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Speaker 1: When I was twenty one, I went on a vacation

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to Washington. It was somewhere I'd been dreaming of going

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since I was a kid. My plans were to hang

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out around Seattle and stay in the city for the

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most part, but I figured it was only right to

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go camping in the massive forest and woods that Washington

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had to offer. I only wanted to camp for a

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night and then head back to the city. I'd been

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camping a few times before, but never on my own,

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so this was a first. I rented out some camping

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gear from a local shop and found a small trail

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with camping grounds. I drove down there and got going

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as soon as the sun was up. The path to

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the camping grounds was very easy, and it took me

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less than three hours. It was basically just a flat

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plot of land that had some clear signs of previous

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campers being there, like old equipment, rusty cooking pots, and

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some trash. I set up my tent off to the

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side next to a tree where the area was clear.

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As far as I knew, there weren't any special sights

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to see nearby, so I was just there to chill

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and be at peace. At sunset, I got a fire

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going and brought out my ziplock bag that I had

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prepared full with s'mores ingredients. I made an unhealthy amount,

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and when I was done, I just sat next to

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the campfire and spent some time thinking. That was until

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I was interrupted. A man came up behind me from

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seemingly nowhere and sat at the other end of my campfire.

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Oh hey, you camping around here too, I asked, trying

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to make the strange encounter less awkward. He looked at me,

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but he didn't respond to my question. I looked around

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behind me and to the sides to see if anyone

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else was here, but it was just us. A moment

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went by before he stood up and walked away. I

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don't recall if I was more nervous, creeped out, or confused,

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but nonetheless I stayed there and kept my eyes open

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for the next hour. Eventually, I put my fire out

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and went inside my tent, staying up for another hour

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before falling asleep. I woke up in the middle of

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the night to a strange sound, the crackle of a campfire.

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I opened my eyes and saw the orange light flickering

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in front of my tent. My heart beat grew faster

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and louder. As I unzipped the tent. My campfire had

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been rekindled, and four men sat around it, all looking

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directly at me. One of them was the same man

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who'd come by previously. I slowly stepped out of the

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tent and looked at each of them in horror. Before

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I could say anything, one of them spoke something in

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a foreign language, and then two of them got up

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and grabbed me, patting me down and taking my phone

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in wallet. These guys were way bigger than me, and

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there was no pin and resisting. After a good search,

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they then dragged me away from the camp site. We

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walked for a good twenty minutes out into the woods,

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and I was holding back tears, pretty sure this was

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the end. But then they shoved me on the ground,

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hit me over the head, and ran away. I think

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they were trying to knock me out, or at least

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dazed me enough to not follow them, but I felt

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like it was pretty obvious that, given the circumstances, I

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wasn't going to go strolling back toward them. I got

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up and immediately started jogging in the direction that I

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thought would take me closer to the interstate that ran

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between the forest. Once all the adrenaline was out, though

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my head was killing me and it was hard to

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think straight, not to mention it was pitch black and

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I was stumbling over fallen logs and tree roots and

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had no way of knowing if I was walking straight

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or not. Then, I'd say about thirty minutes into walking,

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I passed out. It was likely from a mix of everything.

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But when I regained consciousness, I realized that I had

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even less of an idea of which direction to go in.

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I walked, and what I prayed was the right direction,

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knowing that there was a chance that I could just

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get even more lost. After an hour of seeing nothing

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but large trees in dark woods, I spotted a light

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in the distance. It was a flashlight, moving around like

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someone was carrying it. As I approached, I screamed for help,

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only to see the figure of a man turned toward

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me and shine the light in my direction, followed by

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three more figures appearing behind him. Without hesitating, I sprinted away,

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but they didn't seem to follow me from that encounter,

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Although scaring the shit out of me again, I saw

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the way they were walking and was able to keep

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myself going in that direction. Two more hours of walking,

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and at break of dawn, I reached the interstate. After

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another half hour, I finally waved down a car and

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was safe from there. After getting back to the city

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and contacting police, I got my car back and gave

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the officers the best description of the events that I

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could give. I still had to pay for the lost

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rental items, but that was far from the worst of it.

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Lucky for me, the men who robbed and attacked me

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didn't seem to be in the killing business, but leaving

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me out in a vast force like that in the

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middle of the night was giving me slim chances at best.

