3x04: He's Not My Father (feat. David Ault)

[00:00:00] My guest this week is returning voiceover actor David Ault. Enjoy. Not long after we got married back in 2014, my husband and I moved from Rockingham, North Carolina to Fayetteville, North Carolina. We didn't have any friends or family there

[00:00:34] but he was offered a good job in his field and so off we went. With the move being so quick, I was still looking for a job when we got there. So for

[00:00:45] the first few weeks, I was home alone while he was at work. I will say we weren't in the best neighborhood but in our immediate situation it was an area that we could afford.

[00:00:56] Plus our landlord that we were renting from lived right next door and she was extremely nice, ex-military. So I never worried about being there alone until one afternoon. I was doing some laundry when my dogs started barking. I didn't hear anything so I looked out the

[00:01:12] front window to see what they were worked up about and I saw a man walking down our road. Now this was a dead end cul-de-sac road with just our house and our landlords at the

[00:01:25] end. So it was very unusual for anyone to come down that far. He was walking pretty slowly, looking around and behind him constantly. I thought he was weird so I kept watching. He finally stopped then started walking back up the road. At this point, thinking it was

[00:01:44] odd but that he was probably just lost, I brushed it off and went back to what I was doing. About 30 minutes later, I get a knock at the door. I peek out the window to find

[00:01:55] that the man from earlier was standing on my doorstep. At this point I was very weary but dumb curiosity got the best of me so after a few knocks, I opened the door. This is how

[00:02:08] our conversation went. Hey miss, is your husband home? He should be here any minute. Can I help you with something? Oh no. I mean yeah probably. He said that I could cut your grass

[00:02:22] so I was coming to talk to him about it. Side note, my husband has never and would never have anyone else cut our grass. He enjoys doing it and can be very particular about it. Is

[00:02:35] that so? When did you talk to him about that? A few days ago. He said he would give me $50. Knowing at this point that there was no way that this was true and then realizing he not

[00:02:49] only had no lawnmower with him but also he had walked there, I started feeling very uncomfortable. Sir, I think you must be confused. I know he hasn't spoken to anyone about that.

[00:03:01] He responded, how long have you lived here? I can come back tomorrow and do it. I'll come back then. No sir, that's not necessary and I'd really appreciate it if you left now. He

[00:03:15] seemed unfazed and we just stood there in silence for what felt like forever while he stood uncomfortably close to the door. Without saying anything else, he walked down the steps

[00:03:27] and back towards the road. I watched to make sure that he left and once he was out of sight, I locked all of the doors and continued with my day. That evening I told my husband about my day

[00:03:39] and that included a strange man. He confirmed what was already known that he had not spoken to anyone about cutting our grass. A little weirded out but letting it go, we laughed and

[00:03:53] chalked it up to nothing. The next day around lunchtime, I was alone once more and there was a knock at the door. I peered out the window to see that the man was back. I just stood there at

[00:04:05] the door not moving, not really knowing what to do. That's when he started yelling, asking if my husband was home or if it was just me. I'm assuming after realizing that I was there looking

[00:04:18] out. He continued knocking and yelling that he was there to cut our grass and that he just needed to talk to me about it. I yelled back that I didn't see a lawnmower and that I already told

[00:04:31] him yesterday that we didn't need any help. I could hear him mumbling and then he started yelling again that he just needed to talk and could I please open the door. I again told him no. I went

[00:04:45] back and forth with him like this a few times. I told him at this point that I was calling the police, which I probably should have but I didn't, and that he needed to leave now as they are on

[00:04:57] their way and we had nothing to talk about. He stood there for another few minutes seemingly unbothered and looking around and then eventually walked away and went back up the road. After that

[00:05:12] day I started keeping a gun near my front door, although thankfully he never came back. I'm not sure what his exact intentions were but I'm happier not knowing. Creepy lawn care guy, let's not meet.

