< Translator’s note: The original formatting of the stories has been preserved. The translations aim to remain as close as possible to each author's original wording and expression.
When I was around 14, I used to roller-skate around our small town quite often. One day, while I was skating through the park, I noticed a man standing nearby who stared at me as I skated past. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time.
One turn out of the park and about a hundred metres further on, I ran into that same man. He stopped me, saying he also liked sports and roller skates. He seemed sober, and the way he spoke at first reminded me of my father, so I felt calm. We talked for about three minutes, and fortunately, I went home safe. But unfortunately, that isn’t the end of the story.
A few months later, I was walking with a friend to see her home. At one of the intersections, this same man recognised me and, beyond a greeting, started walking alongside us. He was clearly somewhat drunk, but not enough to be stumbling into people. And so the two of us, without really being given any choice, walked along and listened to what he was saying. Along the way, he kept trying to find out where we were going, what my hobbies were, what I was interested in, and where I’d be going after I’d walked my friend home.
The frightening thing is that at first I didn’t see any danger, because my first impression of him had been similar to the image I had of my father. My friend immediately closed herself off and pulled away. Somewhere around halfway to her house, thanks to her reaction and to the growing realisation of just how strange this man’s behaviour was, we quickly agreed that I would go inside with her rather than continue on alone. Even when I told the stranger I was going to my friend’s, he asked how long I’d be. He walked us to her building’s entrance, and as we saw from the windows afterwards, he waited outside for me to come back out.
My friend and I called our parents, and my father came to get me. When I got home, I collapsed on the doorstep and cried. By then, my phone was at 2% battery, and who knows what might have happened if my friend hadn’t reacted the way she did and helped me understand I was in danger.
After that situation, I spent a long time going out of my way to avoid men and boys wherever I could. And unfortunately, these aren’t all of my stories, though in the other cases, nothing quite as frightening happened.
Anonymous author; story shared in 2023 as part of the “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence” campaign