Help! I think he’s going to kill me!

This whole... thing started around 3 weeks ago.

My car had broken down for the second time in just as many months, and even though the mechanic told me that it would only take them a day, I was forced to ride the bus for the rest of the week.

I’m sure, if you ever had to do something like that, you know just how fucking pissed I was.

I had to get up an hour earlier every morning, yet I almost never made it on time anyway. Instead of picking up coffee along the way, I had to squeeze myself into what felt like a metal tube, filled with strangers and their smells.

If I left just on time, I somehow managed to arrive only half an hour later than I would have with my car.

I was cursing out some deity or another every single time I boarded that bus.

Between the rough driving, the noise and smells of other people, and the constant delays, I really thought I might either get fired or assaulted by the end of the week.

Let’s be honest here... it just doesn’t work... not having a car, I mean.

At least around these parts of the country.

Now... back to my problem.

It all happened, as I said, about three weeks ago. On a Thursday, to be exact.

I got out of work at just past five and sprinted through the city to get to the bus stop in time, already promising myself that I wouldn’t have to do that any more soon.

By the end of the week, I would have my car again, I told myself.

It would be smooth sailing from then on. Back to my old ways.

Well, I managed to catch the bus, drenched in sweat and completely out of breath, and the only reason I did so was because someone blocked the road for a minute or two, otherwise, it would have passed me by.

I was so thankful at that moment, yet I curse that person now.

When I boarded the bus, breathing heavily, it wasn’t nearly as full as it normally would be, which might have been a clue, I think.

This time, I even got a seat, although not one of the good ones, since I had to sit with my back to the driver and was looking at all the other people taking the bus, just like me.

So I took it and started staring out of the window.

The first ten minutes were completely normal.

Well... as normal as riding the bus can be. I watched some people in business clothes boarding and sitting down. They looked exhausted and I had to smile as I saw my own fatigue reflected in their faces.

A few kids came in the next stop, with music blaring from their phones. I don’t know if they don’t realize how much they bother the rest, or if they’re doing it on purpose.

Then an old man with a cane boarded, and kept holding it almost like a weapon as soon as he saw the youths.

You know... the normal circus, so to speak.

But that all changed at the sixth stop.

I know that, because I replayed what happened next almost constantly in my mind.

This guy boarded the bus, and I immediately felt that he was trouble.

He entered from the door in the back, slowly lumbering in, with his head tucked so it wouldn’t hit the top of the frame.

His brown coat was dirty. He wore an ill-fitting hoodie underneath. His jeans looked washed out and scraped and there were bandages on his right hand.

I know it’s not nice to say, but I immediately thought this guy would smell.

And he did.

Of tobacco, cheap booze, and rancid sweat.

The odor was so strong that I stopped breathing through my nose as I watched this man standing by the back door, slowly turning his head.

He looked rough. Everything about him just seemed off, somehow.

The hood he was wearing didn’t cover his greasy hair and those dark shades over his eyes made him look like a junkie.

Some small voice in the back of my mind already screamed at me to get up and walk out, but the prospect of arriving home even later made me stay.

I felt a kind of morbid fascination, I have to admit.

Watching this big, strange-looking guy standing there, swaying from side to side as the bus set off again...

Well... all of that disappeared the moment his gaze fell upon me.

He stopped turning and looking around the second he spotted me and our eyes met.

I could feel it, even if I didn’t see them through the shades.

It’s hard to describe what I felt at that moment. Fear? Yeah, but worse. My throat went dry in an instant and the stench seemed to invade my nose. I could feel my hands shaking and cold sweat breaking out all over my body...

Like a deer in headlights... or a mouse getting dropped right in front of a snake.

This terror gripped me and I immediately averted my eyes, even though every single part of my mind screeched at me that the damage was done already.

The man had spotted me, and I could hear the big, lumbering steps echoing around the bus as he slowly started to walk in my direction. Why didn’t I jump up then and run to the door by the bus driver? Would it even have made a difference?

I could feel him coming closer and closer. The stench was getting bad enough that I could taste it on my tongue.

This guy, he was heading for me, I knew, yet could do nothing but sit there and tremble.

His heavy steps reached the seat in front of me, and the woman who had been sitting there stood up.

I could smell his breath now too. The sour stench of rotten food.

He sat down across from me, just as the door opened, and I jumped up and ran.

Finally, my body had moved, had reacted to the oncoming danger, and even though it was far away from my stop, I just couldn’t bear it anymore.

I slipped out of the bus the moment before the door closed, almost stumbled, then dared to look back, and what I saw there, made my skin crawl.

The man was standing by the window, and staring out, directly at me.

I didn’t want to wait at the stop for the next bus. Somehow, I could feel this insane uneasiness... It felt like something told me that the man would get off at the next stop and come back here.

So I took an Uber home, paid the money gladly, and thought that with that, the whole episode would be over.

But no...