[00:05:27] So this happened a few months ago. I'm a sophomore in college and was traveling down to my hometown over break. I was having some relationship issues with my stepmum so I didn't want to stay at my dad's

[00:05:49] house the night I arrived at my hometown, so I phoned a friend of mine from high school if I could stay at his place. I knew from social media that he was still in town and I've stayed at his

[00:05:59] place before so I knew there would be a place for me to stay if they could allow it. My friend, let's call him Zed, seemed like a pretty normal dude. We weren't best friends or anything but we

[00:06:12] got pretty close by the time we graduated. We would occasionally text or hang out if I was in town and catch up, reminisce on the times we spent in orchestra or an English class. When I called he

[00:06:24] seemed extremely enthusiastic. Zed's a normally upbeat guy but this time it seemed like he was getting a brand new car. I didn't think about it at the time and he said I could sleep in the guest

[00:06:35] room so I headed over. When I got to his house he was just as excited as he was on the phone. He was bringing up stuff to do like getting high and watching weird movies or playing video games. Zed's

[00:06:50] parents weren't home so he really wanted the opportunity to smoke. I was pretty tired from the drive but since we rarely see each other I thought a little bit of bonding couldn't hurt.

[00:06:59] We played smash bros, smoked some weed and just chatted for a few hours. It was longer than I wanted but I was having fun so whatever right? By the time it was getting late around 2am he

[00:07:13] started asking some pretty weird questions like if I ever wondered what it was like to kill someone or if I thought anyone would miss me if I was gone. This along with some pretty normal questions

[00:07:24] like if I had a boyfriend or how my parents are doing or if I'm making any friends at school gave me a weird feeling. I was confused in the moment but it didn't hit me until after that Zed

[00:07:36] could be assessing me for something bad. The weirdness of it all made me just want to go to bed. We stopped the game and both went into the basement where his room and the guest room were.

[00:07:46] We say goodnight, I go to my room and get ready for bed. I'm having trouble sleeping, just insomnia that I've had for a while so I stay awake for around an hour until I hear some movement outside

[00:07:58] my room. The walls were pretty thin so I could hear footsteps walking past my door and up the stairs to the main floor then back down quickly after. What struck me as odd was that I didn't

[00:08:11] hear the basement door open which creaks when it does. The light didn't turn on so I was confused what Zed was doing. I heard him go back into his room but I had this odd feeling. Just ever since

[00:08:24] I met him this night he seemed a lot different than he's ever been. I decided to look him up on social media and google to see anything out of the ordinary. Everything seemed normal until

[00:08:37] I found his tumblr which was linked from his inactive twitter account that I found on my twitter contact list. His tumblr was, well, disturbing. There were graphic drawings of mutilated bodies of humans and animals, links to suspicious looking websites that I didn't

[00:08:56] dare to click on, text posts and stories about murdering, cannibalism, necrophilia and torture. There were photos of guns, knives and axes which, after looking closely, were taken in his bedroom. The last post, around a week prior, was a text post from the account saying he wished he could

[00:09:15] find someone easy to kill like a homeless person. I was immediately filled with dread. I knew he was going to do something, he must have gone up the stairs to lock the door. I packed my things,

[00:09:28] luckily I packed lightly and opened this small window at the top of my bedroom's wall. I started desperately climbing through and as I was pulling my legs through he opened the door. It was dark but the street light illuminated enough for me to see that he was carrying

[00:09:44] something long and skinny, so probably a knife. He didn't say anything, I didn't say anything, I just turned around, hopped in my car and drove as fast as I could to my dad's house. I immediately blocked him everywhere and reported his tumblr account not before telling the police.

[00:10:04] They said they couldn't do anything as the guns were registered under his dad and he hasn't actually done anything yet. Nevertheless, I told my other high school friends not to hang out ever

[00:10:16] with Zed. Ever since then I've been creeped out whenever I meet new people. Just the realisation that someone I knew so well could underneath be this person who could hurt me so bad, who could

[00:10:30] kill me. I don't know what you're doing now Zed, I'm not sure I want to know but I hope you're getting help. Anyway, let's not meet again. Yesterday my sister and I travelled home from

[00:10:55] across the country to arrive at the airport at 11.59pm. After 8 hours of flying we were quite excited to grab a quick Uber and be home shortly. My sister opened up her app and confirmed that the

[00:11:07] ride was there as we were walking out of the terminal. But that Uber driver quickly cancelled on us and I realised that the rates were surging and he likely dropped us to pick up a new ride

[00:11:20] at a higher rate since 3 large flights were just landing at that time. No big deal, I told her we would walk outside and schedule a new Uber driver when we got to the rideshare area. We were met

