Book is Reminding Me of my 3 Stalkers
I'm reading a book that reminds me of two stalker experiences I had and for whatever reason, I wanted a place to share them.
I was 13 when I had my first one. We'll call her Rosemary. The resemblance between the two of us was uncanny, and we have a picture of us dressed up similar for Halloween, and it's truly eerie - we could be twins.
When I first met Rosemary, it was during middle school orientation, so the week before 6th grade began. We realized we had all the same classes, same haircut, same eye color, same height, our moms looked the same, both of our dads were deadbeats, it was truly uncanny. So she says to me "Do you want to be best friends?" Now, at this point, I was still a VERY introverted, nerdy bookworm who did NOT have many friends. I still don't, but that's by choice these days. Anyway, I immediately jumped with the "yes yes yes!" and was over the moon. "Mom, mom, I've got a BFF!" like, so happy.
Fast forward to school starting; we become inseparable. Teachers hated having us because we would insist on doing EVERYTHING together. Now, I started having some health concerns and, in the afternoons, I would leave to go to my doctor for testings, etc. So, my schedule changed. My new class that was in the mornings didn't have Rosemary in it. I later found out she tried to change her schedule so she wouldn't 'be without me,' even going so far as to beg and plead to her mom and stepdad to bribe the principal. Wild stuff. In this class period, I fell into a small group of friends, who we'll call Taylor, Harley and Shayla. Now, Taylor and I hit it off even better than Rosemary and I. Taylor and I had a LOT in common, and she would always ask about me, whereas Rosemary made everything about her. So while I still talked/hung out with Rosemary, I was also involved with Taylor and her other friends.
Now, Rosemary HATED this. It got so bad that for about two weeks, she would get bathroom passes, and then hang out outside the class door, waiting for me to come out or trying to come in, like, sneak in without the teacher noticing. She then would beg me to tell her everything Taylor, Harley and Shayla would tell me in secret, as friends do, and get furious when I wouldn't. She had a habit of digging her nails into my arm, or finding some way to hurt me that would leave a mark, but not for long.
Long story short, after about six months of her constantly following me around, messaging me, calling my house (oh, the days of landlines), starting rumors, etc., she ended up getting pulled out of school. That's when I find out from Taylor that they used to be friends, but she would constantly do the same thing. That summer, I found that Rosemary would be EVERYWHERE I was and constantly trying to get me to talk to her. Her and her family moved before the school year started, and the next year (two years later from my experience with her) she was in the news for having cut the brakes on her ex-boyfriend's car because he broke up with her. He drove it into a ditch and (Thank God) escaped with only minor injuries.
The next one is a bit more unsettling. I volunteered at my local animal shelter when I was sixteen, and we had a new volunteer come in after I was there for about a year. (started when I was fifteen). We'll call him Johnny. Now, Johnny wasn't conventionally attractive, but he had a smirk/smile that would make any girl's stomach turn to butterflies. Genuinely had a like "Joker" or "Court's Jester" personality, if you know what I mean. Always cracking jokes, always trying to be the goofball. He had a bad home life (dad was in jail for drug trafficking, mom was a low-key prostitute) and he was trying to be a good person.
Johnny and I got assigned to the dog's section (cleaning, playing, walking, etc.) for about two weeks (the workers would switch off sections every two weeks, but I was allergic to cats (or so we thought) at the time, so I mainly did dogs and exotic animals) and I got to know Johnny really well. He had shaggy hair, leather jacket, tall and lean, bad-boy-but-sweetheart-inside type of personality (think jess from Gilmore Girls, I guess?) and I started having feelings for him.
About two months after meeting him, he asked me on a date. Just brunch, maybe walk around (again, tourist town) and just get to know each other without 50+ pound dogs jumping all over us. I was pumped. I wouldn't say I wasn't attractive in high school, but having kept to myself, the guys didn't really pay attention to me, and if they did, it was in crude jokes/humor, except for my friend group, but we had the unspoken rule of we don't date within the friend circle. So I got all ready, met him at a local restaurant, and that's when things started going south.
Now, I was sixteen, and he was nineteen. And while I know majority of people can be cool, I need you all to realize - this is A TOURIST TOWN. Us who lived there knew everybody and if you didn't, you knew someone who knew someone. You knew everything about everybody who lived there, even if they just moved. So when I dropped this date onto my mom and stepdad, they weren't batting an eye. I was a good kid, my stepdad knew his family, and we were in public. You can't get away with shit in this town. So yes, it's an 'age gap,' but just keep in mind - small towns have weird structures and societal norms that cities/bigger towns don't, okay? Okay.
So we go on this date and it was fine. He broached some weird topics, but I just thought it was him having weird interests (I did too) so I didn't think too much of it. We become friends and he ends up leaving the animal shelter at the same time I do (I got a much better paying job). A month into this job, I meet who would become my first serious relationship (it's a LONG story) and I tell Johnny like, I REALLY like this guy. Johnny...for lack of a better phrase... flips the whole fuck out. He's like, how dare I meet somebody when we had something, how dare I drag him along making him 'wait until I'm of age,' how dare I think anyone else can have me. Like this is ALL out of the blue. This is all WILD behavior from this boy. I've never seen or experienced him be possessive, etc. I had three VERY close guy friends and he never had a problem with them, but the minute I show romantic interest in someone else, all hell broke loose.
I end up blocking his number and him on every social media platform I have. Like. Completely break contact. About a month goes by and he finally stops trying to contact me (he would make fake profiles, etc.) and I'm like, okay, I'm in the clear. My coworker and I (we'll call him David) decided to make it serious (I'm 18 at this point) and we start actively, publically, being together.
I come home from doing errands (I'm an adult now...yay...) and I find FOUR bouquets of roses on my doorstep. I think, naturally, that they are from David, but instead, the card says "From Hatter to Alice." Now, Johnny and I had an inside joke because we were MASSIVE FANS of Alice in Wonderland (the story, movies, aesthetic, etc.) and so we would joke with each other that I'm Alice, he's Hatter) and now I'm freaking out. I unblock his number and call him to come get these, I'm not accepting them.
He refuses, doesn't know what I'm talking about, blah blah blah. For the next, I kid you not, FIVE MONTHS, every Friday, there would be 4 dozen roses on my doorstep. We could never prove it was him, even when we put up a camera, he had the florist deliver them. We (i still lived at home) woke up one time to our three dogs HOWLING because someone was blowing a dog whistle at 4 a.m. Just the craziest, unexplainable things. Eventually, we caught enough proof that I got a restraining order against him and he later moved away. Last I heard, he had four different baby mamas and got arrested for child endangerment.)
Anyway, I just wanted to share and see if anyone has anything similar or if their stalker(s) decided to show back up randomly years later? I'm happily married now with my first kid on the way and have a pretty shadowed social media presence because of these things. I also have two other stalker stories to share, but this one got a bit long.
Thanks for listening/reading.