Stranger Danger

By: Anna Richardson

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“Please! We’ll be fine!” I whined to my mom. My mom, and my friend Zoey’s mom were getting singing lessons with the Riekes Center. Zoey, her little sister Ava, and I knew we would be bored so we wanted our Moms to let us take my dog, Teddy, for a quick walk so we wouldn’t get stuck in the building waiting. 

“Alright. Just around the neighborhood.” my mom finally agreed.

We left the building ready to take our peaceful walk around the neighborhood.

 A quick note about Teddy is that he reacts poorly to barking dogs. He’ll lunge and pull you with him. This has not worked out in the past for him, it’s even resulted in a dog ripping his ear. Anyway, we continued on our way, walking down road after road. We passed a fence with a fierce looking dog. I kept walking so as not to disturb the dog or Teddy. As we continued our walk, the path became less and less familiar. The houses looked more run down around us and the cracked road on which we walked had grass growing from it. The trees that had littered the sides of the streets were becoming denser and the lighting was orange and dim. Unsure where we were, we started looking around. Just then, a small silver car pulled up. The window rolled down and an old man peeked through.

“Hello,”

I smiled at the man.

“ Could you get in the car and show me the way to Fourth Street? I think I’m lost.” He smiled, but not in a kind way, it was the look a hawk gives when it spots hurt prey.

I paled and clutched Ava’s hand. Zoey froze. I swear I could hear my heart beating. I was so quiet. I could feel a light breeze gently brushing my face. I could hear bells ringing “Danger! Danger!” in my head. Warnings from parents and other adults rushed through my brain.

“No. I don’t know where that is… sorry,” I stuttered after a moment. 

The man’s smile turned to a frown, then a glare. He looked at us for a second longer and drove off. I looked at Zoey, she looked at me and then without wasting another second we ran. We ran as fast as we could, hiding behind cars as we went. Cars passed us and, if they were small and looked slightly silver, we would hide. Teddy I think enjoyed all the running as he had no idea what was going on. The cars would always be too grey or big or long so we would run back out in the open again.  As we got closer to the Riekes Center I heard a dog barking. It was the dog behind the gate I had seen earlier!

“Oh no!” I thought to myself, but I couldn’t stop running towards the gate with the barking dog. I was going too fast. Suddenly Teddy lunged at the dog. My muscles tensed.

“Teddy!” I screeched.

I tried to stop him but it was too late. He was too strong. I fell but he kept pulling me. I could hardly feel the blood rushing from my knees that were slowly being torn up. Gravel flew up around me. Just as I thought, “It’s too late,” my dragging body stopped him about three feet from the gate. 

I pulled myself up and clenched his leash. I was flushed with adrenaline. I felt relief cover my body. Teddy was safe. We were safe and no one seemed to be following us. We staggered back to the Riekes Center out of breath. People stared at me when we walked in. I looked like I had gotten into a fight. Blood was dripping down my cut up knees and elbows. My favourite pants were torn. I was all scratched up and panting. I barely noticed any of this as I was still slightly in shock. Our moms rushed over and asked what had happened. I told them the story but was still shaking. 

“We don’t remember the license plate number,” Zoey chimed in after I was done. I nodded in agreement.

I felt nervous around other people for the rest of the day. I still am a little extra cautious around people and silver cars. To this day I still remember that experience, but not with fear-- with excitement. Because as scary as it was, it’s not every day that something like that happens to you. Although, if I didn’t get away, it probably would have been a very different story. The funny thing is that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. When I was seven, something similar happened at a Chinese night market. Maybe it’s a coincidence that I’ve had two attempted kidnaps, but some people don’t believe in coincidences, and I am not one of them.