[00:11:32] with an icy 32 degree night with lots of wind which is unusual for that area. It was almost painful as the wind hit our faces. We hurried over to the covered rideshare spot and started

[00:11:46] the process on my phone to grab another Uber while staying amongst the crowd of shivering bodies also waiting for their rides. After just a few minutes we were assigned a new Uber driver, we'll call him Timothy. Our airport has a lot that's specifically for cell phone waiting

[00:12:04] and rideshares, basically meaning people waiting on a call to come pick up their passenger who has just arrived. I quickly noticed that Timothy showed up on the map outside of this area in a

[00:12:16] different parking lot, away from the other Uber drivers who were on the map in the cell phone parking lot. I thought that was a little odd but I mean who knows, maybe he was already driving around.

[00:12:29] It took him a bit longer to get to us than it should have, showing that he stayed in the parking lot that he was in for a couple of minutes before starting towards us. Again, kind of out of the

[00:12:39] ordinary for an Uber driver, at least in my experience. We had of course looked at his profile, he had a 4.9 rating and over a thousand rides so he seemed legit and proven as far as an Uber driver

[00:12:52] goes. My sister and I anxiously waited for the driver to come over to us on the little Uber map, looking forward to getting into a warm car and out of the freezing night. By this time it was

[00:13:03] roughly 12 30 a.m and we were ready to get home. As we climbed into the car I noticed the seats, they were the first dirty seats I'd ever seen in an Uber and we'd been taking Ubers our entire trip

[00:13:15] for the past four days. There seemed to be liquid stains on them that had been poorly cleaned. That was the first thing that grabbed my attention other than an awkward vibe. We added her address to

[00:13:27] the ride since we live in different places. Basically he was to drive about 20 minutes to my house, drop me off and then another 25 minutes to her house and drop her off. He seemed happy

[00:13:36] about the longer route and explained that he had just sat in the lot and waited for the price surge to rise as passengers were getting off the planes and requesting rides. I guess he got to the

[00:13:46] rate that he liked and accepted us as a ride to pick up. He told us, I could have waited for the price to get even higher but something told me to go ahead and get a ride and it was you guys.

[00:13:59] I guess karma brought us together. As we started our journey Timothy said he likes to play a game when passengers have a longer ride with him and asked if we'd like to play by answering some

[00:14:12] questions. My sister and I are pretty intelligent and usually right on top of owning some trivia so we agreed and said let's play. His first question, how old do you think the earth is? Okay seems fair. We made our guesses and then he told us the factual answer.

[00:14:32] Seemed like some friendly trivia to us. Next question, how long do you think that modern humanity has been around? As in humans with opposable thumbs, conscious thoughts and the concept of time. We make our guesses and we're close to the answer that he had in mind. Great.

[00:14:53] Next question, do you believe in supernatural things like ghosts? We say maybe and he asks if we have ever had any supernatural experiences of our own. I tell him that I have. I feel like I

[00:15:10] felt my parents presence around me since they both passed away years ago and here and there I feel somebody stroke my hair or rub my back or sometimes I think I even smell them. My sister agrees and

[00:15:24] says that she has similar things occur with her. Timothy said he once was a non-believer in the supernatural but had his mind changed when he lived in an alleged haunted house. He then goes

[00:15:38] into a story about how he lived in a house locally that he and his roommate would hear crying children in. When there were no children there, day or night, they would hear crying or noises of children

[00:15:55] in general. I'll make this shorter than he did but the backstory to the house was apparently this. According to him, a local teacher had taken these children of different ages and kept them at this

[00:16:08] house in bad conditions. No electricity, living in filth, hungry and scared. He had done bad things to them and they were kept in the house together by him against their will. As the weather became

[00:16:21] colder, the children got desperate and cold. They found a way to light a fire in the house in the middle of one of the rooms for warmth. The fire attracted attention and the authorities arrived

[00:16:30] on the scene and found the children thus exposing the entire situation. The house did not burn down and from what he said, none of the children died at least as a result of the fire that day.

[00:16:43] Apparently Timothy and his roommate were the first people to live in the house since the fire. He said they found this information out from a neighbor to the house when they mentioned to them

[00:16:54] that they had heard the crying and the childlike noises in there. Next question. Do we believe in aliens? Well, maybe. We live in an infinite universe more vast than we can imagine.

