Have you ever been in a situation where you suddenly realized that your very life was in danger? Where you suddenly had to make a split-second decision with your very existence hanging in the balance? These people have.
This piece is based on an AskReddit thread. Link on the last page.
1/18. I had been-sleep deprived for a few weeks during a very stressful summer. To pass the time, I’d go for long walks late at night, sometimes stopping at a gas station or supermarket to buy a snack.
One night, at about 3 AM, I had a sudden urge to walk to a 24 hour diner at the edge of my neighborhood. I was hungry and needed the exercise.
I walk in, and the place is largely empty. The waitress comes, takes my order and pours my coffee, then disappears into the kitchen.
About two minutes later, the door opens and a man in a trench coat walks in, pacing nervously by the register. I see him pull out a gun, and immediately my mind starts racing. I quickly conclude that there are a few possibilities:
A) He is going to rob the diner and leave us unharmed.
B) He is going to rob the diner and shoot everyone inside.
C) He is just going to shoot everyone inside, just because.
The waitress emerges from the kitchen, unable to see the gun from behind the counter. I’m the only customer who knows what’s coming, and the weight of the world is on my shoulders.
“Table for one?” she asks.
The man shakes his head. “I’m here to see Jeremy.”
OK, I figure. He is here to kill Jeremy. Although I wasn’t a target, it was horrifying to be sitting so close to what was about to become a murder scene.
I braced myself as best as I could for the sound of the gunshot as I sunk deep into my seat. I knew there was a good chance I’d be getting blood, skull, brain and hair all over my clothing. I was too close not to. What if he shoots me too for being a witness? Complete terror. There was nowhere for me to go.
Should I remain silent when he kills this guy? Should I yell out a warning to Jeremy and risk getting killed myself?
I clutched a very sharp steak knife on the table and went with my gut instinct. I was probably going to die, but I had to do this. I had to rush the shooter and stab him before he took the life of the cook. (continued…)
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As I prepare to kill someone, Jeremy emerges from the kitchen with a wide grin on his face.
“You must be Frank!”
Out comes a wad of cash, and up comes the gun, which is placed right on the counter.
“Looks even nicer than the pictures.”
Turns out they had met to sell/ purchase a gun from a craigslist ad.
Most terrifying moment of my life.
-highdingydoo
2/18. I was walking home from work one night when I suddenly felt a man put his hand on my shoulder. I turned around and he told me he was going to put me on top of a spiked, iron fence naked.
I said “NO THANKS” very loudly and speed-walked away. I didn’t expected that to work, but he didn’t follow me.
-enamoredhatred
3/18. I worked as a security guard in Waco Texas at a motel. One night was sketchier than most. We had a drug bust in one room. Then two employees had a fist fight. Then there were a few sex workers fighting with clients. I quit that night in the middle of a shift. The guy who replaced me got stabbed.
-WeHaveIgnition
4/18. When I lived in Seattle, I used to walk home from the gym at night.
On my route, I would always walk by this one super weird house with blankets over the windows. There was also fenced in side yard packed with old busted RVs and garbage everywhere. You could tell there was something wrong with that place.
One particular night, there was an old dude with a long white beard standing in front of the house in a bathrobe, smoking a cigarette. I had never seen anyone in front of the house before.
As I passed, I heard what sounded like a Prius pulling up to the stoplight. But it was in fact several Seattle police cars rolling up with their engines and lights off. I don’t even know how they got them that quiet. It was obvious I had stumbled into the middle of something very, very serious. (continued…)
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Then I saw a few officers approaching the house and the old man with their guns drawn, completely silently. One of them made eye contact with me, and made a fairly violent hand motion for me to go a different direction. So I did… very quickly.
About a month later, that house was torn down. I have no idea what happened that night. And I’m glad I didn’t have to find out.
-belarged
5/18. For a brief stint in my life, I was homeless. Qhile scouring for food in a dumpsters, I opened one to find two homeless dudes hooking up in there.
-rbonson23
6/18. We had a high school party, out in a field behind the host’s house. All was going well until some guy brought fireworks. Bad idea – it was a super dry summer.
I did not wait around to see what would happen. Heard the next day that almost 5 acres went up in flames.
-sassymatty
7/18. I was 9 or so, about to go wading in a creek, when I noticed a snake in the water. Just a little snake, maybe a foot long, just hanging out mostly vertical with its tail in some mud and reeds and stuff and its nostrils sticking out of the water.
OK, no big deal. I just won’t wade right there.
I moved downstream five feet or so, and guess what? TWO little snakes right where I wanted to put my bare feet. And another one in the reeds! And…
Most of those reeds weren’t reeds.
I almost walked all over Water Moccasin day care. And those bad boys are venomous.
