Let's Not Meet Again

Big Tony

I live in a pretty major UK city, and moved here when I was a student 7 years ago. In my second year of uni, I was living with three other girls in a little house in a really studenty area - an area that has really dodgy outskirts, known for crime. The kind of place where students are warned to stay by the main road at night. A few roads away from me was a street that had become INFAMOUS for rapes and sexual assaults that year - there was supposedly a guy or gang of guys on the loose and the story was constantly being covered in the news at the time.

So one morning, I set off for uni at around 8:30am. It was a nice, sunny spring morning and I had my music playing on my iPhone. I walked from my house, into the back car park of a large supermarket on the main road. As I was walking up the slope leading alongside the supermarket to the street (the bus to uni stopped just outside the shop) I became aware of someone walking behind me. I immediately took one earphone out as I looked at him out my peripherals. He had a bike so I assumed he wanted to get past, and I hung back a bit. He stopped and I got a proper look at him - he was dark-skinned, around 35 and extremely, fat. Not in a horrible way - I don't usually notice stuff like that - but he is by far the biggest person I have ever seen with my own eyes. Anyway:

Him: I thought you were Sarah. I'm Tony. Me: Oh...I'm not.

I laugh awkwardly and start walking away, as alarm bells were kind of ringing - as I said, this is the kind of place where you don't chat to random blokes.

He speeds up to walk alongside me, asking me questions about where I go out clubbing, when I'm next going out, what I like drinking. I humour him as the main road was like 100 metres away and there were people everywhere. I'm just kind of giving him quick answers, and give up on my music by unplugging my iPhone, stuffing my headphones in my pocket.

Him: Can I have your number? Me: Sorry...erm.. Him: I'll give you my number (eyeing up my phone)

So he reads his number out and I just put it in, thinking that will be that.

Him: Ok now ring it.

I KNOW I should have said I don't have credit or whatever. I know. But in the weirdness of the moment, I did it. Then I very hurriedly said I had to go, and walked quickly around the side of the building to the main road, and went straight into the supermarket as I didn't want to have to wait by the bus stop with him there.

I looked behind me and saw him locking his bike up outside the entrance, so I quickly ducked down an aisle, went round the back of the supermarket, and popped up at the end of another aisle to look at the entrance. Guess who was walking along checking the aisles?

I darted across and used the checkouts lining the other side of the shop as cover, and somehow made it back outside. There was no bus! I stood close to a group of people waiting, keeping an eye on the shop entrance. Tony appeared and smiled this massive, toothy grin at me. The bus arrived and I jumped on, relieved to be finally free of him.

Then the phone calls started.

By the time I had gotten to uni 30 mins later, I had about 5 missed calls and a voicemail. I go into my class and immediately told my friends Alex and Gaz - I was kind of laughing it off at this point, and the whole class was listening in to the voicemails and it was all a bit of a joke.

Alex: What did he look like?

I tell her that he's around 35 and morbidly obese, and her eyes nearly fall out of her head. She asks whether I've seen the local newspaper today - the police have released an e-fit of one of the suspected rapists in my area. Mid-thirties, dark skinned and extremely fat.

So now things take a more sinister turn, and it's no longer funny as the calls and voicemails rack up even more. By midday, I had 11 missed calls and 4 voicemails, all mentioning the club night he was talking about, when can he take me there etc.

I decide to call the police, and they came to my house that afternoon. He actually phoned while they were there, and the policewoman answered it. After taking down all the details, they left and promised to be in touch.

The next day, a plain clothed policeman rocks up - Tony was a convicted rapist and they had him in the police station. The name Tony and the number I had given them checked straight out on their records and led them to his door. Never heard anything else about him or the situation...

Ironically...I have recently moved to the infamous rape road (although within a 10 second walk of the main road). Tony, wherever you are, please let's not meet again ever.