Nice to meet you...are you going to kill me?

So it’s come to this. This is the world we live in. I can’t even go to the park in broad daylight without having the most unsettling experience since I caught my ex husband weeping and having a full fledged conversation about me with…the stereo. Fall in Las Vegas is so beautiful. Bright sunlight pours from clear blue skies, temperatures hover around 85 degrees, and every now and then a breeze washes over that feels so fresh and clean you forget you’re in the city. Yesterday was one of these perfect fall days and I had an extra hour between work and class so I found a park near campus, spread out a blanket and attempted to finish reading The Fountainhead, since it is due back to the library…today. No sooner had I settled on a sunny patch and opened my book when I heard hostile voice shouting at me. “HEY!”
Hoping the “hey” was not directed towards me, I continued reading without looking up. “Hey YOU! I’m talking to you!” Great. Coming towards me was a thug-a big one. About six feet tall and probably 250 + pounds, decked out with all sorts of stereotypical thug paraphernalia, from his K-Swiss to his frighteningly erratic afro. “Who me?” I asked timidly and as sweetly as I can, my eyes desperately sweeping the park for someone else. I was alone, aside from two men (who I shall now refer to as my guardian angels) running around the track. “Ya you.” He said standing dangerously close to where I was sitting. “Wus yo name?” He asked. “Suzy.” I replied. “Ya well Suzy. I’m Jonah. An’ I’m looken’ fo’ some new friends. You see, my last friends, they all got in an accident.” He grins, revealing a mouth full of rotted teeth. “Only it wasn’t no accident.” AAAAAAAAAAAAGHHhhhhh! What could I do? I couldn’t get up now, I was afraid any sudden movements would trigger the madness obviously raging within him. So I simply smiled and looked out at the joggers on the track, trying to communicate my distress with telepathy. “Wus yo name again?” Jonah asked sitting down. It was then I noticed he was keeping one hand behind his back. Concealing what? A gun? A dead frog? A worm to dangle menacingly in front of me? He scooted in close to me, keeping his hand behind his back. I laced my keys in my fingers and prepared for the worse as he began to tell me a story about his unfaithful ex-girlfriend and why women weren’t meant to be trusted. I was so scared and I think my jogger friends finally picked up on it because they began running off the track and on to the field where we were sitting, modifying their laps so they would run right past us. Jona licked his large black lips and leaned in towards me. “Where do you live?” He asked. That was it. The last straw. I was outta there! I mumbled something about Henderson and needing to get to class before scampering off. I was almost home free when I heard the dreaded “Hey-WAIT!” He was chasing me. I pretended not to hear my as my car was near and I was almost safe. “I SAID WAIT!” He yelled. Stupidly I stopped and turned. He said “Do you think we’ll ever meet again?” “I don’t know…” I said fumbling with my keys. “Don’t worry-we will.” He said. I pealed out of that parking lot so fast, my heart beating, palms sweaty. Who knows, maybe I’m reading too much into it but I had a bad feeling the whole time I was talking to Jonah. Girls these days can’t be too careful you know! Needless to say, I will think twice before going to the park alone-even in the daytime.