creepy story

We had a creepy situation happen in our family this week.

I went for a run in the morning on Monday morning.  When I got back, I noticed this strange car parked to the side of our house (we live on a corner).  There was a man sitting inside the car.  I didn’t think much about it; I figured he pulled over there to make a phone call or look at a map or whatever.  So, I went inside and took a shower and started helping my boys get ready for the day.

Well, after at least a half an hour past, our front doorbell rang.  Our 17 yr old walked to the door and said it was our neighbor girl who goes to the same school.  They were going to walk together which isn’t anything out of the ordinary.  We said our goodbyes and I wished her well.  For my 2 yr old, though, simple good-byes were not enough.  He wanted to go out and watch them walk away.  I didn’t have any reason to deny him that, so out we went.

First thing I noticed when I got out the door was that strange car parked now in front of my neighbor’s house.  Immediately, I called my niece over and asked her who that was.  She stated she did not know.  So, I said, “Well, don’t get in the car with him”.  She agreed and at that moment the stranger sped away.

I was really creeped out by this, but I let our niece and her friend walk on to school.  In hind site I should have probably driven them or walked with them even though I knew neither of them wanted that.

Well, all day long I was creeped out by this.  My wife and I tried to call her school counselor to make sure she made it to school, but we didn’t get a response until the next day.  I called the dad of the neighbor girl and let him know what I had seen.  He was of course concerned too.

When our niece got home, we didn’t waste anytime in sitting her down and asking her to shoot straight with us on who that guy was.  It turned out he was a just a kid from school.  Apparently, our neighbor had gone to school early that morning.  This kid had taken her home and was waiting (lurking) around to take her back to school again.  Our niece said that she had seen the guy around at school but that when she came out of the house, she didn’t know his name or why he was there.

Anyway, I tried to make a long story short in this post, but I don’t think I did.  But, my point in this story is that a) I was creeped out by it and b)I want her to see that we take her safety and well being seriously.  I think that message came across.  In this case, it appeared to be an fairly innocent situation that just looked weird.  But, next time, I want her to know that we really care about her safety and we want her to know we are watching and expecting her to make good choices.

Wow, having a teenager in our house has really added some stress to our lives.  Hopefully, we will look back at this year as a turning point in her life.