Mystery Man

It was May 23rd, 1993 when I first saw him. I was leaving a high school party from my friend Kayla’s house. I walked out of the house and said goodbye to a couple of friends that were drinking outside on her front patio. As I was walking to my car I saw a beige Ford Fiesta slowly pass by. The windows were clear enough that the darkness of that night went through the windows of the vehicle. I saw a male in the driver's seat and we made eye contact from when he first started driving by the house till when he completely passed by. It was such a strange moment because I did not know why I could not break eye contact with such a stranger. I still remember his face from the night I saw him. He was a mid-toned man with light black facial hair and he looked like he was in his early twenties. His face was so evenly structured and his cheekbones were so high that the hair around his face did not break the diamond-shaped figure beneath his facial hair. He was a very attractive man. 

I drove home safely that night, but because I left without my parents' consent, I quietly parked the car in the driveway and sneaked into my bedroom window. I laid in bed and looked toward the window as the bright full moon beamed through the night sky. I had this strange feeling that was preventing me from not thinking about the man I had seen. But I thought it was pointless to have him in my mind since I had no clue who he was. After that though, I decided to forget about him and I went to sleep. That was until I saw him again the following day. I was at Joe’s Cart with my mother, which is a local retail store in my town. We were walking towards the fresh produce area when I had seen him leaning against one of the aisles. When I slightly passed the aisle and walked back towards it he was gone. I began to see him in every place I went, whether it was simply at the store or I was on my way home from anywhere. But it got to the point where I needed answers. One Friday afternoon our last class of the day was almost over. It was the last day of high school before summer and everyone in my class was waiting for the last bell of junior year to ring. I was looking out one of the windows in our four window classroom and I was admiring the flowers beneath the window. The sound of a person whistling a tune caught me by surprise. I looked up and saw the same stranger that I had been seeing. He was driving in the street across my high school in the same beige Ford Fiesta I had seen him in previously. We made eye contact the same way we did the first time I saw him. It was a moment where I was feeling so confused. When he passed by and turned on to the next street that went around the school bell rang. I began to pick up my things when Kayla asked me if I wanted to go grab something to eat at Dave’s Dine-in. I felt this was a good time to let her know that I had been coming across the same stranger at random times so I said agreed to go. Dave’s Dine-in was where all the kids at my highschool would hang out after school, after parties, home football games, or just after any event. It was considered the hangout place for almost anything in my town. When we got there we ordered our food and I began to tell her about the same man I had been seeing randomly in the same form and how each time I saw him we would make contact. As I was describing my situation to Kayla I looked out the window and I saw him again. Except for this time, he was leaning against the street post and not in the beige Ford Fiesta. I told Kayla to look behind her at him and when she did a gray car drove past him and when it passed the stranger was gone.

After this day I was constantly feeling so anxious and I sought so many answers. At that moment I decided that I was going to do whatever I needed to find out who he was and why we were coming across each other so often. The next morning I went to Joe’s Cart because I knew I was going to see him again. As I entered the bedroom decor aisle I was looking at the bedsheets when I felt someone harshly bump into my right shoulder. They continued to walk and when I yelled “Hey, excuse me” they turned around and I noticed that it was the stranger. I yelled once again “hey!” but they continued to walk. I followed him all the way through until he was outside Joe’s Cart and in his car. And that was when I began to follow him in my car. He continued to drive past many stores, homes, and restaurants. But no matter how far he was driving I needed answers for my own sake. I followed him for about twenty minutes until we reached a park that I had not been to since I was just a child. He stopped the car and I parked right behind him. I waited about a minute or two to see if he would get off his car first but he did not. So then I decided to get off. I got off and I began to walk towards the driver’s window of the Ford Fiesta. Surprisingly when I reached the window, the tint on the window was so dark that I could not see anything or anyone inside. When I knocked on the window it slowly slid down. And when it slid down I felt a huge wave of fear and anxiety spread throughout every vein of my body. There was no person in the car.