Almost kidnapped

My friends and I almost got kidnapped about four weeks ago.

Mazie and Kaidance were hanging out with me, and we needed to go to Walmart to get some air fresheners for my car. Out of the blue, Kaidance came up to me and said, “Carlie, I think we are being followed.”

I look at Kaidance and kind of laugh and brush it off. So, we get the air fresheners for my car and we go down by the food aisle. Then, I see Mazie and Kaidance run, and I am thinking, “What are they doing?” So, I catch up with them, then, I ask them, “Why are y’all running?”

They say, “Three men are following us!”

I ask, “Where?” They tell me to start walking. Then, we pass down an aisle and there they are, three men around 30 years old.

I say, “Oh, they are just shopping; it’s Walmart!”

So, we decide to self check out. Mazie and Kaidance lean over and tell me to look at the end of the check out places. There stand the three men. At this point, I did get a little freaked out, but I wasn’t going to rush out the door.

So, we get through checking out, and as we approach the doors, Kaidance and Mazie run off and get in the car without me. I was thinking, “I am not running like them – that’s stupid.”

Then, I go outside and start walking toward my car. My friends are already in the car. Kaidance opens my door and yells, “Carlie, behind you!”

I look behind me and the three men are not even three feet away from me. They start whistling at me; I run to my car, not thinking they could run just as fast as me and catch me, but, thank the Lord that He was with me that night. So I run to my car, get in it, and drive off. I almost ran over the men.

As I was driving away, I realized that I didn’t have anything on me — no pepper spray or a taser. I didn’t have anything protecting me. I could have been kidnapped.

That’s why I encourage people to be on the lookout when you are out running errands or hanging out with friends. The human trafficking rate now is through the roof high. And, I didn’t write this column to scare people or to freak people out. I wrote it to help and spread the word: kidnapping can happen to you; don’t think that it’s always someone else it happens to; it could be you.

I will always be more careful from now on. Always be aware of your surroundings and stay with friends.