Ah, Campfires... The hot flames licked at the colder fall air. The smolder of ash starting to build at the base of it. The cackling of burning wood succumbing to its inevitable fate of non- existence. There's something about the shadows that cast around it that makes anyone want to tell you a scary story.... What makes a story scary? Sometimes, it's based upon what happened in real life situations & those ones can shake you to the core....
I was had turned 12 years old. It was August, I was over at a friend's house. She was having a birthday party & she had two cousins younger than us there. She lived with her grandparents on a farm & the house set back almost a whole mile from the gravel dirt road. Towards the end of the driveway is a hill tall enough so that you couldn't see the road nor anything else for that matter. We were supposed to wait at the end of it, for her aunt who had never been there before so we could flag her down.
We were playing around & skipping rocks across the dirt road & played hopscotch with a stick that we had drawn lines with at the flat part by the road & a bigger rock so we could make out where it had landed. My friend's younger cousin wanted to go back to her mom (she was about 5 years old at that time) & so she asked me to stay with her 9 year old cousin, Emma & watch for their aunt.
I agreed & said that she was safe with me. Emma & I continued to play but I started noticing an old beat up brown & white Buick go back & forth several times. I told her that we needed to head back to the house to grab an adult. I didn't like the feeling I was getting. I felt incredibly ill & dizzy. She refused & would dodge me to keep from going back up that small ass hill.
"I'm serious, we're leaving!" I said as firm as I could to her. I could hear my own voice shake & break up a bit.
She finally concede but in no where near enough time before that car came back & stopped at the entrance of the driveway. The guy lifted himself up off of the seat exposing his hardened dick.
"Is this big enough for you two?" He asked us
"Put that tic tac back in your pants & leave us the fuck alone!" I responded back to him. I knew that my voice wasn't convincing nor was it steady.
I stood in front of Emma pushing her further away from the road & away from him. I did my best to prevent her from seeing this. I told her to run up the hill under my breath. She stood frozen. I felt her fear, it ensnared me her small body shook vioas she clung to my arm like it was the only thing going to save her.
"Wrong answer bitch, y'all are going to be coming with me in more ways than one!" He opened up the car door & started to step out.
I turned & scooped Emma up & hauled ass over that hill as fast as I fucking could. It felt like I was going in slow motion & I could hear the car following right behind me. Fear. Adrenaline. Unable to think. Emma was balling hysterically in my arms. I couldn't let anything happen to her. I started screaming for help. I seen the hood of the car come up right beside me. I turned hard left & ran straight into the woods. The branches tore at me & Emma snagging us every so often.
I screamed for help again. He grabbed a hold of my pony tail & I instinctively turned & kicked him in the balls. He started hollering & holding himself. I heard a shot gun go off as I turned us towards the house. Once I reached the driveway again I was completely wiped out. I set Emma down on her feet. I told her that she needed to run like our lives were depending upon it. She could see how little energy I had left. So she did. I tried to keep up with her but I kept falling behind. Their grandpa was driving our way shot gun in hand.
"You will NEVER be safe, I will take you & make you pay for this! Fucking bitch!" the guy said through gritted teeth & he tore off back out & onto the dirt road.
Cops came out & both Emma & I told them exactly what he looked like, what he drove the whole 9 yards. The guy wasn't captured until after he had his way with another kid my age.
To this day I still struggle with the fear of what had happened. I still wake up with night terrors from this. Yes, I do realize it's not my fault that this happened...
However, I have to live with myself every day knowing that I could have kept him from leaving the property instead of running to safety & doing vile things to another...