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40
Mr. Supermarket
Stalker
(Based on a true
story)
glanced quickly around me. But no, I had my back to the wall and
there was no one else nearby. Okayyy, I thought to myself. This is
weird. I couldn’t exactly tell if he was staring at me or just into space.
So I turned, grabbed a random salad, edged awkwardly to the right
and ‘hotfooted’ it to the checkout to wait in line, picking up my
shopping basket as I went. Suddenly, a loud rumble of thunder
interrupted my thoughts. Alarmed, I looked out the glass automatic
doors and watched as the heavens opened up and rain came
bucketing down.
So much for that plan, I grumbled. I am not going out now, no
way! I spun on my heel and marched out of line. Pulling my phone
out of my pocket, I sent Mum a quick text, letting her know that I
was trapped by a storm and I’d be home as soon as it finished. As I
slid it back into my coat though, I noticed the same staring man
from before, this time standing closer. Properly worried now, I
walked down aisle 12 and tried to busy myself by reading labels on
the various spices shelved. Coriander, paprika, cinnamon, fennel
seeds…Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the creepy guy heading
towards me again. He walked behind me, so I angled my head ever-
so-slightly to the other side, trying to catch him in my peripheral
vision. My eyes widened with realisation when
he didn’t walk out the
other side
. I was chillingly aware of the fact that he was immediately
behind me; and the aisle wasn’t very wide. Afraid he was going to try
to stab me in the back, my eyes frantically scanned the shelf in front
of me, searching for glass items I could throw at him. Darn it,
should’ve walked down aisle 8 instead: that one had the utensils!
A sudden flash of lightning lit up the store for one shimmering
second, heightening the ominous atmosphere and it was then that I
felt a tap on my shoulder. Panicking, I couldn’t take it anymore.
Spinning around with a bottle of cumin powder clutched tightly in
my hand I yelled, ‘What do you want?’ The man looked, took a
surprised step back and almost crashed into the shelves. He nervously
gestured to my hand, slightly afraid.
‘Um, I think you have my shopping basket,’ he mumbled.
‘Oh.’
Awkward
. My face flamed red. ‘Right. Here you go.’
‘Thanks.’
As he left, the rain drizzled to a stop and the glowing sun broke
through the clouds. Yikes, what a shopping trip!
‘
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