NOTE To follow the post rules and guidelines, all names have been changed to protect identities. The events in this story are all true and to be quite honest scared the living shit out of me. I may pretend to be tough and brave but I'm quite easily spooked.
...
This is by far the most creepy thing that has happened to me to date. I usually feel fairly safe in my town, but this one incident has certainly awakened me to the fact that no place is perfectly "safe".
It was this New Years eve just gone when my friend called me and asked if I wanted to go to the New Years eve festival at the beach with her and her boyfriend. Being the kind of person who normally just stays at home and does nothing special for this particular holiday, I of course agreed.
Every New Years eve my town holds a festival at the beach in celebration. Rides and games are set up, bands play live music, clubs hold late-night fancy dress parties and at midnight on the dot a series of firework displays are put on for the public. Normally thousands of people turn up, so the beach can get quite loud and crowded but it's still a pleasant atmosphere all around.
Before hanging up my friend Jess asks me if I will pick up her and her boyfriend Tyler on the way to the beach. She also lets me know that one of our other close friends is coming along and that we should go straight to her unit so that we can all walk down to the festival together. I tell Jess "No problem!" and then go to get ready.
In about half an hour I am ready. I do not yet have my license and so I asked my dad if he would pick up my friends and drop us all off. He agreed. It only takes about three minutes to drive to my friend's place, and then a further ten minutes to drive to my other friend's unit.
My other friend Hailey lives in a small two-bedroom unit with her mother, the unit is right next to the beach and it only takes around five minutes to walk down to where the festival takes place. When we arrive she is already outside waiting for us, standing on the balcony and enjoying the sunset. We all file out of the car, making sure to thank my dad for dropping us off, and then head upstairs to greet Hailey. We all hug and begin to catch up as we hadn't seen each other for a couple months (graduation, work and life got in the way).
We all headed inside for about ten minutes to grab a drink and catch up a bit more. Hailey's mother came out and talked to us for a bit as well. At this point the sun had almost well and truly disappeared and so we decided this was the perfect time to head down to the festival.
The walk down to the beach was pleasant. It was a warm summer night, there was a cool breeze to ward off the heat and the whole area smelled of cotton candy, buttered corn and warm doughnuts. We spent the first few hours going on rides together, and then we went and bought some food and sat down on the sand to eat it. So far the night was amazing, as usually whenever I went out with my friends there was always a parent with us. No parents this time, it felt great. Felt like freedom.
After eating we went up to the stage where the live bands were playing and danced for about an hour. There were plenty of classics being played such as 'YMCA', 'Time Warp' and various hits from Grease. All in all it was a really fun time.
After an hour of dancing to music the four of us decided to head back to Hailey's unit for a drink of water, as we had spent all our money. At this point it was well and truly dark, around eleven o'clock, and the heat of the day had subsided to a pleasant warmth. We walked along the path merrily, saying 'Happy New Year!' to every passing group or cop. A few party goers on the fourth floor of an apartment complex shouted 'Hope you have an epic New Year!' drunkenly at us. We laughed and wished them the same.
As we walked further away from the crowds and the noise, the light grew less and less. There aren't many street lights near my friend's unit and we were soon engulfed in a soothing darkness with only the moon to light our way. It was at this point that I for some reason began to feel uneasy. It was too quiet for my tastes.
You know that feeling you get when you're being watched, or at least think you're being watched? That exact feeling washed over me, and I subconsciously moved to walk in between Hailey and Tyler instead of walking on the outside of the group. I shrugged off the feeling after that, attributing it to the fact that perhaps my ears were just used to the loud noises of the festival. They were, after all, ringing a bit.
We ran into another group of people we knew from school along the way, and the feeling was completely forgotten. I had missed these people after graduation and immediately struck up friendly, light-hearted conversation. We parted ways as we made it to Hailey's unit block and climbed the stairs to her unit.
Hailey's mother and the mother's boyfriend greeted us upon our arrival and we all got a drink of water from the refrigerator before relaxing together on the couch. We were all a tad worn out at this point and the fireworks weren't for another hour, so we decided to chill at the unit and head down to the beach at around a quarter to twelve. We all joked around and had a snack, and then Hailey asks if she can sleep over at my place. I ring my folks, check if it's okay with them, and they give me the "okay". My parents love having Hailey over, she's a very well-mannered person and likes to help out where she can.
At a quarter to twelve we all leave the unit and begin heading down to the beach. We only get about a minute down the road before Hailey says that she has forgotten her pain medication for her bad knee which she is supposed to take before bed. At this, Jess seems a little annoyed but reluctantly agrees that we should go back so that we do not have to make another trip back to hers at the end of the night.
We head back and the whole way Jess seems a little distant, like her mind isn't on the conversation at hand and she's focused on something else. I am the most quiet and observant one of the group, so I notice her silence pretty quickly since usually she's a big chatterbox. I ask her if she's alright and she replies with "Of course" and so I simply leave her to her thoughts.
After retrieving Hailey's pain medication we head back out again, this time Jess suggests we walk on the other side of the road where it is more well-lit and there are parents with their children on the playground. We think nothing of it and agree, as both Hailey and I have poor night sight and a bit more light would be rather welcome. When we are half way across the road, Jess mutters to us "Don't look behind us".
