Oh, I haven't thought of this story in awhile - it's long, but scary.
So, I used to spend summers up in the Adirondacks at my friend's camp. This was pretty out there too - we were around forty five minutes outside of Lowville, NY, if that gives anyone an idea. One day we drive into "town" (which was a gas station, a bar, a tiny grocery store, and this big barn) to see fireworks. It was myself (age 14), my best friend (aged 15) and my best friend's older sister (aged 21).
On the drive home, a car began following us very aggressively. He was ON our bumper at one point. My friend's sister (MFS) was driving, and sped up, thinking that the other car simply wanted to go faster. Nope, it just encouraged them to get even closer, and start weaving across the road. We were driving on basically one lane country roads, no houses, no towns, no lights - it was really scary and unsafe. None of us had cellphones, and even if we did they would not have worked so far out. MFS knew the area quite well, and ended up speeding up really fast, taking two turns, and pulling into the driveway of a camp that she knew was unoccupied. We turned off the car and laid down on the seats, hoping that if the other car followed up and drove by, they would just see a dark camp and an empty car in the driveway and not realize it was us. At this point we weren't sure if we were being deliberately targeted or if this was just some jerk driver. I cannot ever forget the feeling of huddling in that dark car, holding my breath, praying that they would pass by.
As it turns out, we were being targeted. The car drove by the house once, realized the car was ours, and came back, pulling their car behind ours to try and trap us in the driveway. We got away by peeling out over this person's lawn, and managed to turn around and get back to town before they caught up. We waited at the bar for my friend's dad to come and escort us home - there was only one police officer in the area, and his response time would have been much longer. We never called the police, because none of us could have identified the car or the driver.
So, the next night, Friend and I are home alone. Everyone else had gone to the drive-in (an hour away), but we had been shaken by what happened the night before and just wanted to stay home and watch movies. Halfway through the night, the phone rings. Friend answers it and hands it to me with a confused look:
Me: "Hello?"
StrangeMan: "Sleepykitty." (He used my real name.) "Sleeeeeeeepykitty."
Me: "Who are you?"
SM: "We're coming to see you tonight."
At this point, I hung up the phone. They called back, we didn't answer, so they left a message: "Sleepykitty. Pick up the phone. Sleepykitty. Oh well, I guess we will see you soon."
Cue panic attack on my part. My friend stayed calm, but I think it was a show of bravado for me. Luckily, we had three dogs in the house with us who would bark at any sign of strangers - unluckily, they were Golden Retrievers who would probably lick someone sooner than bite them. My friend went into her mom's room, got the shotgun (kept for bears) and sat with me at the kitchen table until everyone else got home. Nothing ever happened that night, or any following night. I never had a problem up there again.
No one knew where I was besides my parents. I mean, people back home may have know generally that I was at Friend's camp, but not where the camp was. The phone number was unlisted. I knew nobody in the surrounding camps (there was a good mile and a half between each camp, as well). Who these people were, how they knew my name, how they knew where I was, and how they got the phone number is a mystery.
All I can think is that someone saw me at the fireworks, overheard my Friend calling me by my name, and recognized Friend and somehow got their phone number? But neither Friend nor her family recognized the man's voice, and it's a very small and close-knit area up there. I will always wonder what that was about, and what might have happened if we had really been trapped in that driveway.