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As odd as it sounds if I hadn't seen them

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for a second time, although as horrifying as it was,

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it's likely the only reason I'm still here today. I

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was on a road heading back from a job interview

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I had across the States. I stayed for an extra

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couple days to make it a mini vacation, which was

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why I drove instead of taking a plane. Anyway. It

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was pouring outside, which would usually make for a relaxing drive,

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but it was the middle of the night, so it

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made visibility difficult. Most of the drive consisted of going

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through dense forest on long one lane roads. The drive

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was supposed to be around ten hours, and obviously, with rain,

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I expected a slight delay. It was just past one

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a m. When I checked my phone and saw it

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was sixty two miles until the next turn. For some reason, though,

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Apple Maps was taking me on a different route from

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the way I'd taken before. I didn't see it as

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a problem at all, and continued for a while, maybe

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thirty minutes before I glanced over at my phone again.

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It's still said I was sixty two miles away from

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the next turn. I looked closer, and my car wasn't

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even moving on the map. I tried clicking on it

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and restarting the app, but it was frozen on that screen.

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To make things worse, all it said was turn right

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in sixty two miles with no road or street name.

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Without that, I had no idea where I was going

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or when to turn, other than a tiny memory of

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a street name and had shown me before. It was

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one of those where if I saw the street sign

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then I'd recognize or remember it, but I couldn't fully

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remember it on my own. Despite the inconvenience. I continued

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driving for a while in hopes that it was just

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an internet connection thing and once I was out of

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the dense forest, it would fix itself. An hour or

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so of driving later, I was still in the forest

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and the rain was still pouring down. But I saw

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an intersection coming up on the connecting street. There was

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a truck parked on the side, and I figured they

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were probably having the same problem I was having. I

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slowed and looked at the street sign, and to my surprise,

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I thought I actually recognized it. It could have just

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been some coincidence or a false memory due to my

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lack of sleep, but I ended up turning and taking

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my chances. At first, I was fairly confident in my choice,

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thinking I might have actually made the right call. But

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after an hour of driving, I was still in the forest.

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I knew for sure that I didn't spend even nearly

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this much time driving through the forest on the way there,

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so something was wrong. I checked my phone and still

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had no luck. But up ahead I saw a faint

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glow of a billboard sign a motel right there in

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the middle of this isolated forest. It seemed like an

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odd choice for a motel, but I pulled into the

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parking lot so I could safely figure out my situation.

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The whole lot was empty, not a single car. A

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minute later, though, that same truck i'd seen back at

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the intersection pulled in and parked a few spots down.

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I couldn't see much through the rain, so I just

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ignored them and continued with trying to get my phone

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to work. I want to say I probably sat there

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for fifteen minutes before giving up. Just before deciding to

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go into the motel to either ask for help or

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get a room, a knock on my window startled me.

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Hey can you help me? He yelled through the rain.

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I rolled the window down a crack, letting rain splash

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all over me. As I asked what he wanted. He

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said he needed some directions and told me a very

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specific address, as if I were to know where it was. Sorry, man,

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I'm just as lost as you are. He frowned, then

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smiled and said to have a nice night, walking back

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through the rain to his truck. After a minute, I

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got out and ran into the motel. The front room

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was dark and empty. Nobody was at the desk. I

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leaned over the counter to see if someone was in

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the back. But then the front door opened behind me.

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I turned and saw that man from the truck outside.

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He was soaked with water dripping from his long hair

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and beard. The look on his face was cold and sinister,

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and he had one hand suspiciously shoved in his pocket.

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In that instant, I quickly tried walking past him. He

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stayed firmly in my way, but for whatever reason, he

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didn't stop me from squeezing past him and out the door.

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As I quickly walked to my car, I heard the

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man exit the building behind me, and his footsteps catching up.

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I got in and turned on my car. Just as

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the man came up to my window and through the rain,

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I heard the sound of my door latch click. Thank

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god my car auto locks, because as soon as I

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heard that and looked up at him, he stared at

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me with disturbingly rage filled eyes and began forcefully trying

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to open the door. He was pulling so hard the

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entire car was rocking back and forth. I pulled out

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and drove off so fast I almost ran him over.

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I got back to the intersection and sped down the

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way I was going before. Thankfully, I made it to

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a city after twenty miles and was able to get help.

