HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Fear, a story

I probably wouldn't run... but not because I am some macho badass...I just can't run fast

Not built for it- best I can do is lumber quickly... :)
Unless there is some safe refuge very close the odds of me outrunning a determined pursuer are very low.
There are maybe 2 times in the past decade where I suspected I was in a potentially dangerous situation with possible physical violence, both were in San Francisco... when I was there for a conference.

I was supposed to meet colleagues for dinner, and decided to walk to the restaurant probably should have taken a cab to the restaurant DEFINITELY should have taken a cab back at 11pm, it was a much longer walk than I anticipated and through a rather sketchy neighborhood. Nothing happened, but I definitely felt eyes on me- could have been paranoia on my part, but I don't get that feeling often.

A second incident was even later at night, I had ended up getting a hotel in a less than ideal area- I went for cigarette in front of the lobby at around 1am- I was approached by a young woman with a story about how she had come into the city with some friends to hit the clubs and gotten separated and she needed money for a ride- a man acting inebriated suddenly comes by and starts talking at her asking her if she is lost interrupting her pitch to me - she acts exasperated by the interruption and walks away from him while trying to keep talking to me trying to draw me around the corner out of sight from the hotel lobby. EVERYTHING about the interaction felt wrong- Like I was witnessing a well rehearsed act being performed in a tired way... the way she was dressed for supposedly going to clubs with friends, her reaction to the interrupting man... it felt like a setup. So I just said I was sorry I couldn't help, I lied and said I had left my wallet in my room, put out my smoke and went into the hotel. Something in the way she interacted with the supposed stranger interrupting her made me certain they knew each other quite well.

Could have been late night paranoia, but I felt fairly sure that had I followed her around the corner they suddenly would be working together to get what they could from me.

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