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Speaker 1: A year ago, in early winter, I went hiking for

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a weekend in a national park not far from home.

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It was supposed to be the last few days of

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good weather before the winter cold and snow came in,

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so I wanted to get out while I still could.

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There was a trail my buddy had told me about

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that went up to a nice view of a lake

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and wasn't crowded, so I decided to try it out.

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But when I got to the trail, it wasn't what

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I expected. There were no signs or markings. There was

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just a thin path going through some trees. I walked

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down a little ways, and while it still had no markings,

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it seemed like a straightforward trail to hike along. As

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I walked, it was clear that few people came this way.

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There were almost no shoeprints in the dirt, and the

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path didn't seem professionally made. This didn't frighten me or anything,

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but it was just something I took note of. The

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forest along the path was really nice, though, full of

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wildlife and falling leaves from the changing season. About a

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mile in I walked past something interesting, another path leading

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off into the woods. I stayed on the trail, but

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I didn't really understand why there would be another path

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connecting to this already rarely used path. As I kept

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on walking, though, more of these side trails started to

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show up. They went off in random directions, leading to

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what looked like nothing in particular. It was really odd,

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and then after about three hours of walking, the trail

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I was on ended just like that. There was no

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more path to follow. All that was ahead was an

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endless row of trees, and then out of nowhere, I

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heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see a guy

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walking in the distance. He had a ripped up jacket

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on and no backpack, and strangely, he was walking across

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the trail I was on, onto one of the side paths.

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It didn't look like he saw me, he was just

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looking down and walking. The way he walked, though, and

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how he looked made me a bit creeped out, so

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I made sure to not be seen as I watched

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him walk into the woods. By then, it looked like

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there wasn't much daylight left, and I decided to just

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abandon finding the lake and just hike back to my car. However,

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it only took me a few minutes to reach an

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intersection of paths that I didn't remember before. Immediately I

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thought about how the one path ended so abruptly, and

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how that probably meant that at some point point I

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went onto the wrong trail. I looked down, trying to

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see if there were any shoe prints of mine that

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I could follow, but I didn't see any. Then I

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heard it again, footsteps behind me. I turned and looked

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out into the forest in the distance. That same man

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was standing and facing me. He didn't move or say anything,

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he just stood there as if he were watching me.

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After a moment, a chill ran through my body, and

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I turned to take whatever trail was in the opposite

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direction of the man. I quickly hurried, checking behind me

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multiple times, but after a few minutes I'd lost track

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of the man. I went down this trail for over

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an hour, still worried about both being lost and the

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strange man. After a while of walking, and moved off

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the path and leaned against a tree, taking a break

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to drink some water. And not even a minute passed

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before I heard those same footsteps. I stayed where I

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was behind the tree as the sound of their shuffling

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steps got louder and louder until the man walked right

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past the tree I was behind. He looked focused on

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the path ahead, like he thought I was still walking,

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but there was no doubt in my mind that he

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was following me, or at least trying to. Once he

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was gone, I took the opportunity to run back the

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way I came, getting to the intersection and choosing between

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two other paths that were in the right direction. Thankfully

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I'd made the right choice, because halfway back to my car,

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all I had was the dim moonlight to guide me

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through the woods. All I can say is that that

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man I saw didn't look like he was out there

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just for a hike, and based on the way he

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was acting, I think he had some terrible intentions that

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I may have just barely avoided. I had just turned

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nineteen and was staying at home from college for the

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next few months for summer break. My mom lives in

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the city in the same house I grew up in,

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but my dad moved into a small home outside the city.

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It was backed up to the woods, and I always

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felt so relaxed while I was there. Just being away

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from everything felt very freeing. Anyway, over the course of

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the summer, I got the idea to go camping for

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just a night, somewhere in the woods behind my dad's house.

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I had all the gear already, and I'd gone camping before,

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so it just seemed like a harmless, fun night. I

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didn't plan on going far out, maybe just walking for

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a half hour then finding a good spot to set up,

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so I left about two hours till sunset. I walked

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with no music or anything, just soaking in the environment

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and sounds of nature until I made it far enough

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out to start setting up my gear. I pitched my

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tent and got a fire going, then relaxed as the

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sun set and the woods fell quiet. A couple hours

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into the night, I went to bed. I had planned

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to leave in the morning, but when I woke up,

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I felt like hanging out for a little bit longer.

