The Hitchhiker's Guide To Escaping A Child Molester.
This story is one of going with your gut and trusting yourself… I’ll start at the beginning.
It’s a Friday. I’m 15 years old. I am a sophomore at Robert E. Lee High School (changed to John R. Lewis HS last week cause… Confederacy took a fat “L” in the civil war uh huh!) Me and my boy Chris were playing basketball after school in the gym. The late bus, which is the bus that takes us home, was about to be there so I’m telling Chris like “Yo, we need to get ready to leave!” The game isn’t over though and he tells me not to worry because he will get us a ride after the game.
I had faith in Chris. He was the man. A 6’4” (193cm) ballin ass white boy. Dunking on fools and some more ish. He had started on the Varsity basketball team as a freshman and that team went to state and everything. That team was one of the best in school history. While starting on varsity he was ALSO dating a super super super hot senior girl who just happened to be the captain of the cheerleading team. I swear I can’t make this up. I played Junior Varsity and I was 5’10” (177cm). So like I saying, Chris was cool! How often have you heard of a freshman boy dating a senior girl? Openly! When I was a freshman, I couldn’t talk to girls period. I remember I had a crush on Megan Montgomery and my boy Stix (real name, no gimmick) called her over to us in the hallway!!! Then he says “Robert had something he wanted to say you” I was MORTIFIED! Then he walked tf away!! I couldn’t say anything. She was hot. She still is hot. I froze up! lol Quiet as a church mouse and she walked shaking her head. I say all of that to say this… Chris was cool.
The game ends and I don’t know what type of sorcery was going on, but an entire gym full of people all disappeared and we were there alone. So… we have to walk. I just looked it up on google maps and it’s about 5.5 miles (8.9km) from the school to my house and should take 1 hour 40 minutes. I knew this was gonna happen! I mean I did believe in my boy but I also knew like should’ve gotten on that bus lol. Now we gotta walk almost 6 miles back! Did I mention the only way home is on the Springfield Parkway which is a freaking freeway!! You know how when you’re driving on the freeway or a highway and then you see walking on the side of the road and you feel so bad for them? You know how you’ll think and wonder to yourself how they ended up in that situation? THAT’S how! Right there lol missing the bus and walking being the only way to get home.
I was half embarrassed af to be walking on the freeway and half sure af that someone would see us walking alongside the road and stop and pick us up. Actually this one girl told us on that Monday that she had seen us and we were like well they tf didn’t you give us a ride. She was with her Dad and didn’t want to be like pull over blah blah blah I mean we were all 15 but she still should’ve. Chris was soooo sure we would get picked up! That was FALSE! lol We overestimated our popularity for sure.
We’re walking and walking and after maybe 2 miles a car pulls up! What luck! It’s a 1980’s Trans-Am. The window rolls down. The first thing I notice is how dirty the inside of the car is. Not normal dirty either, I’m talking all sorts of trash and napkins and old food and cups all over the dashboard, the floor, and the seats. It was so dirty it caught my attention and I didn’t notice the driver until second. He looked to be in his late 30’s or early 40’s and he had long, stringy, dirty blonde hair and he had a big gut and super super short shorts on. His shirt was covered in food stains and he looked creepy as hell.
When he was talking to us he looked like he was playing with himself with his left hand. He asked us if we needed a ride because he would give us one. The energy wasn’t right. The vibes were all bad. He sounded like a combination of nervous and excited but also was trying to play it cool. I told Chris “This guy looks like a serial killing rapist! We get in that car, we might not ever get out…”. We told the guy “no” we didn’t need a ride. Unsurprisingly, he persisted by saying things like “oh come on” “you do need a ride, you’re walking along the freeway” “just get in”.
It gives me goosebumps right now even thinking about it, writing about it and remembering it. Chris and I looked around hoping to find something, ANYTHING to give us an excuse or something. Behind us was the guard rail and in the distance was a housing development. Chris looked at me and I looked at him and it was like we read each others mind cause both us pointed to houses and said “Actually, we just live right over there, so we don’t need a ride”. Then we both started backing up and turned to walk away. Faster and faster we walked and I said/whispered to Chris “If he starts coming after us… RUN!”
I was so scared. I wanted to take off running right then, but I didn’t want to alarm him. The houses in the distance started seeming farther and farther away and I hope he didn’t have a weapon or something I don’t know and I didn’t wanna know either. I remember I turned around to see if he was still there and he was! He watched us for like a REALLY long time. Then finally he drove off and left. So now Chris and I stop walking and we have to think. Which way do we go? Did he get off at the next exit? Is he looking for us? Is he gonna come back? Should we walk through this neighborhood or should we go back to the parkway?
We thought the parkway was the best bet. There were more people, to see and be seen by, and still maybe someone who’s not trying to kill us will pick us up. We get back to the freeway and now mind you, we have 4 miles still left to walk (6.5km). Another car pulls up like 15 minutes later and we are already weary. This car was different though, they were way younger people like college aged and it was a black dude and a white dude and a girl in the back. They were hustlers. Had gold chains on and everything and they said they were fro Miami and asked us if we knew how to get to the Saratoga pizzeria. I lived in Saratoga! I knew right where that was. They told us thats where they were going and we could ride with them there and at least be further along than we are now and theres phones and all that, what was true, but it was even cooler because I live about a 20 second walk from the pizzeria.
You know it’s funny, I don’t remember the young guy’s car at all. Like nothing about it, I just remember him. Not even really what he looked like but just the vibes. They had good vibes. They were younger. They were offering a ride to where they were already going. They had a girl with them and she was hot and seemed really cool and nice. Now none of these are fool proof measures but the moral is this…
Life is about energy and intentions. How much energy are you willing to use and with what intention? The first guy, his vibes were all wrong. You know there’s a moment where you think to yourself, should you or shouldn’t you? Life is about choices and sometimes you can’t take your choices back. I’m sure someone who’s ever been kidnapped or murdered experienced that moment, where they knew they messed up, and made a wrong choice despite their gut saying it was a bad idea. Go with your gut! If it doesn’t feel right, get out! Act like your life depends on it, because it most certainly does.
Don’t ever feel bad or embarrassed by whatever measures you have to take to save your life. I wish I could go back and tell my 15 year old self to do something! Jump up and yell “Pedophile!”. Bring attention to yourself or something, but see I was just a kid and when you’re a kid it’s like adults have all the power. Adults are authority figures and they can tell you what to do. I wish I would’ve stood up for myself and just said no I’m not getting in your car you freaking pedophile. I was young though. I was scared. I was nervous, but I also got out of there. WE got out of there. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it!
Your next choice could be your last one… #Robventures