[00:17:10] He agrees and throws some facts out about space. Things seem back to normal, just a weird trivia game again kind of. The vibe in the car was heavy with discomfort and at this point I handed my

[00:17:23] sister my portable battery pack because I knew her phone was on low battery. I did not want her in the car with this guy and a dead phone for sure. As I handed it to her we exchanged glances

[00:17:36] and I knew that we were feeling that same creepy atmosphere that was growing stronger. She texted me that she was thinking about getting off at my house instead of going home. Next question. Do we believe people can communicate with the dead? I say not really.

[00:17:53] My sister says maybe. No discussion was had over this answer and he just went on. Next question. Do you believe people have souls? We both say yes. He follows with, what do we think constitutes a soul? I say I think energy of a being along with their

[00:18:15] consciousness, emotions, and ability to connect to others. My sister agrees. He asks do we think dogs and cats have souls? I say I think dogs for sure and I'm not sold on cats. I ask him if he

[00:18:29] believes people have souls and he replies that he's not a religious person at all so he doesn't really believe in any of that. Next question. Do you believe that people can be alive and not have

[00:18:41] a soul? At this point you could cut the dreadful atmosphere in this car with a knife and both my sister and I were mentally plotting to tuck and roll in this situation without even communicating

[00:18:55] about it. We were getting close to our house and I broke the conversation by telling him that the turn to my neighborhood wasn't obvious and that he needed to be on the lookout and I'd

[00:19:08] tell him where to slow down. Timothy brought that conversation right back around to do we think people can live without a soul? I said I'd heard about black-eyed children and other lore type tales but that I'd never personally encountered somebody that I felt didn't have an essence to

[00:19:29] them. Then I asked him what he thought if he believed that people could exist without a soul and he answered it doesn't matter what I think it only matters what the writers think. The way he

[00:19:44] said it I was done. My sister and I both empathetic and can pick up on a person's energy easily and rather quickly. I looked over at her she looked like she was about to vomit.

[00:19:59] My fight or flight response was at 110% fight already and I was just keeping the conversation confident at this point. She had stopped responding altogether a few questions back. We were on my street at this point nearing my house as we pulled up my sister canceled the

[00:20:20] second half of the ride from my house to hers and before I even knew that she did that I looked at her and said hey you don't look like you're feeling well do you want to spend the night with

[00:20:32] me? And she said yes that would be great because she felt like she could vomit. He laughed a little bit and he said just don't throw up in my car. The tone in his voice was different you could tell

[00:20:47] that he was thrown off and disappointed that she no longer would be riding with him for another 25 minutes alone. We hurried into my house and just looked at each other knowing that we were lucky

[00:20:58] to be home. I don't know if she would have made it home if she had continued on the ride with him. My gut says that she probably would not have. Without talking about it at all in the car we

[00:21:11] both had the same high alert and uneasy feeling. The kind of feeling you get when something bad is about to happen. The kind of gut feeling that you know you had better pay attention to.

[00:21:24] Both of us certain that one of the upcoming questions could have been do you believe that you are not going home tonight? I was one of those kids you see walking around zoos or amusement

[00:21:46] parks wearing a leash. Those were already a thing 20 plus years ago but less common and were initially only tied around the wrist. In my case it was a necessity. I would always start wandering

[00:21:59] off from the rest of the family no matter what situation. This is one of the stories that led me to earning my leash. It happened when I was about 6 years old and I went to the zoo with my mum and

[00:22:13] sisters. Before every family outing my mum made sure to give me the talk about not walking off again or face the consequences. My mum was a strict parent that made good on her promises,

[00:22:24] she had to being a single mother of three. I didn't try to disobey her per se but I often just didn't pay attention to the world and people around me. No different this day I behaved and

[00:22:37] followed the group for a while but then a butterfly garden caught my attention and off I was. When I finally realised I separated myself from my mum and sisters again I panicked and started

[00:22:50] walking around the zoo looking for them, being afraid for my mum's reaction more than anything else. After a while I somehow got it in my head that if I could just walk out, find our car and

[00:23:02] wait there my family would eventually find me. So I did. I got lost within a couple of minutes walking around a strange neighbourhood looking for either our car or the way back to the zoo.

