In reply to:
i remember, late one night, christmas eve, walking across a university campus, on the edge of a rough neighborhood.
as i walked, i thought i heard foot steps behind me.. i walked a little faster, and sure enough, someone was following me..
oftroy: We've had duplicate experiences...sorta.
My experience would read just like yours up to that point. And when I turned around, it wasn't a friend, but a teen with a knife. My arms were full of decorations I'd bought on the Eve Last Minute Sale. And I'd decided to detour up an alley, one behind Linden Row where Poe had lived while in Richmond. The teen had followed me in the darkness, had caught up with me, and I was thunderstruck. All I remember saying is, "It's Christmas Eve. My family's waiting for me." He said, "Kiss me." So I kissed him, ran up the alley, ran up the back steps, went into the apartment by the back entrance, broke down and cried--there was no family waiting there--called the police, they came, I broke down and cried some more, and that was that. I learned not to walk in dark alleys by myself. I was only about 22 years old, but I should have known better in the middle of the city. It was the memory of the sight of the knife that really did me in emotionally.
