A Stranger Helped Me Once — Then He Started Appearing Everywhere I Went

I didn’t think much of it when the man helped me load my groceries into the car. I saw it as a random act of kindness. But days later, I saw him again. And again. Always at a distance, just watching. At first, I thought it was a coincidence. But then the fear set in. Why was he always there?

It started in the grocery store parking lot. My arms strained as I struggled with heavy bags. Then a voice behind me.

“Need a hand?”

I turned to find a man in his fifties, dressed well, holding out his hands.

“Yeah, actually, that’d be great,” I replied.

He carefully placed the bags in my trunk, making small talk about the weight of the bags.

“All set,” he said, his eyes meeting mine before he walked away without lingering. I thanked him, thinking nothing of it. A simple, kind gesture.

The first time I saw him again, it didn’t seem strange. He stood across the street, looking down at his phone. Maybe he worked nearby. But then, I saw him again—near the bookstore, outside my gym. Always at a distance. Always watching.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. My stomach churned. Was I just being paranoid? Maybe it was a coincidence.

But it didn’t stop. One evening, as I sat at a café, I glanced out the window. There he was again, across the street, watching. I went to snap a picture, but my phone died.

A week later, the sightings were everywhere. One night, I tried to change my routine, parking in a different spot, but when I stepped outside, there he was. Across the street. Again.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked straight toward him, heart pounding, but before I could reach the street, he vanished.

Desperate, I drove to my best friend Elaine’s jewelry store. As I parked, I saw him across the street again. I hurried inside, telling Elaine about the man. She was skeptical but agreed it was creepy.

When I turned to look outside, he was gone. “There’s no one there,” Elaine said, but I knew what I’d seen.

We checked the security footage. But when we rewound it, there was no sign of him. I stared at the screen, unable to process it. He wasn’t there. He never had been.

Confused and panicked, I went back to the grocery store. I lied about losing a ring, asking to see the security footage. When it was pulled up, I saw myself talking to someone—except there was no one there. I had been speaking to thin air.

The manager asked, “Who were you talking to?” But I didn’t know how to answer. My mind raced, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

I ran back to Elaine’s store, horrified. “He’s not real,” I whispered. “He was never there.”

Elaine suggested I see a doctor, but I wasn’t ready to accept that something was wrong. Yet, deep down, I knew she was right.

A few days later, I agreed to visit a doctor. Elaine accompanied me to the appointment. Dr. Levin, a calm, kind man, listened as I explained.

“There’s a man,” I said. “I’ve been seeing him everywhere. But… he isn’t real.”

“And how do you know that?” he asked.

“The security footage… I was talking to myself…” I whispered, realizing just how strange and terrifying this all seemed.

Dr. Levin nodded, understanding. “Maggie, what you’ve described sounds like something we need to explore more. Sometimes our minds can play tricks on us, especially when we’re under stress.”

The weight of it all hit me then. It wasn’t just the man; it was everything. The constant stress, the lack of sleep, the pressure of my daily life. I’d been running on empty, and maybe, just maybe, this was my mind’s way of showing me I couldn’t keep going like this.

I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the long road ahead. With Dr. Levin’s help, I could start making sense of everything, one step at a time.