[00:23:15] Nothing looked familiar, I started crying and my mum was going to be so mad. Then this man came up to me just normal looking, about 40 years old asking me if I'm lost. I explained I lost my family

[00:23:28] when we were visiting the zoo and I'm looking for my way back. I couldn't believe my luck when the man told me he had just come from the zoo and saw a family standing near the entrance who were waiting

[00:23:38] for a little girl with blonde hair and a baseball cap. But it was still a few blocks away so he proposed I walk with him to his car and we could drive the rest of the way back. Just the mention

[00:23:50] of his car finally made me hesitant. I told him I wasn't allowed to get in a car with strangers, my mum would be so mad. He then said something like that was true but I look smart enough to

[00:24:01] know if I could trust someone. I don't remember the exact words but something like that. Also he added he spoke to my parents earlier when they were looking for me so he's not a complete stranger.

[00:24:12] That didn't seem right. I asked him if he really talked to my dad who had died a year before and when he said he did I broke down crying uncontrollably. I still didn't understand the

[00:24:23] situation I was in, I was just really confused about everything and scared of how angry my mum was going to be after all this. Finally my crying caught the attention of the security guard of a

[00:24:35] parking building we were standing next to asking if there was something he could help with. The guy stepped aside with the security guard and started explaining the situation but made it vaguely sound

[00:24:46] like he was my father and we were looking for his wife. The security guard seemed to believe him, pointing us in the right direction towards the zoo. The man thanks the security guard and proceeds

[00:24:56] to take my hand to walk away. The security guard takes a last look at me and asks me in a comforting friendly adult child kind of way why I'm still crying. I tell him that my dad is dead. He looks

[00:25:12] really confused for a few seconds then asks if this man is not my dad. I tell him again no my dad is dead. In a split second his whole face and posture changes and he turns to look at the guy

[00:25:24] who's trying to explain he never actually said he was my dad, that the security guard must have misunderstood and he was just helping me find my mum. The security guard said that he appreciated

[00:25:35] the man's help but he would take me off his hands now and the guy immediately took off. I don't think there was much else the security guard could have done. I explained the whole situation and after making a phone call he walked me to the entrance of the

[00:25:49] zoo which was just around the corner from the parking building. From there we were brought to the securities office where my mum and sisters were already waiting. I feel extremely lucky for

[00:26:00] the security guard being at the right place at the right time that day and very grateful for the extra second of time he took that could have made all the difference. So creepy dude that

[00:26:14] wanted to say he was my father, let's not meet. This took place when I was about 11 or 12. I'm 25 now. I was walking home from school one afternoon which didn't take very long as I

[00:26:40] lived in the same neighborhood. I was on the same road as my house when a car pulled over to me and the guy driving complimented me on my shoes. He seemed to be in his late 20s or 30s

[00:26:54] and had a really friendly atmosphere around him that I didn't initially question. My shoes aren't anything special, just black skater type shoes with three pink stripes on either side. He said

[00:27:09] his daughter would love these shoes and he wanted to buy her the same kind. He inquired if he could ask me some questions about them. I got a weird vibe immediately but being close to my house and

[00:27:25] being unbelievably naive, I agreed to answer his questions. He pulled over and parked just up in front of me and opened his driver's side door then beckoned me over and started asking typical

[00:27:39] questions such as where I got them from, how much they were and were they of good quality. I didn't know the brand of the shoe so I slipped it off to check the label while balancing on one

[00:27:52] foot. He said he wanted a closer look so he kept trying to get me to go closer. He asked to see my shoe and being so young and stupid I agreed. Luckily, I didn't get closer to the car but instead

[00:28:09] I passed him the shoe. He kept suggesting that I should rest my socked foot on his car as he was concerned if my balance faltered. My sock might get dirty. This had gotten too weird for me

[00:28:25] and I began asking for my shoe back and suggested that my mother was waiting for me. He then proceeds to bring my shoe up to his face and inhales deeply. He turned to me with a huge

[00:28:40] smile complimenting me on how wonderful my shoe smelled, how soft and sweet my feet must be and similar compliments. At this point I was done with this interaction,

[00:28:54] shoe back or not so I once again asked for my shoe back as I didn't want to explain to my mother why I came home with one shoe. He eventually handed it back to me after first trying to Cinderella it

[00:29:09] onto my foot, me obviously declining. Then he drove off. I was so embarrassed at my stupidity and naivety that I didn't even tell the story to anyone until years later.

