I am fairly small for a guy. I stand at around 5’5” and the most I’ve ever weighed was around 150lbs. About 6 or 7 years ago I didn’t have my license despite being far old enough to drive, but a good buddy of mine wanted to hang out. He too did not have a way of transport, so we decided to both walk towards one another and meet in the middle. We would both be walking ~5 miles. It was 3am on a cold winter night and I was wearing a black jacket with my hood up.
About 2 miles into my hike along the main road, a car pulled into a parking spot of a home I was passing, just a few feet behind me. He wasn’t entirely into the driveway, almost half way hanging out into the road. I half expected it was just a kind stranger wanting to give me a ride, but I wasn’t about to take any rides from anybody. I kept pacing forward and ignored the car behind me, expecting them to roll down a window and shout at me. It didn’t happen. The car just sat at the edge of that drive way, running but completely dark inside to the point that I could only barely make out the figure of a large man.
I don’t typically get frightened by much, but something in the air made me tense up and my heart kind of dropped to my stomach. I stopped and turned to look at the car. I had a feeling that the person driving was watching me intently.
The figure in the car was definitely facing me; I could see the reflection from his dash bouncing off of his eyes. I stared back. I figured he was about to yell out to me, but he just sat quietly in a strangely menacing way that I have only ever seen scenes in movies play out. I kinda did a wave at the figure, letting him know I saw him and waited for some type of communication in return. He didn’t budge, just stared intently. I returned to pacing away, slightly brisker.
After just a few moments I could hear the car slowly roll in reverse, so I turned to face it but kept pacing backwards. The car kept creeping, slowly. I pulled down my hood and stood still again, waiting for him to pass me.. but instead the man slowed to a stop beside me. The passenger side window rolled down, and the man and I met eyes.
No words were exchanged at all, and before I could even let out a “hello?” the man grimaced and accelerated away at a decent pace; almost as if he was disappointed by what he had seen.
It doesn’t seem like much from how it reads, but I’ll never forget how tense that interaction was for me. I’ve not felt anything like it since.
