What I meant to ask was, "What do you want?!" in an angry, commanding tone. When I finally found my voice, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Still smiling his smile, still looking to the sky. I just stood there, completely frozen as the smiling man crept toward me.Īnd then he stopped again, about a car length away from me. I'd like to say at this point I ran away or pulled out my pepper spray or my cellphone or anything at all, but I didn't. He took giant, exaggerated tip-toed steps, as if he were a cartoon character sneaking up on someone. And then he started moving toward me again. I was so shocked that I stood there for some time, staring at him. I had looked away from him for no more than ten seconds, so it was clear that he had moved fast. I couldn't tell for sure due to the distance and the shadows, but I was certain he was facing me. He had crossed the street, and was now slightly crouched down. For the briefest of moments I felt relieved, until I noticed him. Still unnerved, I looked back to where he had been standing to find him gone. The street and sidewalk ahead of me were completely empty. Once I had put about half a block between us, I turned away from him for a moment to watch the sidewalk in front of me. I started walking again, but kept my eyes on the man. I was completely and utterly unnerved by this. He was facing me but still looking skyward, smile still wide on his lips. He had stopped dancing and was standing with one foot in the street, perfectly parallel to me. As I reached the other side, I glanced back.
![who who](https://cdn.animationexplore.com/thumbs/tig-n-seek-episode-9-whos-this-guy.jpg)
I took my eyes off of him to cross the empty street. Between the eyes and the smile, I decided to cross the street before he danced any closer. His mouth was formed in a painfully wide cartoon of a smile. His eyes were open wide and wild, head tilted back slightly, looking off at the sky. He danced closer still, until I could make out his face. He was very tall and lanky, and wearing an old suit. The closer he got, the more I realized how gracefully he was moving. I guess you could say he was dance-walking, headed straight for me.ĭeciding he was probably drunk, I stepped as close as I could to the road to give him the majority of the sidewalk to pass me by.
![who who](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5460c83ce4b08eea0acd5057/1507983169155-4RQ4U0PR19MGQ37IPNUM/guy+logo.jpg)
It was a strange dance, similar to a waltz, but he finished each "box" with an odd forward stride. At the far end of the street, on my side, was the silhouette of a man, dancing. I turned down a short side-street in order to loop back to my apartment when I first noticed him.
![who who](https://images.squirreltee.com/2021/10/who-s-this-brandon-guy-shirt-Ladies-V-neck.jpg)
The park, as it was most nights, was completely empty. It was a quiet night, even for a weeknight, with very little traffic and almost no one on foot. It was a Wednesday, somewhere between one and two in the morning, and I was walking near a police-patrolled park quite a ways from my apartment. But all of that changed in just a few minutes of one evening. I always used to joke with my roommate that even the drug dealers in the city were polite. I spent four years like that, walking alone at night, and never once had a reason to feel afraid. To pass the time, I used to go for long walks and spend the time thinking. I've always been a night person, so I would often find myself bored after my roommate, who was decidedly not a night person, went to sleep. About five years ago I lived downtown in a major city in the US.