[00:29:22] I hope no other kids were as idiotic as I was that day. Creepy foot fetish guy let's never meet again. I'd like to think I have pretty decent instincts now when it comes to knowing who has bad intentions

[00:29:47] but I wasn't always as cautious and observant as I am now. When I was in high school I always felt so ugly. I had low self-esteem and anxiety which was really more of a problem than my looks

[00:30:01] so if anyone of the opposite sex gave me even a little attention I would start to like them. I was pretty innocent despite how desperate I was having only kissed one boy so when I was 17 and a

[00:30:14] college guy put interest into me I immediately clung to him. I was on this app before Tinder and I met a guy who lived seven hours from my home city. His name was Brandon and he was gorgeous.

[00:30:30] Blonde hair, muscular blue eyes. He played soccer for his university and was 19 years old. Honestly he wasn't my usual type. I really liked guys with darker hair and eyes. I still do but

[00:30:43] he was really handsome and really kind. He would shower me with compliments and talk to me all the time. I lived alone, long story, in an apartment with just my cats so when I would get lonely or

[00:30:56] scared he always comforted me. A month into talking he started asking for pictures. Not ones of my face but obviously nudes or bra pictures. Now this was nearly six years ago and I didn't have a good

[00:31:11] concept of stranger danger on the internet. I mean smartphones had only really been around for two or three years at this point, at least in my school and with my age group. 17 year old me who was so

[00:31:23] insecure wanted to make him happy because I couldn't believe I had gotten a guy like him. I was ready to do anything he asked. I never sent naked pictures, I was too insecure for that,

[00:31:35] but I would send pictures of me in my bra. He would shower me with compliments saying how sexy and beautiful I was and I fell for every word. With time I started to get upset though, I wanted

[00:31:47] to see him. I would always send him pictures when he asked but he never sent me any. He would show me body pictures of him with his shirt off or things but the pictures were always a bad quality.

[00:32:02] When I started getting too persistent he promised he would start calling me. For some reason this appeased me and we'd talk many times a week. After a couple of months he got increasingly sexual with me,

[00:32:13] telling me what he wanted to do with me and how badly he wanted me. This made me nervous since I had only ever kissed a boy but it also made me a little excited. It felt good to be wanted by someone I had really grown to like.

[00:32:28] This was all during the first semester of my senior year of high school and I was going to turn 18 the next semester in late January. As it got to Christmas time he started to talk about coming to my city to see me for my birthday.

[00:32:43] This had me really excited since I wanted to see him in person so badly. We had first talked about me going to him, something he had insisted on, but I chickened out and said I couldn't do the drive alone. An excuse, I really didn't want to

[00:32:58] go to an older guy's house and stay with him alone. My own house made me feel more safe. We planned on a weekend after my birthday and everything seemed fine, but then one day in my choir class my best friend, an exchange student from Germany,

[00:33:12] was talking with me about him. I was telling her about him and showing pictures and she got very unsettled. Have you ever seen him on video? I told her no and she gave me a sceptical look.

[00:33:25] Something doesn't feel right. There is no way he is real, not that you couldn't date someone like him, but he is too perfect. She was very direct and blunt with me about it, something my other

[00:33:39] friends weren't. So I took her words deeply and I'm so thankful I did. I immediately asked him for a picture of his face. He made up some excuse about how he couldn't take a picture right then,

[00:33:52] so I persisted asking every day. Finally my instincts were kicking in and I was getting scared. I told him I wanted him to video call me. He said no. I fought him on it for hours one

[00:34:06] night, telling him that if he tells me the truth I won't get mad. He refused. I put the name he gave me into Facebook, determined to find him on my own if he wasn't going to give in. Nothing came

[00:34:18] up on him. I texted him, telling him that I couldn't find his Facebook and he gave in, giving me a completely different name and told me that's me. I remember just feeling cold as I read that.

