Stalking, Franklin Park and McPherson Metro

I was going to write this anyway, but when I came in this morning, I found this relevant and recent article. http://tinyurl.com/9fpqq (tiny-ized to circumvent inadvertent link breakage.)

If you are a resident of DC, you are probably becoming familiar with issues surrounding Metro crime and the handling and reporting of such crime.

First of all, last autumn when it started getting dark earlier, I decided to go to the grocery just after sundown and was followed. Not only was I followed for a good four blocks, but I was followed INTO a store, and up to a mezzanine level, where I was forced to strike up an old-friend conversation with a perfect stranger.

Needless to say, I’ve been a little jumpy about this since then and I don’t go anywhere alone at night if I don’t have to.

So, on Friday, I heard about some muggings going on ON REDLINE TRAINS up around the Cleveland Park area. This morning I was planning on going to Tenleytown, and I forced Monkus to come along with me. It was uneventful, and I think he resented that I was a little freaked out about it.

It gets better.

This afternoon, I was on my way to volunteer and was running a little late. As I got to Franklin Park, I realized that a charity was giving out free food to the homeless, so I assumed that today would be a safe day to cut through the park on my way to the McPherson Metro. What I didn’t think about was that there would be a lot of sketchy people all in one place. It’s cold and I am wearing a hoodie and walking with my hood up when a guy comes up to me, no further than a foot, but more than likely closer, and says menacingly “what you doin’?” I ignore him and keep walking, but he and a friend start tailing me rather closely. I can hear them breathing and their footsteps on the ground. I decide it would be a good time to pull my hood down, for increased visibility, and they fall behind a bit. Also, I realize that I’m carrying a mag-lite and I slip that out of my bag and into my hoodie pocket where I can keep a firm grasp of it if necessary. As I’m crossing the street, I get stuck on the corner with them. I try to ignore them, and they are whispering and snickering in that way that you know someone is talking about you. Now maybe, they are just trying to have some fun with the little white girl by freaking her out a bit, but I am quickly sensing that this is Not-cool. (In retrospect, I should have made eye contact and small talk while waiting for the light to change, because it makes you less of a target, but I’m uncomfortable doing that even in safe situations, and I was distinctly uncomfortable here.) I do know that one of them is wearing a green jacket, as this will be relevant later.

I decide to call Monkey and let him know what’s going on and that I will call him when I get off at my stop. I make my way into the metro, and the whole time, I’m pulling out (and being thankful for) my smartrip card, which means I can just glide through the gate and get away from these guys.

Or so I thought.

The station manager is talking to some tourists while I’m swiping my card. The first guy follows directly behind me in the gate and slips in for free. His friend either follows the woman going through the gate next to me or just hops the gate. I didn’t really see. I make the split-second decision to act like a tourist. I momentarily stop and stare at the sides of the platform and go ask the station manager (who I must interrupt) which side I should be on. In the meantime, the two have gone down to the Vienna/Franconia-Springfield side of the platform. Fortunately for me, I am going in the direction of New Carrollton/Largo. As I descend to a nearly dead platform, I start to tell myself that perhaps they were just trying to get on the metro without paying and it has nothing to do with me. UNTIL THEY GO UP THE ESCALATOR AND SWITCH SIDES. I’m petrified, and I’m staring at the arrival sign to see that I have a 6 minute wait. (This is an anomaly, as I’ve never waited more than 2 minutes for a train at McPherson. I suppose I just have good timing.) They come to stand about 5 feet away from me. I start to walk down the platform. They start to walk. This is NOT-COOL. I’m about halfway down the platform now when I see a man and his two little boys coming down the other end of the platform to take a seat. We reach the bench at the same time, and I sit with this man and his children for the next five minutes. In that time, the men leave. Just that. They leave. I do not know what their intent was, or whether I was being paranoid or not, but I am so thankful that I had a six minute wait and was able to wait with a rather large father and his children. I’m trying not to think about what might have happened if the train had come within the first minute or two and I had to board the train with the two of them only to be stuck in the car with them until Metro center, which always seems to take eons to reach. Would I have waited for the next train? Might they have waited too? Might I have fled? I don’t know and that’s what scares me. Also, I hurt my hand holding on so tightly to my mag-lite. Thinkin’ about pepper spray.

And you think it’s gonna end here, right? Nope.

On my way home that night, I decide to be more proactive about not attracting the crazies. As I’m sitting on the train home, I’m not really looking at people, per se, but I am making an effort to be aware of my surroundings since that’s the first step toward not being a target. I’m in one of those strange cars that have extra seating and glass partitions at the end, and in retrospect, I shouldn’t have cornered myself like that. About halfway home, a man gets on to the train and he’s staring at me through the glass partition, leering and sneering and mumbling to himself. I’m not really looking at him, but as my glance goes past him every time he does this face and this mumble that seem to go together as “I’m gonna git you sucka!” Also, he is wearing a green jacket. That freaks me out more than anything else, and I have to carefully convince myself that this is, in fact, not the same guy. I also tell myself that he is not having an internal monologue with his multiple personalities about whether or not to murder me and will not follow me. I step to the door feeling calmer than before when I get shoved from behind. It’s Mr. Crazy Eyes. Now, when the situation on a train is mishagas or infuriating, my first reaction is to exit and move to the wall to settle down as the herd exits and makes its way to the escalators. Also, I am at the last door of the car, which means I have to swing out further to keep from getting trampled by those coming out of the first door of the next car. So, as I pull myself up to the wall and stop so that everyone can pass and I can take my time leaving the station, Mr. Crazy Eyes is again upon me, has RUN INTO ME in fact, and is screaming at me “I ain’t gonna run into you, sweetheart, KEEP WALKING!” …Even though he has run into me, I am not in the way and am planning not to keep walking. But he’s hovering over me, glaring at me, so I start to head toward the escalator, and the whole time, he’s behind me, breathing on my neck, cursing me. This time as I exit, I get Monkey on the phone and keep him there. At some point, Crazy Eyes leaves, but I don’t really care. The threat is no longer this individual, but the world. I explain everything as I’m walking home, gripping my mag-lite and when I get to the back door of the apartment building, I tell Monkey I’m hanging up because I am home and it is now safe.

Except on the way upstairs, I am stuck in the elevator with the guy who always flirts with me leeringly and asks inappropriate questions and isn’t from a country where that is considered inappropriate.

By the time I get into the apartment, I just want to cry and not go out again, ever, but Monkey convinces me to go out with him to Open City.

And that, children, is the next story.