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I went for a casual walk and sat by the tent. Surprisingly,

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the day felt to have gone by really fast. Before

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I knew it, the sun was making its way down.

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I packed up my things and cleaned up, then started

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walking back home. I walked between the trees, having a

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conversation with myself in my head to pass the time,

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but as the sun started getting lower and lower, I

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realized it had been a while since i'd left. I

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stopped and lifted my head, looking around. I didn't really

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recognize the area. Obviously, there was no path, so I

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could have just been walking in a slightly different direction,

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but something seemed wrong. After an entire minute of looking around, though,

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I honestly had no clue which way to go. If

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I had been going in the right direction, I should

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have been home already, or at least to the road

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that my dad's house was on. Racing the sun, though,

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I decided to just continue in the direction I was going,

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hoping that at some point i'd reach a road. As

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I walked, the woods got darker and darker, sending me

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into somewhat of a nervous breakdown. I was looking everywhere

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for anything to tell me where to go, but now

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the woods were too dark to even see anything further

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than thirty or forty feet. But then I saw a

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light flickering in the distance. I got excited, walking quickly

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toward it until I could make out a dark house

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sitting in the middle of the trees. I thought it

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was maybe one of my dad's neighbors, or that it

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would at least lead me to a road that I

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could walk along, but as I approached the opening in

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the woods, I didn't see anything. No roads, no light

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from other houses, and not even a gravel driveway. The

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house was old looking too, resembling more of a cabin,

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but there was a light in the downstairs window that

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was on, so it definitely wasn't vacant. I walked around

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to the other side of it, staying in the tree

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line still, but there were no signs of any roads

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or houses on either side. Regrettably, I decided my only

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option was to ask whoever lived there for help. I

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walked up to the front door, listening for a second

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before ringing the doorbell. Immediately I heard footsteps running down

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some stairs and right up to the other side. Knowing

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they were probably looking at me through the peephole, I

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called out to them.

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Speaker 2: Hi, sorry, I'm just lost. I was hoping you could

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tell me which direction the nearest street is.

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Speaker 1: There was a pause, then they opened the door. Two

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men stood there, both looking to be in their forties

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and appearing kind of disheveled. One of them took a

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step forward and looked outside behind me at the tree line,

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as if looking for anyone else. There was a moment

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where both of them were quiet. Will help you out,

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one of the men said, opening the door wider and

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stepping aside.

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Speaker 2: I'm okay, I just need you to point me in

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the right direction, please.

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Speaker 1: I said, not wanting to go in some random house

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in the woods and also not really seeing the point

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to it. Both men frowned. Then one spoke, saying he

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just wanted to talk about why I was out here.

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I told them I was just camping and got lost,

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but they looked at each other like I was lying.

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Then one of them stepped out and stood pretty close

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to me as he looked around at the trees more intently.

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When he stepped out, though, he revealed the room behind him,

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which only had a small lamp in the middle of

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the floor, surrounded by nothing but dust. I took a

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step away from the man and both of them suddenly

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turned cold. Their facial expressions and body language which she

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just became empty as they stood there in silence, before

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the one lunged at me, trying to tackle me to

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the ground. Luckily, I reacted quick enough to slip away

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before the other man got to me. I sprinted for

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the trees, hearing one of the men's footsteps coming up

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behind me. But once I made it into the woods,

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the man gave up the chase, and soon after the

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lights from the house shut off. Hours passed before I

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made it to a road, finding out I had hiked

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miles in the wrong direction. I told my dad about

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the encounter, though, and he took it to the police

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to investigate. But we were terrified to hear that the

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house I wandered into was an old vacation cabin that

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was abandoned decades ago. Whoever those men were likely used

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a generator to power the lights and whatever else they

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were doing why they were there, nobody knows. The way

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they were acting, though, seemed like they were trying to

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not get caught, so if they had succeeded in getting

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me into their house, I'm not sure if I ever

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would have gotten out. I was driving back to my

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hometown from a work trip I had earlier in the week.

