Not All Good in the Hood

Story Sent in by Sue:

Roger and I had a pretty good first date, although he acted a bit young for his age. It wasn't a constant thing, although he was 25 and still referred to his parents as "mommy" and "daddy" and at one point, I swear he said something about someone "babysitting" him, but I was sure it was my imagination. He worked in banking, so I guess he was normally able to keep any such details under wraps. Maybe he was just relieved to have someone in front of whom he could be himself. Like I said, it was minor details, and they weren't deal-breakers.

I took (and still take) the train to work, during the week. A few days after my date with Roger, I waited at the train station for my usual train when a figure in a dark gray cloak and hood, like a monk, came up to wait for the train. He stood about 50 feet away from me, and although I thought it was a little weird, I remembered that I lived very close to a city with lots of weird people in it.

I took the train to the city and walked to work, almost having forgotten about the strange little man in the cloak and hood.

But after I was about a block away from the station, I realized that the hooded man was behind me, keeping pace. I sped up. So did he. I took a turn I don't usually take, and he took it, too. He was definitely following me, and I then planned to head straight to work, as we have a guard desk there and without an ID, you can't make it beyond.

I entered my building and the hooded guy was almost right behind me. I flashed my ID at the guard and pointed at the hooded guy and said, "He's been following me since my train stop."

The hooded guy made a run at me, but the guard held him back and in the scuffle, I saw that the guy under the hood was Roger. As the guard (then accompanied by another guard) escorted Roger from the building, Roger said, over and over, "I know her! She knows me! Just ask her! I just wanted to get her! I know her!"

An email arrived from him the next day, which asked me why I hadn't reached out to him to apologize. I couldn't figure out what he wanted me to apologize for, and he was certainly never going to receive a response from me, so I let it be. He never tried another stunt, and as far as I know, that was the end of it.