as a 90's kid growing up in Eastern Europe my childhood was full of stories some of which were cringe-worthy some hilarious but some still managed to give me chills especially now that I fully realized the potential harm that I was facing back then I had several instances when I got pretty close to being in real danger but here I've picked only two of the most prominent ones because I don't want to bore you guys with too long of a story and because those two imprinted in my mind and weirdly still very vivid with every detail
so I was ten years old and it was a hot summer day at noon and I was allowed to play in front of my apartment building with other kids but I always had to stay where my mom could peek from the window to see on this day maybe because it was noon and most of the other children were still having lunch or a nap on the playground it was just me and an eight-year-old boy drawing with chalk on the ground they weren't many people on the streets but I remember noticing a man in his 20s
walking past us and I didn't pay much attention to him at first until I noticed that and he started to stop and that turned a look at us a few times but then he went away so I just kept drawing some time passed and I suddenly saw a pair of male shoes I'm standing next to where I was crouched down and when I looked up I saw that it was that same me he looked around and then asked the boy to go a little further away because he wanted to tell me a secret the boy
obliged and I was left alone with the stranger I remember that he was staring at me and even though he was smiling but there was some undercurrent of tension in his whole demeanor which made me feel a bit uneasy he leaned in propping his hands on his knees and I don't exactly recall what he said at first because I was looking around to see if anyone I knew was around but then he asked me if I'd like kittens my eyes lit up and I immediately perked up saying yes and then he said that he knew
where a mother cat with her litter of kittens was and asked if I wanted to see I immediately stood up my uneasiness and all the stranger danger warnings immediately dissolving at the prospect of kittens and my mum didn't allow pets at home he told me to follow him and I did him walking in front of me and me behind until my saw that he was actually going towards one of the four entrances of the apartment building back then the front doors of those buildings they weren't locked and neither were the entrances to the basement areas
which were on the inside next to the main door he entered the building and started to descend down the staircase leading to the basement area and that is when some form of self-preservation instinct started to kick in and made me hesitate at the doorstep he was already on the last step down the basement when he turned to check if I was following and beckoned me with a cheerful come on hurry up I took a few more hesitant steps in he continued further into the basement corridor where it was very dark dodgy humid and her putrid
smell of molding it I could see half of him but the rest of him hidden behind the corner of the wall but then I heard a middle click sound I was starting to descend down the stairs I know I cringe at my own stupidity when I remember it too when he peaked again half of him still hidden from my sight but the visible half revealed his belt buckle dangling unbuckled and then he came out a little more and his hand moved drawing my eyes down where I saw yeah you guessed it his pants were unzipped
in he was looking at me and I still remember the expression in his eyes I wanted to scream that I was honestly so shocked that I had a deer in the headlights moment before he took a step up towards me and finally I felt the sudden adrenaline rush kicking in but one moment I was standing frozen the next I was running out of there but the speed of light I didn't even turn to see if he was following all I knew was that I had to get the hell out of there I climbed my stairs
to my apartment which was two entrances away from this one just in time to bump into my very worried mum who was putting his shoes on to go out and look for me worried sick because apparently the last time she peeked through the window she didn't see shouted my name a few times and got no answers so she had a an unsettling feeling that something was wrong but she asked me what happened and at first I didn't tell her because I was ashamed and scared that she would get even angry if she found out I
was even talking to a stranger let alone about following him but I started feeling anxious after that and eventually admitted what happened to my mum needless to say I was given an earful of lectures and wasn't allowed to play with that adult supervision until years later the second prominent story was when I was 12 and thinking back now compared to today's 12 year olds being so outspoken and street smart I was a totally clueless kid still I remember I was feeling insecure and self-conscious at the time because puberty had hit as if overnight and my
previously scrawny little body was beginning to form curves which also prompted unwanted attention from teenage boys even older men at the age of my dad taking notice of me when I walked past them it was during the spring vacation when my mum my aunt and my cousin he was male at 13 and I went to the amusement park in the city my cousin was riding a bumper car and I was sitting on a bench with my mum and aunt when I spotted a man sitting a big tin pot at the alley leading to the park
and I immediately started pleading with my mum to give me money because I knew what he was selling boiled corn on the cob now keep in mind that back then nobody seemed to care about checking health and sanitary permissions of street vendors and it was a very common sight to see a little ice cream stand and old ladies sitting on a chair with a pot next to them selling boy of the corn on cob or cotton candy or something my mum sent me to buy for corns on Cubs for each of us and I headed
towards them in my mouth already watering when I approached him and ordered however I noticed that he hesitated and gave me a very unsettling once-over from head to toe and then without even opening the pot to check he declared that there weren't enough corn in there I thought that that was weird considering that I just spotted him coming which logically was supposed to mean that he had a full pot of corn but didn't say anything because ma was shy and awkward and it would have never even occurred to me to question and I don't like
that especially a stranger he quickly added that his car was parked at the nearby parking lots which was right behind the alley leading to the amusement park and told me that if I wanted to I should follow him to retrieve another spare pot from his trunk I looked back at the park and thought that the parking lot was still close enough and it shouldn't be a problem so relieves that I will after all get my corn I followed him he picked the pot and walked carrying it towards his car with me walking a few steps
behind and he was just opening the trunk to put the pot inside when two things happened simultaneously my hand was abruptly grabbed by my heart who shook me and started questioning my sanity for walking away with the stranger then shouting at the man for being crazy to suggest to a child to follow him to a car and I caught a glimpse of the trunk and inside was no other pot of corn but the one he'd just put inside now at that point I was still confused and frankly I'm ashamed to admit that I was even
a little annoyed at my own for overreacting because I still wanted my corn and didn't understand what the big deal was until my train of thought was interrupted what happened next still makes the hair on my neck stand on it instead of clarifying the situation giving any semi reasonable explanation or even attempting to respond in any way the man suddenly rushed to close the trunk ran into his car and then took off in such a hurry that the tires made there screeching noises from the rapid acceleration my aunt and I just stood there dumbfounded it's
suddenly dawning on us what appeared to be an innocent yet cautionary situation was actually a very real potential kidnap attempt because if there had been any reasonable doubt before as to why the man would lure a twelve-year-old girl alone towards his car his following reaction of fleeing the scene had left no room for it my aunt visited us recently and that instant was brought up somehow so she said that she still remembers how what drew her attention at first was the fact that the man was unusually dressed up for a street vendor and so she
was watching closely my weed got feeling at first when she saw that he was taking me towards the parking lots she sprinted into action and thank God my aunt being a PE teacher and a mother of a very wild boy was wearing sneakers and was always prepared to jump into action because that day I could have gone missing
