Don't be trusting...

            Well, I’m currently sitting in the bus station in Wetaskiwin. It’s a grand little place!! NOT!! I left Camrose at 7:30, and now have to wait until 10:45…the time is now 8:35. Kind of a bad system! So I had an incident yesterday that rattled me right to the core. It is reading week at our school, and there are very few people around campus. I was the only girl on my floor, including my RA. A random guy came onto my floor, started to chat with me, asking several questions that were too personal. He was trying to get to know me very quickly, but not letting as much information about himself out. He said he was looking at moving to Camrose from Edmonton, and was just checking out the city. I asked if he planned to come to school, and he said he already had his BEd from the U of A. I thought to myself, then why are you on a university campus in the dorms on the girl’s floor?! He was really friendly, quite tall, with very very disturbing eyes. They were very piercing. I tried to ditch him by saying I had to go for supper, but he insisted that he come with me. I was really uncomfortable, and with no one around I wasn’t sure what to do. I decided to go to the guys dorms to get a friend, a hockey player to come with me. The whole way up the stairs, I prayed he was there. If he wasn’t I had no plan except kick him in the shins and run! Not a great plan, but a plan all the same! So, Carter, my friend, and his friend, and I, and the creepy man who claimed to be Matt went to the cafeteria for supper. He sat with us for probably an hour. Carter kept telling him stories to try to freak him out, and show how weird this place is, but nothing worked! He ate it up and seemed more intrigued! I have never met such a creepy man in my whole life! Even my friend’s friend, also a hockey player, had to leave because he thought this guy was so strange. He kept asking to hang out with him, and how we should go to Edmonton and hit up Whyte Ave with him. Carter finally said he was leaving, and the guy asked me for my number. I informed him I wasn’t comfortable giving it to him and walked away. Carter and I were in the lobby of the dorms when we saw that he was coming back. We then bolted to the guys dorms and locked ourselves in his friend’s room. He ended up leaving a note on my white board, saying to call him or e-mail him some time, and left both his e-mail address and his phone number. I stayed with Carter for most of the day, and he had to escort me down to the basement to get my laundry. I have never been so terrified in my whole life. The situation doesn’t sound that bad, but the things he would say, and the things he would comment on, and the eyes that he would look at me with! After it happened, I thought about what could have happened. I was so lucky, that I was aware of his creepiness and that something was off about him. And those eyes!! I was so lucky to have someone like Carter to help me out. I replay it in my head if Carter wasn’t there, and lets say it didn’t end so happy.
            As I sit here, in the lovely bus station, drinking my $1 coffee I got to thinking. How can one person, rattle me so much, and change my sense of security? I don’t feel safe. Even in my room, with the door locked, knowing there were security guards at the front doors, with a detailed description of this guy, I didn’t feel safe. I slept for 2 hours, and did it with the light on and the TV on as well. I woke up several times in a hot sweat after dreaming about him. I haven’t had a nightmare in a long long time, and I’m sure glad I haven’t! One man changed the way I felt about being secure. And one man made me feel safe. How can one personal challenge my ability to feel safe, while another made me feel very secure?! And how can we ever really know someone? How do I really know that Carter won’t hurt me and this Matt guy will be fine?! I later Canada411ed his number that he left. Turns out it was a number from Morinville, with a totally different name. Matt claimed he was from Edmonton, and lived on Whyte Ave. Who can we trust?! I am just so thankful that I listened to my senses and my conscience, and Carter’s and was very careful. I am also so thankful that Carter was there to help me and make me feel safe. I honestly would have had a breakdown had it not been for him. So my challenge is this, be careful. Be skeptical. Don’t be as trusting as you might have been. I of course wasn’t trusting to this guy, but I think we should always have our edge. Especially the girls.