[00:34:32] I looked up the account and everything he had told me was a lie. His name, his face, his age, he was 25 not 19. I was terrified. I thought I'd been talking to someone just two years older,

[00:34:47] which is legal in my state, but he was eight years older. I immediately stopped texting him. That's when he started getting obsessive. He would text me dozens of times a day, call me over and

[00:34:59] over again. He would beg me to answer him, to give him a chance. Then he started threatening me to answer. He told me he had saved all of my pictures. He kept them all and told me he would send them to

[00:35:11] my friends and family on Facebook, show everyone me in my bra and show our text messages talking about what he would do to me sexually if we met. Looking back, all of that was more damaging to him

[00:35:23] than me, but I was young and stupid and afraid. I hated my body so much and I was terrified of people seeing it. So I started talking to him again, more reserved and cautious this time. The days inched closer to my birthday and the weekend we had planned.

[00:35:42] Our messages had become bland and short since I was trying to make him lose interest in me, but he never gave up. If I took too long to message, then he would threaten me again.

[00:35:54] My birthday fell on a Monday that year and he sent me all kinds of messages. I don't even remember what I did that birthday. I didn't have many friends and I've never liked

[00:36:05] to celebrate so it was probably small. When Friday hit, I got a text from him that morning saying he was driving to my city and that he would pick me up from school. I was terrified.

[00:36:20] I had lost a lot of my friends the semester before, long story, so they obviously had no clue of my situation. Out of desperation I went to one of my guy friends who I hadn't talked to in

[00:36:31] a couple of months and spilled everything to him. He was a long time friend so he was sympathetic and promised to follow me home that day. I went straight to my car, ignoring the mass

[00:36:42] amounts of texts saying, where are you and I'm here. My friend drove behind me all the way to my apartment which he had no clue I was living in and stayed with me as I cried for a while.

[00:36:54] I turned my phone off and my friend left later in the night. Brandon had no clue where I lived but I was still paranoid. What if he somehow found me? Only three people knew where I lived,

[00:37:07] four now with my guy friend, and he didn't come in contact with any of them. When I finally turned my phone on he was threatening me again. I was so exhausted and fed up. I started

[00:37:19] spam texting him, yelling and venting. I told him how stressed he had made me and how what he is doing is wrong. I told him to send the pictures and that I didn't care anymore. I started to attack

[00:37:30] his character, telling him how no one could love him if he hides who he is then treats people like shit when they catch him in the lie. Thankfully for me he had enough care for me to take care of

[00:37:41] my words to heart. He apologized and told me he deleted all the pictures. He swore to leave me alone as long as we can still talk every once in a while as friends. I agreed even though I knew

[00:37:54] I was lying. I talked to him for a month, short responses, until he finally gave up. Even now at 22 I still see his name appear sometimes. I blocked his number and deleted him on everything but

[00:38:07] his name still shows up sometimes on my Instagram or Snapchat when he is trying to re-add me. He's the reason I don't give my name or picture out. He isn't the first stalker I experienced.

[00:38:20] The first was when I was in 6th grade but that's a story for another time. To Brandon, who lied and collected underage pictures of me then threatened me with them, let's not meet.

[00:38:32] Thanks to David Ault for coming back on the show this week. He couldn't have come at a better time too because I got stuck in the snowstorm in California over the holiday and barely made

[00:38:52] it back to edit this episode much less try and record more stories in time. If you don't know of him, David is a voiceover artist, narrator, private tutor, and science communicator from the UK. You'll probably be familiar with his expertly crafted voice work on the No Sleep podcast.

[00:39:11] Check out his website for all of his juicy juice at davidault.co.uk. And moving forward, this week on the podcast you have heard. Creepy lawn care guy by listener Maggie. Guy tries to sneak past security guard while pretending

[00:39:27] he's my father by Reddit user reverse shoplifter. Creepy Uber driver by listener tacohx. To my high school friend, let's not meet by Bitch of Bel-Air. Creepy foot fetish guy let's not meet again by Reddit user askthemountains. And finally, boyfriend turned catfish turned stalker by ace hysteria.

[00:39:50] And for all of my Patreon supporters, your one shot story will be coming out tomorrow just a day late. Like I said, I got stuck in the snow. I'll tell you all about it in the episode.

[00:40:00] If you'd like to support the show and get bonus episodes and access to all of that bonus content, go to patreon.com forward slash let's not meet podcast. Don't forget to send your stories into

[00:40:09] let's not meet stories at gmail.com and email any questions or inquiries to let's not meet podcast at gmail.com. I'll see you next week for a brand new episode of Let's Not Meet.