I was walking to university in the morning and stopped to cross a road. I always walk with my ipod in to help pass the time, but when I cross a road I take my headphones out to hear the cars. I looked both ways and accidentally made eye contact with a man next to me. He took this as an invitation to start talking to me. He was far older than me, and whilst it may seem quick to make such a judgement, he just seemed ‘creepy’. He told me his name and asked mine, he told me I was very pretty, and tried to ask more about my life, what I study, etc. I smiled at the compliment and gave 1 word answers to his questions (without revealing too much personal information about myself), but I was clearly showing that I did not want to talk to him and wanted to get on with my walk by myself. The traffic lights then finally changed to red, making the cars stop, and allowing us to cross the road. I said goodbye to this stranger, he said bye and said it was nice talking to me. I thought this was the end and hurriedly continued my walk with my headphones back in, not thinking any more of it.
However, half an hour later when I was walking up my steps into my university building, someone called for me to ‘slow down’. I turned around and to my horror, this stranger from the road crossing was right behind me! He thrust a small piece of paper into my hand, told me to call him, and then left. The paper contained his email address and phone number.
He had followed me for half an hour and I’d had no idea. He must have been stealthy, always keeping the right distance behind me, whilst not losing me.
I was scared. He now knew exactly where I studied, he knew where to find me if he wanted to again. If he’d followed me then without me noticing, how many other times could I have been followed without knowing?
I was also annoyed, angry. What made him think he had the right to intrude into my life? Because I was polite and smiled at him rather than telling him to fuck off? Do we really need to be that rude to every stranger we pass in the street just to prove that we do not in fact want to talk/date/fuck them?
I know in this story I do not mention the man doing anything that seems aggressive or violent. But I am a young vulnerable girl, he was at least twice my age and a lot bigger than me, and he chose to spend half an hour of his morning silently following me.
– Anonymous
Location: London, UK
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