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I declined the free flight to and from because I

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decided to take some time off to myself while I

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was there to enjoy a small vacation. Driving long distance

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wasn't something I'd ever really done before, though, the most

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I'd gone was about ten hours, and that was with

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a stop at a hotel halfway. But this road trip

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was way longer. It was nearly twenty hours, and I

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had only scheduled a single hotel. But just because I'd

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never driven that long before didn't make me think I

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couldn't do it. The drive started out okay, going through

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cities and towns and having plenty of other cars around me,

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seemingly taking the same route. As I got further out, though,

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cars became a lot less common and the towns had

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pretty much disappeared. The roads were nothing but fields of

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grass on either side or dense forests. By five PM,

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the light drizzling that it started earlier became more intense,

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pouring rain down hard enough to make it difficult to see.

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It seemed like the more I drove into this forested area,

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the harder the rain fell. I'd hoped it would stop

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by sunset, but it didn't. I was now really focused

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on the road, driving really slow and trying to make

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sure I navigated the road carefully without sliding into a ditch.

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I drove through this off rain for probably an entire

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hour past sunset, when I started to realize the road

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was getting a lot more winding rather than straight. It

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began taking me much deeper into the forest, where the

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trees were close together and blocking all views. After a while,

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I started getting nervous, thinking this was really odd for

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a highway to be like this. I slowed down and

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pulled off to the side of the road, stopping on

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the shoulder. I took my phone out and tried searching

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up the directions, but there was no service. All I'd

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remembered of the route was that I had to take

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the same highway pretty much the entire way there. Maybe

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I was on the right road and was just paranoid,

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or maybe I'd been focusing so hard on trying to

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see through the rain that I'd accidentally merged onto a

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different road. The problem is that I had no way

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to figure out which of those two possibilities was right.

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I looked out the windows in hopes i'd see a

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sign or anything that could give me an idea of

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where I was. All I could see through the harsh rain,

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where the woods all around me fading into total black

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beyond my headlights. But then, only a minute or so

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after I had stopped there, a light came up behind me.

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I looked in the mirror as it got brighter, rounding

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one of the corners and coming toward my car. Their

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headlights were so bright I couldn't even see their car,

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though all I could see was the beaming glare in

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my mirrors. I watched as the light started moving slower

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and slower until it stopped right behind my car. Part

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of me felt relieved that someone stopped to help me,

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but another part of me was thinking of the other possibilities.

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A whole minute passed as the car stayed there, leaving

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their headlights on and showing no signs of anything, until

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a door suddenly opened. It was still too bright to

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see much of anything, but the dark outline of a

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man emerged from the light and came right up to

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my window. The man was wearing a dark hoodie and

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seemed unbothered by the rain as he leaned on the

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door while I rolled the window down a couple inches.

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He asked if I needed help, and I responded by

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explaining that I just needed to know where I was

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and if I was still on the right highway. He

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looked at me, then at my back seat.

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Speaker 2: As he nodded, yeah, I can help you. Let me

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just get my phone.

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Speaker 1: He began walking off as I rolled my window back

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up to block out the rain. There was something off

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about my interaction with him, but I couldn't figure out

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what it was. It just felt off. Why didn't he

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know a road we were on, or if we were

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on the highway. I watched in the mirrors until the

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man went behind the glaring lights again, but I could

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see him shuffling around with something in his car for

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a few moments before he came back out. He made

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his way over, but in the moments before he reached

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my car, I caught a glimpse of something in his hand.

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Just as I reacted and put the car in drive,

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the man suddenly knelt down by my back tire and

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jammed something in it. I slammed on the gas, seeing

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the man get visibly startled and jump back as I

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drove away as fast as I could. I knew he'd

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probably try to catch up, so I drove in a

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panic for several minutes, fearing the thought of seeing the

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lights come up behind me. Luckily, though they never did.

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I made it about three miles before I finally happened

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upon an intersection with a sign for a gas station.

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Up ahead. When I pulled in, I of course called

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the police, but I also found that the man had

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stabbed my tire with a screwdriver that was still wedged

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into the side of the tire, hanging partially out. That

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still being in there and covering the hole is probably

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the only reason I was able to make it away

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without breaking down on the road. If I had been

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even a second too late at driving away, I don't

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think I would have ever been seen after that night.