I still had to ride the bus the next day... taking an Uber once might have been fine, but I wasn’t about to pay a whole day’s wage just to get to and back from work...

The only thing I could think of, was starting my commute even earlier, then clocking out sooner. It’s not like my boss would mind, I told myself, and boarded the bus the next morning, a few minutes after six o’clock.

At first, I felt relief, when I got on and could see the bus being almost full of blue collar workers, all minding their own business in silence.

All would be well, I told myself.

How foolish. My happiness lasted around half an hour before we got to the part of the city where I had seen the guy.

The bus rounded a corner, and suddenly, I felt this strange feeling again.

Sweat was breaking out all over my body. I was hot and cold at the same time. My heart started racing and my lungs burned.

Completely overwhelmed, I looked up and saw it.

Him.

Standing at a street corner, a brown bag in his hand.

He was wearing the exact same outfit from last time, and his eyes, still covered by the shades, found mine immediately.

I don’t know how he recognized me, but he most definitely did. The moment he noticed I was in here, he dropped the bag and started to run after the bus. His big steps carried his massive body forward as we sped past.

A stop was soon coming up, I knew, and felt this fear and dread already gripping my heart again.

What did he want?

Why was he chasing me?

Had I insulted him in some way? Provoked him?

I don’t know... I can’t say...

All I could do was press my face against the window to look at and watch the man racing after the bus that would soon stop to let people out.... and in.

The vehicle came to a squealing halt and I wanted to scream.

I had lost sight of the man, but I was sure he was still running toward me. Somehow, I could feel it. His presence... The fear and terror that had gripped me told me to run and hide myself, but I knew that I wouldn’t make it far out there.

So I stayed in the bus, shaking and trembling like a child having a nightmare, as the sound of heavy steps coming down the road grew louder and louder.

I wanted to scream at the driver to go...

I wanted to duck and hide...

I wanted...

The stench hit me suddenly, and I could have broken down on the spot.

Tobacco, alcohol, sweat.

It invaded the bus and almost made me retch.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him. The big, lumbering figure sprinted full speed down the sidewalk.

The door was still open.

I wanted to cry.

He would get on the bus, I knew, at that moment, and contemplated jumping off.

Suddenly I heard the doors falling shut and felt the engine starting up, just as two massive hands hit the side of the bus in frustration.

The driver cursed but drove off, and as I looked behind, I could see the man standing there, out of breath, while his eyes still followed me.

To say I was useless at work that day would be an overstatement. I was a nervous wreck the whole time and my boss told me to leave early since I wasn’t managing to do much anyway...

Thankfully, I thought, I needed to get on another bus that day, which would take me to the service center, to finally get my car back.

What I didn’t expect was that as soon as I walked over to the bus stop, that smell suddenly hit me.

I was standing in a crowd of people and couldn’t move.

The stench was here.

So strong.

Luckily, the bus came just a few seconds later, and I boarded it without a problem, but as soon as we drove off, right in the alley next to the stop, I saw him again.

And he saw me.

The fear gripped me, even though I knew he wouldn’t be able to get to me that time...

He started to run, but the bus drove off and deeper into the city.

Shit...

I should have noticed it back then. The fact that the bus stop I had been waiting at was so close to my work... This strange guy was slowly but steadily finding me.

Maybe if I had just left then and there, I would have been able to get away from him?

No... I don’t think so.

Something is wrong here... with him, or me...

Whatever the case... I can’t even begin to describe how elated I felt as I got in my car again... I would have taken any kind of trade-in as well.

All I wanted was to be able to drive on my own once more.

To leave public transportation behind, and with it, that man...

Well, I was wrong.

Not even a day later, I stopped at a gas station, miles away from where I worked, opened the door, then froze.

There it was again.

That stench, followed by the terror I always felt.

A shadow seemed to fall upon me as I looked up and saw a figure, standing by the side of the building, staring at me.

He was grinning widely as he started to run.

I threw my door shut and put my foot down, shooting out of the station and into traffic.

Luckily, I didn’t crash, because as I looked into the rearview-mirror, I could see the man running along the sidewalk again.

I don’t know what I did to him, or how he manages to pop up wherever I go...

Over the next few weeks, I saw him almost daily.

Sometimes lingering around the street where my company is, other times, waiting by the road.

Twice I had to drive off as I had stopped at a red light when I suddenly saw him appear from one of the alleys...

He’s coming closer, I can feel it...

Sometimes at night, I wake up with this dread in my chest.

I’ve talked to the police, but they can’t help or don’t want to help, since my description seems off...

I even got myself a gun, but I don’t know if it will be enough...

I’m so fucking scared all the time...

Right now, I’m staying in a hotel, since last night, I saw the figure from my window, walking around the streets out there.

I think he knows where I am...

He can find me anywhere... No matter where I run, no matter what I do...

Even in my nightmares, he appears.

I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t rest.

The gun is next to my laptop right now...

There’s this stench in the air, coming from outside my room...

Oh God...

I think he found me.