What Just Happened?

Last week I was driving home from work. It was somewhere near 1:30am as I was getting close to ending my almost hour long commute. I was stopped at a red light, which was lucky because if it were green and I had kept going I would have been going 50 mph. That's lucky because shortly after the light turned green and as I was slowly accelerating, suddenly in the middle of the road in front of my car was a woman screaming "Help me! Help me!" If I had been going 50 mph I would have hit and probably killed her.

As I swerved out of the way, the car in the other lane quickly sped off. I pulled off to the side of the road to try to figure out what to do. Either she really needed help or it was all a scam and she was going to ask someone for help and then she'd take whoever offered help to the ring leader and they would be sold into sex slavery (what? It could happen, I watch Oprah). I felt like I should help her, so I turned around and drove down the road looking for her. The road she was walking on had no sidewalk, no streetlights, and the speed limit was 50. She had escaped getting hit once but would she be that lucky again? I pulled over on the opposite side of the street she was on and asked her if she was okay. Between hysterical sobs I heard "no." She kept trying to tell me something but I couldn't understand her. I told her to come over to my car and talk to me. She came over and said that she needed a ride home, she didn't have a phone, and she didn't know anyone in this town. I asked her where she lived and she told me. Her house was about 10 miles away from where we were, so I told her I could giver her a ride. Can you imagine walking 10 miles home in the middle of the night?

She got in my car and I told her to tell me what had happened. She said that her boyfriend was drunk and she was driving them home when he started to slap and choke her. She jumped out of the car (which is when she jumped in front of me) and then he got in the drivers seat and took off drunk, and with her keys and cell phone. I told her to call the police, and that is when she said those few words that sent chills down my spine and made me wonder what I had just walked into the middle of.

"If I call the police, he WILL kill me."

Oh. Shiz.

She started to panic again, understandably so. I started to talk to her about little stuff - work, where she was from, her kids, etc. She/we calmed down and were almost close to her house. She said that she didn't know how she was going to get inside because her door was locked and he had her keys. Then she said she was scared he would be waiting for her there.

"If you see your car or him, I'm not letting you out of the car and I'm calling 911."

She agreed. As we pulled up we didn't see any sign of him. She asked me to stay until she was able to get into her house. She knocked on the door and windows to try to wake her kids up. Nothing happened. She was banging on the door and windows for about 5 minutes. She came back to my car and asked me if I had seen anyone looking out of the window. I hadn't seen anything. She said she thought she heard someone inside but no one would answer the door. She was afraid he was inside with her kids. I told her that I had a cell phone and she didn't and if she wanted to call the police now was the time. She wanted to use my phone but she didn't call the police, she called her parents. It was late so they didn't answer. Neither of us knew what to do next. Just then, her neighbors came outside to have a cigarette. They were 2 big strong looking dudes. She told me that they worked for Border Patrol and she was going to ask them for help. She thanked me over and over. As I was leaving I saw her walking towards them. I prayed that they would either help her get into her house, or better yet, convince her to call the police.

In the midst of our small talk I learned what this lady did for a living. She told me where she worked and I knew where it was because any time we go into town we drive past her building. We went into town a few days ago and we drove through the parking lot looking for the car that looked like hers. I only saw the car for a second but I knew the color and the model. We saw a car that matched the description. I hope and pray that means she got into her house safely, her kids are safe, and got her car, keys, and cell phone back.

As I drove home I made sure no one was following me (I watch Oprah AND Law & Order, okay?) I wanted so badly to call Rick but he was at work and couldn't answer, so I texted my neighbors and told them what happened and asked them to keep and extra eye and ear out for me because I was home alone that night and freaked the crap out.

Looking back, I should have called the police the second she told me what was wrong because 1 - he was driving drunk and 2 - she was in serious danger. Next time I'm driving home at 1:30 in the morning and a girl jumps in front of my car, I'll be better prepared.