-phyrestorm999
8/18. When I was 12, my next door neighbor invited me to summer camp. My parents dropped us off. I realized immediately that there was something wrong with this camp because the cabin counselor took away my copy of Jane magazine. (continued)
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Then there was a camp-wide assembly where we prayed over a photo of George W. Bush and spoke in tongues. It turned out it was a fundamentalist Christian sleepover camp. I walked to the nearest town and called my parents from a gas station.
-cats_in_tiny_shoes
9/18. I think it literally just happened. Just went to a concert with my fiancee. Midway through the show, she randomly turns to me and says “what the hell is wrong with you” and starts telling me I look ugly.
Next moment she grabs my hand and tells me to relax and not get upset.
Next she pushes me away and says “don’t touch me, get away from me, I’m not into you right now.” On the drive home she told me that she doesn’t like the way I look, doesn’t like my “vibe” and then switched to telling me I’m being lame for being upset.
Just the night before I held her in my arms while she cried about her confusion about what she wants to do with her life and she told me over and over “I don’t know what I’d do with out you.”
I realized I need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible because this has now become a normal thing. Its been normal for so long that I’ve been accepting it.
I proposed to her and we are planning a wedding. But I can’t be with somebody the rest of my life that expects so much emotional care but hurts me in return. Its slowly killing my confidence and turning me into an insecure person who I hate.
-global_playa
10/18. This was back when I was living in Russia when I was 14. I decided that it was a good idea to walk home from a party at 2 AM in a rural area (we had a summer home outside of Moscow, literally in the middle of nowhere).
As I was walking, a car pulled up and a guy (looked to be in his 30s) asked me if I needed a ride. Being a moron, I said “sure” and got into his car.
The ride was uneventful. But then, as he pulled up to the gates of our community, he stopped and asked me if I wanted to come with him to a party with his friends.
My heart skipped a beat, and as I looked at the car door to look for an escape plan, I saw that the door handle was missing from the inside so I had no way of opening the door. (continued…)
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At this point I felt my heart beating in my stomach and I said “no, sorry, my mom is waiting for me.” All of a sudden he said: “Well, a mother is a sacred woman. You better go to her.”
He got out, walked around the car, and let me out. It was the last time that I hitchhiked alone. I dont know exactly what he would have done to me, but I know it wouldnt have been good.
-KremlinGremlin82
11/18. When I was in Iraq two years ago visiting family when ISIS took over the city. Came back to America on the next flight.
-lemonslice93
12/18. I got the fight-or-flight feeling when the meth came out at a party that already had some nasty vibes going around.
Went right over the backyard fence and out the neighbors gate without saying goodbye. Just missed the police coming in the front door.
-EaglesPlayoffs2017
13/18. I found a set-up my stepdad had made in my room to record me after I got out of the shower. I dont live in that house anymore.
-Anonymous
14/18. I was living in Guatemala and started to hang out with the wrong crowd. One day I was introduced to a drug lord and the conversation about me being a US citizen came up. The dude started to insist I smuggle drugs for him.
I left the place and somehow the dude found me at another house and when I said no again, he sucker punched me. I told him I would think about it. That seemed to satisfy him long enough that I could get the hell out of there.
-__DEADPOOL__
15/18. I was hanging out with some friends in college. One night, we were bouncing around between parties. Turns out one of my friend’s boyfriends was Russian, so we end up at this party where there were more people not speaking Russian than English.
We were having a pretty good time. But then the boyfriend comes back inside from the backyard. He suggests we leave immediately. (continued…)
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He tells us there’s about to be a fight and it’s going to be bad because he thinks some of the guys might be gang-affiliated. I look in the backyard and there are two guys screaming at each other in Russian and the house is slowly emptying as people are running out back to take sides.
Being in a drunken Russian knife fight is not on my bucket list. The three of us got out real quick.
-_Jack_Of_Spades
16/18. I was at an ‘alternative’ club with my new boyfriend – I think we had been dating 3 weeks. I went to the bathroom, and the graffiti on the walls start melting; so I went and told him I was hallucinating. Turns out he put LSD in my pint because he wanted me to “have a good night.”
Well, that’s one way to get me to dump you.
-Msmorgendoffer
17/18. When I was 19, my dad’s girlfriend who just got out of jail for murder moved into our house. He didn’t tell me beforehand. I moved out that day and couch hopped for a few months because I didn’t really want to live with a murderer.
-ashleywithcurls
18/18. Every once in a while, your gut tells you something is up. I was at a party and got that tingling in my gut telling me I wasn’t safe there. I finally just decided to leave with a few friends to go chill at my place.
A few hours later, I get a phone call from another friend asking if I’m okay. Apparently the house belonged to a guy who was affiliated with gangs. Some thugs tried to crash the party and when they got kicked out, they started fighting people. A big fight breaks out and a few people ended up in the hospital.
Eventually the house owner brought out a gun and shot a few rounds in the air and that’s when everyone scattered away from the area. The cops were called and people were arrested.
Meanwhile I left hours ago and was currently playing drunk video games with a couple friends. Sometimes your gut’s right.
-RatHead6661