Paranoia...

How did I spend my weekend? Scared like a little kid watching "Are You Afraid of the Dark" or reading "Scary Stories." Remember those?! Those were the days.....

Ok, so I have been living in NY for almost two years now, not to mention that I was born here and my parents are from here as well. You can say I'm a hard-ass. I take the rush-hour subways, I brave the crowds, I yell at people when they get in my way, I walk pretty fast, I live in Queens! But this past Saturday night, I totally got freaked out and was terrified to be alone.

Unless you live under a rock, I'm sure you heard of that grad student who was brutally murdered a few weeks ago. I mean, hey, rapes happen all the time. No biggie, right? But that was quite disturbing. So as the search for the killer continues, I have been noticing a few things.... Where I live its very residential, a some-what blue-collar community. Which means its not well-lit, there aren't too many people walking around at night, and there are a helluva lot of large ass vans with tinted windows on the street. I counted the other day.. On my walk from the subway to my house--two blocks-- there are 39!!! (Actual cars: 55) 39 potential pervs hiding out just waiting to snatch me up! (We all know to stay away from vans, remember all those myths from when we were little? Every neighborhood had a perv van kids would whisper about on the bus). Plus, there aren't too many women around. Mostly men, huddling around on the corner, giving you looks as you pass.

So usually I walk home with my boyfriend, but about once a week I go out by myself and come home late at night, but I feel safe because he is just a few steps away. But his weekend he went out of town. I went out with some friends who started telling me this CRAZY story about a friend who was followed around by a guy on a bike. She was able to escape because a nice bus driver saw her looking freaked out and picked her up and took her to her house. Turns out there was a rape in her neighborhood on the news the next morning and the description of the man matched the creepy guy! So as I leave my friends at like 2 in the morning, I attempt to take the subway home and its not running. So I totally splurged and took a cab home (hey, taking a cab to Queens is pricey!). And as soon as I got inside I bolted my doors and windows.

I'm such a wuss!