars on the road and slightly paranoid of cars behind me, I checked my rearview pretty frequently. All the way home I didn't see anyone behind me. As I turned into my neighborhood I noticed a car behind me. They had their lights on and I didn't think anything of it. I guess it didn't seem weird to me for another car to be pulling into my neighborhood after 4 AM. I drove down my actual road slowly because I have cats and worry about them being hit by cars. Eventually, I rounded the curve and pulled into my driveway—as I did so, so did they.

Just then, and I swear—I don't believe in god, but it almost was a miracle, my front door swings open and my yard (which had been completely black) is lit by the front porch. I turn just in time to see the car (headlights off) pull out of my driveway, coast down to my neighbors where they turn around and drive off. I remember watching the car drive off, feeling a weird sinking sensation in my stomach. It was fear but a weird sort of fear, like being afraid of something you've never even noticed before. The car was an old hatchback and I'd never seen it before or since.

I don't know when they started following me or for how long. It could have been the whole time, them in the dark on that long highway coasting behind me, waiting for me to get home. They must have known only one person was in the car.

It's my mom waiting for me. She woke up and realized I wasn't there and became worried. She waited at the door for me to come home and when she saw that other car behind me, she turned on the lights, which scared them off. Sometimes I think about it, when I'm driving alone at night—what would have happened if my mom hadn't been there, hadn't woken up. I really don't even want to think it. I can just imagine: my parents waking up the next day, my car in the driveway but I'm nowhere to be seen, no sign of a struggle, nothing—and no one ever hears from me again.

Credits: Reddits, rgoldaline