Today, I went for my afternoon walk in the neighborhood as usual. My eyes for a second met the eyes of a young man wearing headphones who was sitting on the stoop. I immediately thought “I hope he doesn’t think I’m interested because I glanced at him.” He stared at me hard and then jumped up from the stoop and started walking in front of me. I slowed down to put distance between us.

He turned around to face me and started walking towards me. He was acting a little off, moving erratically and pointing at me. I crossed the street instantly, he followed me, this time less than a foot behind my body. & now I was scared. He punched a sign we walked by making a large bang. He was saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear anything, just fear ringing in my ears because the streets were empty and no one was around. I was thinking about running but could I outrun him, was looking for another person walking, or an open store – but only houses.

I finally got to an open corner store a couple blocks from my house and darted inside. He did too. Then I told him to fuck off and stop following me. He slammed the iron gate in a way that shook me. I rushed in — feeling the urgency to be around another person, but the store was empty. I saw the shop owner at the back and rushed towards her, but kept my 6ft. Exchanging a look between women that we all know too well.

She had seen the man follow me in and asked if I was okay. I burst into tears. She asked where I lived, locked up her store and walked me home. I wish I could’ve hugged her in that moment.

As a woman who has lived in big cities for most of my life, I’m used to street harassment. Street harassment during this pandemic is a whole ‘nother thing — there’s the extra fear of someone getting close to you, more fear when there aren’t witnesses, more fear when you can’t rush into an open store for help because most of the stores are closed.

But today, all I’m grateful for is Nani, a shop owner in my neighborhood who was ready to protect me and showed me the kindness I needed to rule out the fear. Stay safe, ladies. XO

Location: Washington, DC