Hi /r/letsnotmeet

This kind of thing is well beyond my scope of normal, so please bear with me. It happened a few hours ago, and I'm pretty sure it's been less than ten minutes since my heartbeat returned to usual speed.

I am blind. Totally and completely, no light or shadows blind from age four. That means different things for travel. If I'm out with friends, it's not uncommon to have strangers approaching my friends and thanking them for how nice they are, or even handing them money. (I know. California, what're you gonna do?) If I'm out alone, it is not uncommon to be approached and even followed for a small ways, and asked where I'm going and if I need help getting there. The thing is, I'm not especially talkative between points A and B. So unless I actually do need help, I give a firm and concise "I'm fine, thank you" and that's usually the end of it. Tonight was an entirely different animal.

So I live about two blocks from my local 7/11, where I go once or twice a day on weekends to refill my doublegulp. I walk up 4th to Walnut and make a left without crossing it, putting Walnut on my right, 4th behind me and the block to my left. First I pass the corner house, then a big parking lot for customers of the Dominos Pizza, and the 7/11 in question. I usually turn into the parking lot and trail along the front of the Dominos until I reach the 7/11, because I don't like walking that far with busy Walnut traffic on my right and wide open space to my left. It's a route I've probably walked a hundred times.

Tonight, I was in a pretty good mood. Just walking along humming Shake Machine by Paul and Storm to myself, while of course remaining as attuned to my surroundings as necessary. I made a left at Walnut like always and passed in front of the house, from whose direction I heard some whispering. Nothing I could really make out, but it was loud enough to hear over the cars rushing past on my other side. "Huh, weird," I thought, and continued on my way.

As I reached the parking lot and turned left into it, I started thinking about it. I had only heard one voice whispering. I wondered why and immediately started thinking of short story ideas involving people whispering to themselves. Maybe a mad soothsayer, or a thief guildmaster whispering riddles through a metal grate in the floor of an alleyway to an applicant. Maybe something creepy, like a ghost that cannot find peace until... wait, am I remembering the whispering that vividly, or am I actually hearing it? Is it getting clo-HOLYFUCKTHEREAREHANDSONMYARMANDSHOULDER!

I'm not too imposing, not a pushover. I'm 5-9 and strong but a little chubby. I've survived the few dust-ups I've been involved in, but imagine thinking about spooky things, then realizing the whispering you heard a few minutes before is not just in your memory but right in your left ear. And that the source of that whispering was able to get close enough to put hands on you, whispering all the while. I screamed. Loud. Remember knocking Johnny Cage into the acid circa 1994? That's what I sounded like.

My whole body tensed up and I turned quickly to the left, ready to sweep or trip or do something else I learned in high school Judo and foolishly haven't practiced since. My right knee and cane came up against a soft body, whose hands were straight up holding my left arm and shoulder. It was a woman, I could tell by the whispers I could understand now that she was up close and touching me. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you go on keep moving don't slow down never slow down they'll never slow down they're after us especially you go on go on." And onward.

Once I could think again, I sort of shrugged off her hand and panted through my usual dismissive thank you now please go away spiel.

She stayed on me, you guys. Hand on my back like I was her promdate and not the dude she made very thankful he decided to wear his yellow pants. "I'm fine, I'm fine," I must have told her half a dozen times. To which she very vehemently whispered "No no you're not you're not fine you're not okay nothing is okay go straight go straight be careful there's a pole you're not fine hurry."

I managed to lose her by stepping into one of those dividers they have with plants and stuff in the middle. I straight up stepped over/kicked my way through some bushes to get out of the Dominos side of the parking lot and into the 7/11 side, and I guess she had a little bit of trouble there because that's where she let go of me. Of course, me losing her is worlds apart from her losing me. I had broken physical contact, but there's no way in hell she saw me go over that divider and was like "Damn! Well maybe next time."

While I was paying for my drink I asked the guy at the counter if he saw me approaching the store. He said no so I told him about what had happened. His coworker immediately went "Shit, that sounds like Tiffany."

I asked, "Who's Tiffany? Is she dangerous? Is it drugs? Is this The Shining? I have so many questions right now."

They didn't have answers for me, beyond that she's a recent addition to the scenery, and has freaked out a handful of customers to the point of having the cops called on her a couple times. Apparently she follows people, but this is downtown in a college town. I'm probably the first she's caught up with. They asked me if I wanted the cops called on her, and I said no. By that point I was starting to feel silly and just wanted to take my soda and go home.

When I stepped back out, she was sitting on the ground next to the door and kind of held my knee for a split second before I freaked out afresh and booked it away from the 7/11 and back to the edge of the parking lot. I didn't slow down until I was in front of the house where I first heard her whispering. Then I heard a few staggering footsteps from back toward the parking lot and very, very quickly made my way home. Now I'm afraid I'm going to answer the phone and hear her on the line, or maybe outside my window. I mean I live two blocks away.

Logically, I know none of that is likely to happen. Still, it's spooky. A friend suggested maybe it was a Halloween prank. I don't think so. I'm pretty sure this is the birthplace of the affirmative consent form. People don't touch each other like that here, without jumping through all the right hoops and signing forms in triplicate before three notaries, two reporters and the head of campus security.

I don't know what she wanted. Maybe something weird, maybe nothing at all. But I think I'll be going to Exon for the next little bit. Hey creepy whispering lady... i go home now pls no follow