Becoming Another Statistic

I had a busy day planned. It was a day just like any other. Little did I know, someone was going to step into my planned day and make me "another statistic".The plan was to go grocery shopping, mail a few bills and head back home for a day of cleaning house and doing laundry. I grabbed my coupons, grocery list, mail and headed to the car to get the day started.

While making the short drive to the store, the news was on the radio, they mentioned something about my area of town, I reached over and turned the volume up to listen to the news report. They reported that recently six women in our area had been car-jacked, then found dead in the trunks of thier burned out cars. Well, five had been found that way, the last girl's body had not been found yet, but her purse was located in a small park very close to my house.

About this time I approached a red signal light and stopped while still listening and thinking, my gosh ! , this is happening in my own backyard! How did these girls get in that situation? What did they do wrong? How horrible thier deaths must have been! All of a sudden...HONK...the light had turned green and I was not moving. I stomped on the gas , proceeded to the store, found a parking spot right on the front row, pulled in and parked. With the news story still reeling in the back of my head, I decided that I should be a little more observant of my surroundings. Scanning the parking lot I did notice a young man standing in front of the store I was going into but he looked like he was waiting on a ride or someone.

At this point , I'm thinking, I am on the front row, five feet from the front door of the store, I don't see how I could have any problems, especially at two o'clock in the afternoon , with all kinds of people around. I finaly gather my things and quickly get inside the store. Getting a cart and sart with my list. By now, the news story has been pushed to a place far behind the canned good sales, coupons and remembering everything. Before I could even get down the first aisle, the young man I had seen outside was now entering the store. He came down the aisle I was on , walked all the way to the end , then turned around and left through the door he came in. I thought it was kind of wierd but left it at just that, wierd.

Upon completing my list and checking out , it was time to get all the stuff out to the car. Out the door I went....just about then, the news story pops back into my thoughts. I look around, I don't see the young man I had seen earlier or anyone else suspicious, so I proceeded to the trunk of my car. I load all the groceries and slam the trunk, and BAM...there is the young man, back in front of the store. There are many people around and I am thinking surely he is not going to do anything, nevertheless, I start to move with urgency. I didn't even take time to remove my purse from my shoulder before trying to get the car started. The problem was , I was so nervous, I could not get the damn key in the ignition without looking down at it, which meant I would have to take my eyes off the young man.

I took a gamble and looked down for probably two seconds, got the key in the ignition and turned it.When I looked up, he was no longer in front of the store,he had quickly appeared at my passanger side door. I quickly looked to see if by some chance I may have locked that door. Looking, realizing I had not, I could see him put one hand on the door, opening it. The other hand pulling a gun from the front of his pants , then him getting in the car, sticking the gun in my ribs. We locked eyes for what felt like moments but was in reality only seconds before he told me to drive.

In shock that this was actually happening , I began to drive and start planning on how was I going to get out of this situation! I followed his directions that took us to a developmental area by a set of highways. It also had a condensed wooded area, purfect to hide the car. Sure I was scared but I was determined that I would not become another statistic. We parked the car to his satisfaction, then came the act that I knew I was just going to have to do in order to have a chance. He ordered me to get in the back seat and undress. I did. He took another look around before entering the back seat with me. He was not violent, just demanding, methodic and very cold. He then said "get out of the car", pointing me to the rear of the car. Now , this is where I felt I may have a chance.

As he is fumbling with the keys at the trunk, I see this as my only chance , before becoming another statistic, I took off like a deer in head lights! Straight out of the woods to the first highway I could see. I was screaming and waving my arms to get attention. The first vehicle that approached was a woman, she looked startled but would not stop, then a truck saw me and waved me over. The man could see that there was something terribly wrong. I got in, we headed to a phone to call police. The young man was gone from that area in my car by the time police got there. I filled out all the reports and did a rape test kit at a near by hospital.

My husband and I finally get home, we talk and cry then decided to get some rest. It was about 2 o'clock a.m. when the phone rang. It was the police. They said they had found my car in a park near my house, the same one where they found the last girl's purse. My husband asked if we could pick it up. The police officer said " Huh, negative, the car has been burned out completely.

How close I was to "Becoming Another Statistic" ?