Real Encounters

*I was almost kidnapped*

So I just recently bumped in with my 5th grade teacher (Ms. S) Well she wasn't really a "teacher". But she reminded me of an incident that happened when I was her student. It gave me chills when she told me.

Back in elementary school from 3-5th grade I used to stay in Think Together which was basically an after school program that helped kids with their homework and had fun activities. The program was from 3-6pm and if you were old enough (5-6th) you could walk home by yourself, but of course with your parents permission. So since I lived five minutes away I had permission to walk home.

Just to give a quick picture of my school. There were two ways to exit school the front and the back. The front was always the most populated, packed with cars and it was the way everyone went. Only a couple students like me, used the back of the school. The back was always lonely, and to add to the creepiness it was next to a fenced water ditch. I didn't think it was that creepy because the playground was there to and sometimes I would leave a bit early to climb the monkey bars or play in the swings.

As she told me this the memory of the day started coming back and now I remember that day clearly. Though I don't remember the exact day. But I remember that I signed myself out, headed to the playground, played on the swings for a while; then I went up the hill when I saw Ms. S coming down. She grabbed my arm and told me we had to go back. I didn't understand why but I listened to her anyways. She took me back and called the cops.

To be honest I was more worried that my mom would get mad at me for not coming home before the sun went down. So it turned out that there was a man in the parking lot behind my school (we shared our school with a catholic preschool of some sort) and he had his car parked near the walkway I walked and in the bushes was a big metal baseball bat.

When my mom finally came she grabbed me and started crying. I didn't understand why at the time but I was naive and I'm sure my mom knew that I would've trusted this stranger. I was aware of "stranger danger" but my niceness would've won over. Now I understood why I wasn't allowed to walk home after this. I never asked questions and I feel stupid for that. I never heard of this incident again until today. Ms. S told me that she was patrolling the area before I signed out and saw a strange man walking back forth looking inside the school. She decided to check it out and as she got closer she saw a shiny reflection. Then she approached a bush and saw a long metal baseball bat. She looked around and saw a black car with a man sitting inside just staring at her. That's when she saw me coming.

Just thinking back to this moment gives me chills. I mean what would've happened if Ms. S hadn't patrolled the area that day? Would I still be writing this story today? Probably not. So thank you Ms. S for saving my life that day.

Credits: Reddit, Bookwormfreak