Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing it though.

When I was in community college, I saw this kid in the hall. I didn't have any classes with him or anything, didn't know who he was, just passed by him. I thought, "That kid totally looks like a serial killer...," sort of laughed to myself and walked into my room.

Well, the next day he was outside the room after class got out. I thought, "Whoa, there he is again, guarantee he'll be on Court Tv someday!" I sort of laughed to myself and started walking to my next class.

He followed me.

When I got out of that class, he was there too. I didn't want to not go to my next class, but going to class meant he'd know my whole schedule. And he soon did.

He followed me from class to class for the entire semester. I never left the building alone. I even made my mother come inside to my last class at the end of the day and take me home. I kept a note in my pocket that said, "He's following me," in case I ever got too scared or it got worse. Then I graduated and never saw him again.

I transferred to a four year college. They gave us school email addresses. You could look people up and find their school email address just with their name. I wasn't worried. That creepy kid still had another year of community college and probably wouldn't have gotten into the small private college I had transferred to. I was taking Psych, which meant I was almost exclusively around women. I felt quite comfortable.

Until I got an email from the 45 year old man that I hadn't noticed sitting in the back corner of one of my classes. He said he could tell there was a wild girl inside of me yearning to get out, I just needed a gentle man to teach me...Now it made me chuckle a bit because I'm assuming he thought I was a virgin or something, which I wasn't. But it was also very very creepy. He was old. I hadn't even noticed him, glanced in his direction, or done anything else to make him think I was interested. And what the hell was he doing anyway, trying to find inexperienced barely legal college girls?

I thought I could handle it. I always handle things. I never ask for help. I calmly and politely told him that he made me uncomfortable and I didn't want him talking to me like that. I was clear yet calm. I thought that would surely make him set his sights on someone else at least.

But it didn't. He kept writing. He brought me a book of poetry he had written. When I told him to get lost again, he stopped showing up to class. After a couple weeks the teacher approached me. She asked if we might be able to set our differences aside so he could come back. As if we had broken up or something? I didn't even know him. I said, "I don't know what he told you, but here is what has been happening..." She said, "Whoa, you need to tell that to the head of the department."

So I did. And do you know what she said? I bet you'll never guess. She said, "Why aren't you interested?" I said, "He's too old." I was about 20 at the time. She said, "Well, that's age discrimination." Oh my. If I had only had a tape recorder I probably could have got her fired. It was clear whose side she was on. And sure enough, I found out later that the two were actually friends.

His extremely creepy advances went on for almost the entire school year. He'd get quiet and leave me alone for a few weeks sometimes, so I'd keep getting my hopes up that it was over. But when there was a flareup at the end of the school year, I said, "I have had enough, and I think it's bull that the head of my department is trying to bully me into dating him on top of it all."

So I found the Sexual Harassment Department of the school. I printed out his emails. I brought them in. A man read them over. He agreed that they were totally creepy. He told me that the head of the department was supposed to have referred me to him right from the start. She was not even allowed to try to handle it herself. He wrote up a paper. The paper said that the guy was never to contact me again in any form. If he did, they'd kick him out of school. I left the office. They called him and told him to come down. He signed the paper, and I never saw him or heard from him again.



Obsession seems kind of romantic in movies, but it usually isn't in real life. It's usually very scary. It usually involves someone that you don't like or trust, and you don't even know if they'll try to hurt you.

I still regret not going to someone about that first kid. His behavior was really weird. What if he went after someone and my story could have acted as important evidence or something? What if needed professional help?

So if any of you are being stalked, harassed, or otherwise bothered, try to get help. At least get it documented if nothing else. If you are being harassed by a fellow classmate, someone at your school should be able to help. Schools often take that stuff a bit more serious than the courts do, so you can get help even if it's not technically criminal activity. If the first person you go to doesn't help, go to another.