Creepy Stalker

At the time I'm writing this, I'm not sure I'm going to post it.  I just wanted to write it while it was fresh and I'm still angry.  It's Saturday morning, I just got home from the Y.  I met Nikki (aka Nicole) there at 7:45 and we did some weights in the empty studio and then spin class (which was awesome as usual).  We were about 5 minutes into the class when this guy wearing a winter hat, winter coat and baggy pants with a big bushy beard was walking down the hall and stopped every few feet on the other side of the wall of windows.  He just stared us down, no expression.  We all thought it was kind of funny because lots of people stop and watch, it's a crazy class!!!  Where it gets creepy though, is he did this at least a dozen times.  He clearly wasn't there to work out, he simply walked back & forth and stopped and stared.  At one point, he came in to ask the instructor something right in the middle of class and then he left and resumed his walking back & forth.  Funny at first, ending up creepy.  Move on pal.  Then I leave and it is ridiculously slippery out.  The kind of slippery after freezing rain so that you can actually wear ice skates down the street (not kidding).  I pull out of my parking spot on the street and I go to pull into the parking lot to drive around the U and head in the other direction. I'm doing it slowly because if you move to fast, your wheels turn but your car actually doesn't.  Then a car waiting for me to finish the turn honks, so I look at the driver and it's the creeper!!  He glared at me the whole time I'm driving by.  The creepy guy, just got creepier.  Seriously why are you there???  You don't have kids with you, you didn't pick anyone up or drop anyone off, you simply stalked a spin class for an hour and then left.

Now this may not seem like a big deal but it brought up some stuff for me.  I was stalked and harassed when I was 15 and my parents & I never did figure out who it was.  Except that it was someone we knew and someone that could see our driveway/side door from where they were.  Every time both of my parents left together, the phone would ring, sometimes while they were still pulling out of the driveway.  The caller would breathe heavy, whisper that he wanted to have sex with me, sometimes he would meow and always always, I was either home alone or babysitting my two year old sister.  We figured out they could see our house because the phone would start ringing right when they left and if I ran out to stop them, the phone would instantly stop.  I also once called my best friends mom (who lived 10 houses down) to come over and the phone stopped ringing as soon as she walked up our driveway.  We played Monopoly until my parents got home and the phone didn't ring once.  Once, my parents drove away and then my mom let my stepdad out of the car around front and he came back in the front door and the phone rang.  He picked it up and didn't say anything and as soon the guy started whispering my stepdad started yelling at him.  Nope, still didn't stop.  And one time, the phone just wouldn't stop.  I was babysitting my sister and I just grabbed her and ran out the door and down the street to another lady's house who I babysat for.  I was more scared to take the phone off the hook because I knew that if it was ringing, then he was still in his house.  If it stops ringing, he could be anywhere.  This was also before cell phones so I could never really call my parents unless they were somewhere specific for a period of time.  It got to the point where I was never alone.  Ever.  We changed our phone number numerous times.  We called the police and they couldn't do anything unless he threatened my life to which my stepdad replied "HE'S THREATENED TO RAPE HER, ISN'T THAT F*CKING ENOUGH?!" and then he slammed down the phone.  My stepdad was also a black belt and instructor in Tae Kwon Do so I spent many hours in the basement with him learning self-defense moves and dirty self-defense moves. How or why the stalking ended, we don't know.  It lasted about 9 - 10 months and the only thing we could come up with was that there was two houses that sold during that time, one street over that both would have had a clear view of our door and driveway so maybe they moved or found someone else.

So leaving the Y this morning, even though the roads are a skating rink, I took the long way home.  The creeper was turning the same way I was, so I turned the opposite way.  By the time I got home, I was upset about this.  I cried.  I just kept thinking, how f*cking dare you.  How dare you, creepy bastard, ruin something that I'm loving so much and make me feel unsafe.  Because if you are actually harmless, your behaviour is NOT.  And in an age where women are assaulted or killed on early morning runs or bike rides or walks, this kind of behaviour is not okay.  I called the Y and spoke to a 16 year old boy at the front desk and he knew who I was talking about.  He said that he's not familiar to him and he came up to the desk and asked them some questions and that he seems weird but harmless and they would watch for him.  I plan on bringing this up again.  I don't really feel good about the kid working the desk really.  I would have preferred to talk to one of the girls.  Because a girl would know what I'm talking about.