As my sister and I were driving, we noticed a man in the middle of the road. I applied the brakes, and he slowly came up to the car. He was carrying something in his hands.
Our parents live many hours away, so we were en route to pay them a visit. My sister was sitting in the passenger seat while I drove. Everything felt normal as we conversed, discussed our plans for the weekend, and listened to music.
But all of a sudden, there was a man in the center of the road. He was alone and he stood motionless.
He appeared to be in his thirties. He was standing with his back to us, perhaps waiting for something, but he wasn’t moving. I applied the brakes hard to keep from colliding with him. Both of us gazed at him in confusion.
The man turned around slowly. He grinned as he turned to face us. However, the smile wasn’t kind or amiable. It had a disconcerting, almost terrifying quality.
I instinctively grabbed my phone and locked all the doors, prepared to call the police if necessary. He began to move slowly in the direction of the car while maintaining that odd smile. There was nobody around, just the two of us and him on an empty road, and we were frozen.
Then, with terror, my sister whispered:
– Examine his hand.
I froze as I gazed. He was holding something in his hand.
A woman’s pocketbook was in the stranger’s grasp.
He approached my window and motioned for me to lower it. Naturally, I didn’t.
— What do you want? — I said tremblingly.
Calmly, “I found a woman’s purse,” he added. — Do you own it?
My sister muttered, “Is he serious?” Which purse? How could we have it?
— No, — I quickly answered and pressed the accelerator. We drove away without turning around.
Please, girls, exercise caution.
The thought of what may have happened if I had rolled down the window makes me frightened. or if we hadn’t left in time by car. Another person might have wondered, “What if it’s her purse after all?”
Or perhaps they were too ashamed to simply go. However, don’t try to justify someone’s odd behavior or feel ashamed.
Why would he stand in the middle of the road even if he really intended to return the purse? He had no way of knowing who was in the car. What made him gaze at us in particular?
Too many inquiries.
And the thought of what the answers could be terrifies me. The world we live in is just dangerous.
