Wednesday One-Shot: Jewel Van

[00:00:01] Welcome to Wednesday One-Shots, the series where we share a bonus story with you to help you get through the week. This time around we have a story by a listener named Mark. When I turned 16, I immediately made it a point to get a part-time job after school.

[00:00:29] I wanted to find a job to teach me the responsibility to become the upstanding young man my parents had wanted me to be. There was a shoe repair shop owned and operated by a man named Gino who lived locally.

[00:00:44] He was looking for an assistant and he gave me the job on the spot. For three days after school, I would work for Gino from 3.30 till about 7 as I didn't drive. I needed one of my parents to come and pick me up since there was no public transportation

[00:01:01] and it was too far for me to walk. One evening, I was told last minute that I was going to have to walk home as neither one of my parents were available. I was slightly annoyed by this but at least the autumn weather was cool and crisp.

[00:01:16] I set out right after my shift ended for the long walk home through the small but densely populated New England town. About 500 feet away from my work, I noticed a brown van slow down as it drove by in the opposite direction.

[00:01:32] I glanced up thinking that the driver was going to ask me for directions. When our eyes met, I had to take a second to catch my breath. This guy was very creepy looking. He had long greasy hair down to his shoulders that was scraggly looking.

[00:01:49] He had a round pale face, it was littered with pockmarks and the darkest most dead looking eyes. I looked back down and continued to walk. He drove away. A few minutes later, as I continued my walk, I heard a vehicle pull up next to me and slow

[00:02:08] down without coming to a full stop. I was expecting to hear the sound of a car being put into park and an engine turning off but that didn't happen. Instead, the same van drove alongside me as I walked and this time in the same direction,

[00:02:27] less than 10 feet away. Just to confirm, I looked over and sure enough, it was the same scary man in the same van with the same dead eyed glare. This time, I noticed the word Jewel on the side of his van.

[00:02:45] The word Jewel was displayed on the van and was branded, implying that it was the name of a business. The window was rolled down and I looked away from him for a split second and then picked up my pace since I was starting to get worried.

[00:03:02] I had never been in this kind of position before and I wasn't sure what to do. He then raced ahead of me, flipped a u-turn in the street and drove back towards me again. Wouldn't you know, during this whole time, there was nobody else around. Not a soul.

[00:03:18] The sidewalks and the side streets were all empty except for just the two of us. After his third pass, I assumed that he would either lose interest or get the hint that I wasn't going to give him any attention but something told me to run. So I did.

[00:03:35] I saw a large free standing city mailbox up ahead and I told myself that I could easily hide behind it to make him think that I took a different route. I bolted to the mailbox, crouched down behind it and I was only there for maybe a matter

[00:03:49] of seconds when I heard the van pulling around again. He pulled up right next to me, making me realize that my attempt at hiding was a futile one. At this point, I was both angry and panicked.

[00:04:03] I stood and glared at him for a second, hoping to elicit some sort of shame or embarrassment from him but I got nothing. Just that same awful looking face with zero emotion or expression in his eyes.

[00:04:19] Finally he drove away and I bolted down some side streets and hid as I saw him cruise by yet again on the street that I had turned down. I didn't have any money on me, there were no payphones and I had no way to contact my parents.

[00:04:32] Although I felt very alone at this moment, I also knew that I couldn't easily run up and ring the doorbell of any of the houses that I was walking by and get the help that I needed.

[00:04:43] After what seemed like an eternity, I arrived back home both mentally and physically spent. I didn't say anything about what happened to anyone in my family as I somehow felt that it was my fault. After dinner, I grabbed both the white page and yellow page phone books.

[00:04:59] I scoured over the J section in both, looking for a company called Jewel but I couldn't find any. This guy was most likely from another town or city and was preying on people far from his own town.

[00:05:13] Something tells me that he was more successful with other people who weren't as savvy as I was, but I hope not. Thanks to Mark for submitting that story. And if you have a story to share, make sure you send it in to letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com.

[00:05:29] I'll see you all at 7pm Pacific on Friday over at twitch.tv slash andytatelive for the livestream special episode of Let's Not Meet with a number of guests and plenty of terrifying stories. However, if you cannot make it, don't worry, the audio version will be available on the

[00:05:45] next episode of Let's Not Meet the following Monday. Everyone, stay safe.