I'm a 28-year-old woman with a son, and this event happened to me back in 2007, when I was 17. I haven't had many terrifying experiences, but this one has always stayed with me.
My usual transport to school was a van service, but its route was long which meant that I had to do a lot of waiting every morning by the stop.
On one morning, I sat by the curb; the van was late. I didn't need to have a perfect attendance so going to school wasn't mandatory, but I'd promised my friend a novel to read and didn't like the idea of letting her down, and remained waiting for the van.
Ten more minutes went by and I started thinking maybe the driver had just forgotten about me. Before I could consider going back home, my eye caught someone sitting by the end of the pavement.
It was winter, and mornings were dark, so I couldn't make out what they looked like. I didn't like the idea of a random person looking in my direction.
I told myself I was just being paranoid because the chances were this person was also waiting for their conveyance and didn't know where to look because it was just the two of us there.
However, once I'd gotten up midway through deciding to go back home, I noticed this person stirring; they were reacting to my leaving.
I sat back down, my insides churning with the presence of the newly erupting fear. It was at this point I saw it was a boy. He was around my age; tall, extremely thin, with frizzled hair that looked as if it hadn't been brushed in ages but that he'd attempted to run a comb in them very recently.
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The thing that troubled me most were his eyes – they were in slits; studying the frame of my body as if intimately familiar with its rhythm.
My urge was to run back home, but I remembered only my mother was there, and should this boy follow me back, he'd know where I lived.
I got up and started following the road toward my school; It was about a ten-minute walk till I could get there.
I didn't want to look behind to see if he was following me, but I got the eerie sense at the back of my head that he was. I slowly turned behind to find the street empty.
Sighing in relief, I began continuing my way when I realized I could hear footsteps again. This time, I didn't turn back and took a couple steps forward instead.
My hunch was right, someone was walking in tandem with my footsteps, hoping my steps would cover the sound of theirs.
I swung around quickly to see behind me: I saw the unmistakable figure of a person retreating into an alley to the side.
I froze again. I was definitely being followed.
My cell phone blared, causing me to jump in fright. I could feel the relief flooding my face; I'd forgotten about my phone.