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It turned out the motel I was at had closed

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down a couple months back, and for some reason the

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sign still worked, which nobody could explain to me. I

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don't know what that man's intentions were and whether or

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not he had planned that whole thing out, but one

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thing I am sure of is that I got very

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lucky with my escape from that motel. I lived on

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my own for the first time in my life when

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I turned twenty five. It made me want to explore

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doing other things by myself too, and one thing I'd

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always wanted to do was go for a long hike.

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It might sound a little weird, but it was just

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something that I thought sounded like an accomplishment to do solo.

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I had no experience in any outdoorsy activities, so this

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was my first big trail. Online it said it was

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eight hours, so I packed as much water and food

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as I could, and on Monday morning, I set out

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on the hike. The first thing I noticed when I

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started walking was how thin the trail was. I didn't

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know if this was normal or not, but it was

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barely wide enough to walk on without stepping on the

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borders of the trail. While being thin, it was still

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very defined, and I knew i'd be back well before dark,

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so I wasn't worried about it. Although I didn't do

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much hiking, I was still in decent shape, so walking

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long distances wasn't an issue. Most of the way up

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the trail, I was feeling great and having no problem,

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but as I kept going it did start to wear

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me down a bit. I checked my watch constantly, and

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once I was six hours and still hadn't reached the end,

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I was starting to worry. Supposedly, the end of the

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trail was a small overlook of the valley, so there

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was no way I could just walk past it or

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miss it somehow, but according to the website i'd seen earlier,

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I was two hours behind. Then I started to think

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maybe it meant the trail was eight hours to complete

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one way and was not including the walk back. But

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I just knew that I had to turn back at

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this point if I wanted to be out of the

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forest before dark. I turned around and began walking back

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the way I came. As I walked back, I noticed

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a few things that I hadn't noticed on the way up. Specifically,

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there was a line of prints that went perpendicular to

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the path, going right across from one end of the

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forest to the other, and just kept going as far

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as I could see. I thought maybe I didn't see

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it before because of the different point of view, but

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I was already a bit worried and this wasn't helping

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my case. Then three hours into the hike back, and

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nearly nine hours total being in the forest, the trail

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I was walking on started to widen. One thing I

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knew for sure was that the trail was thin the

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entire time up, so when I saw this, my stomach tightened.

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I didn't know how, but I had gotten onto the

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wrong trail, maybe taken a side path accidentally. I stood

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there like a terrified child for a few minutes, unsure

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of my next move. The sun was already setting, and

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if I had taken the wrong turn in the daytime,

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how would I make sure to follow my way back

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and not make the same mistake in the dark. I

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knew my choices were limited, so I had to turn

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back again and hope for the best. I started walking,

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but not long into it, I saw footprints again, not

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the same ones from before, and I knew these weren't

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there just ten minutes ago. I looked out to the

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forest in the direction they were going, but it was

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now too dark to see much. Soon I couldn't see anything.

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The moonlight provided a dim overcast, but I hadn't packed

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the flashlight. It was the middle of April, too, so

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the nights would get pretty cold where I lived. As

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I walked, the only sound was my footsteps on the

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gravel and the soft noises the forest made. That was

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until I heard something ahead, someone else walking on the gravel.

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I stopped and stared ahead into the dark, but after

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a few steps the sound went away. I carefully moved

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forward until I saw the footprints and the gravel going

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straight across the trail. I turned my phone light on

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and pointed it into the forest. It was still too dim,

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but I knew someone was out there. Hello, I called out.

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There was nothing but silence. I held my phone light

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up still, and after a moment I saw a very

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slight fog from some one's cold breath rise from behind

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a nearby tree. They were maybe ten feet away from

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me into the forest, but seeing as they were hiding

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made me scared as to what they were up to

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and why exactly they didn't want to be seen. I

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quickly walked further down the trail, and after thirty minutes

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I found where I had accidentally turned off. Several hours later,

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I made it out and got to my car. I

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hated myself for weeks after that for having gotten myself

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into such a bad situation, but it only got worse.

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I think it was exactly three weeks since my hike

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when I saw in the news that two bodies were

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found in the forest I had hiked in. They didn't

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give exact locations, but it was in the area near

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the trail I had taken. I don't think they found

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who had done it, but I'm almost positive that at

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one point I was standing just ten feet away from them,

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close enough to see their cold breath in the dark.