My first thought is that maybe there is a drunk with their pants down taking a piss against the wall or something, but then Jess adds "Walk faster". I begin to feel uneasy and immediately obey her request, knowing that whenever Jess seriously tells us to do something it's usually for a good reason. None of us look back, despite that nagging human instinct to look. I trust Jess.
When we are across the road, I ask Jess what is wrong and what has her so on edge. She replies to me "There's three guys in black hoodies following us, I recognise them from earlier".
Earlier? I think to myself, puzzled. And then Jess explains that she saw those same three men (they had to be men, they were tall and bulky) when we came to the unit for water earlier. A chill runs down my spine at this, and I realise that my sense of being watched probably came from those men. What made me even more creeped out was the fact that they had waited all that time for us to come out.
Unable to resist I glance sideways out of my peripheral vision and my heart hammers in my chest when I notice the three men. They are indeed, rather pointedly, following us and they have their hoods zipped up all the way to their chins. This would not be so unusual if not for the fact that it was a hot night (there was no need for a hoodie or any kind of jacket), and they were wearing bandannas over their mouths and noses. I could not make out either of their facial features. This scared me.
Jess prompts us again not to look, and suggests we walk even faster. We do so, despite the fact that Hailey, Tyler and I are all tall and strongly-built people. I should mention now that I am an 18 year old female and despite my build and reasonable strength, I understandably didn't want to tangle with three big, unknown men dressed all in black with bandannas covering their features. It crossed my mind that they probably thought we were good targets; Jess was short and thin, they most likely heard that Hailey needs pain medication, I walked with an obvious limp as I have arthritis in my right knee and Tyler had his hands full, being the "pack mule" as they call it.
Despite Jess's instruction I can't help but give the occasional glance at the three men, and of course they continued to follow us. They had even increased their pace to nearly match ours, and kept looking over at us. I think they meant to intimidate us, as they made it quite obvious that they were staring at us.
I ceased to look after realising that they could probably tell I was keeping an eye on them, and instead opted to use my keen hearing to make sure they stayed across the road. I wasn't fond of this, as they could have had a knife or gun or anything and if they suddenly sprinted at us I wouldn't be prepared, but I didn't want to provoke them by staring. I am not a fast runner, and my stamina leaves much to be desired.
At this point the path ends and gives way to bushes and shrubs. The bushland is quite easy to go around, but doing so would mean moving closer to the unknown men following us. None of us wanted to do that. So we all make an unspoken agreement to take a shortcut through the bushes. The bushland doesn't go on for very long and it would take us straight to the festival where we could quite possibly lose those men.
We head into the bushes, taking care to stay together and watch for snakes as summer is the season when the snakes like to come out most. Especially at the beach, it's snake city. About half way through we all recognise the sound of dried grass and leaves crunching underfoot, then we hear rapid and heavy footsteps.
We all broke into a sprint, not daring to look back at that point. We didn't have to look to know the men were chasing us, and their confidence at going after four fully grown teenagers pretty much assured me that they were armed with weapons of some sort. We were not armed with anything, and quite frankly we were all so spooked that we couldn't think straight. Our only instinct was to run as fast as possible.
We made it out of the bushland together, raced across the car park and slowed to a jog when we reached the crowds. We didn't stop, but as we steadily slowed to a hurried walk, I looked over my shoulder and recognised the three unknown men lurking across the car park. Moonlight glinted off the surface of a metallic object in the taller one's hand, and I immediately felt ill.
We hurried down to where the biggest crowd was, gathered on the sand in preparation for the fireworks. Picking a spot between two large groups, we settled down and caught our breaths. Funnily enough all four of us have asthma, which we often joke about, saying that we found each other and bonded because of it, and we were all panting quite heavily. Tyler and I have it a bit worse than Hailey and Jess, and you could hear us wheezing as we panted.
Soon the fireworks started, and we had all calmed enough to somewhat enjoy them although the unknown men were still in the back of our minds. Our original plan had been to leave before the fireworks were finished so that we could avoid the big crowds, but instead we opted to leave with the crowds. We walked down the road to the bigger car park where my dad was going to pick us up, making sure to stay around people.
When we reached the car park I called my dad and he said that he would be there to pick us up in around ten minutes. After hanging up I sat on the side of the path with my friends and waited. Five minutes passed and, bored, I decided to look around as there were still many bustling crowds making their way to their cars. There was a bit of a traffic jam too, as many cars were trying to leave at the same time.
I looked across the road and realised with a jolt that the three men in the black hoodies were there, half hidden behind a tree where there was no light. Even though I couldn't see their eyes I could tell they were staring right back, they knew I'd spotted them. The taller one discreetly showed his knife, waving it a little as if to taunt me. Then he raised it to his throat and made a slow mock slicing motion.
I quickly told my friends and we moved to a different spot, making sure to stay in the light and stay in sight of people. My dad arrived soon after, and we all quickly climbed into the car. None of us spoke a word of what happened, and since then I haven't had any issues with anyone following me or my friends.
It still gives me the creeps though, whoever those men were their intentions could not have been good.
Submitted February 01, 2016 at 06:17PM by RoguePhantom117 http://ift.tt/202u6ir LetsNotMeet
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