It has been a week and I am ready to post about a bummer. I need to be as clear as possible from the outset, here: the odds remain in my favor. Most people are not intentionally cruel or out to do harm. Very few decide to do otherwise. In a cumulative year of travel around the US, I have had some scary moments, all at my own hand. As for strangers, I’ve experienced my fair share of abject disgust. I have also met countless harmless, well-meaning, and even kind, people. This was my first stranger danger.

Content Warning: The following is a first-hand account only 24 hours after a shitty situation. It is emotionally taxing. (It is also largely unedited.) Nothing and no one has been harmed, to my knowledge, in relation to this event. (At one point toward the end I even stopped to shoo a mole off the road.) That said, I left out some details because they’re now hard to fathom. It has only been a day—I’m still a little shaken. Do not read this if you could also be shaken. Know instead that I made the right choices and am safe. I feel good about that part, and you should too. Trusting oneself is paramount to survival.