Fear

Very rarely do I get scared, but today... I'm frightened...

I went to pick a friend up... getting onto the freeway, I did my usual... zipping past cars on the on-ramp in a different lane... Passing cars until I had to merge... Then proceeded to merge. *shrug*. Nothing unusual, the space I merged into had plenty of space.

The car behind me pulled along-side my car, honked, and gave me the finger. *sigh* guess someone's not too happy to have me merge quickly in front of them. *grimace* Guess it's not very nice of me to scare someone??? But I didn't break any laws either... Ah well, I'll take it as my fault... Scaring other people isn't nice and some people do get scared when a car unexpectedly shows up.

I'm getting tired of being pinned in the right lane, so I speed up and cruise my way over to the left lane... Slowly, I watch this guy(same one who gave me the finger) take his time and pull up behind me... Is he following me? Or is he just going the same direction? I'm not sure... There's plenty of space behind me so I don't feel crowded... But when I slide over to exit, he's back there too!

Okay... Am I just being paranoid or is he actually taking the time to follow me? I can't tell... Each time I pull ahead, he catches up at a red light. He's not speeding, not zipping between cars to catch up, not tailing me... He's just always there each time I look back! His face and his driving style look calm, controlled, not rushed. Maybe I'm just imagining things? Well, I'm definitely not taking a stranger to my home!

From the left lane, across another lane, I make a very quick right turn, tires lightly screeching, he follows. Still calm, faster... But still not rushed feeling... I speed up.

Unfortuneately, I'm now in a residential area I don't know well... This area has kids playing on the sidewalk, dead end streets, stop-signs... I don't want to drive too fast that I can't stop if a kids runs into the street... And with each turn and stop-sign, the SUV catches up... He definitely following me! I drive almost in a loop when there were shorter paths and he's still there like a quiet stalker hunting his prey... Hunting me!

I'm so scared!

I blubber a quick prayer to Jesus: "help me loose this guy following me! Help me drive fast and safely through residential streets and avoid red lights and stop signs! Help me get home without him finding out where I live!"

I step on the gas... use my turbo to fling my car forward on the straights, screech my tires louder and louder around turns... And watch the SUV fall further and further behind until I take a couple last turns with my car sliding sideways... Look back... And no longer see him.

I drive home fearing he may pop out and find me again... Or maybe he's tailing me so far back I don't see him? I arrive home shaking... I've seen people with road rage, I've seen aggressive angry driving... But I've never seen this cold, controlled, methodical stalking before. That's what scared me the most.

Looking back, I should have stayed on the main roads and had my friend call the cops. Hindsight's great right? But at the time, I just felt this gnawing fear to run, to hide, to escape...

I'm home, but I still don't feel safe.