by Michaela Goebel

Created on: January 18, 2009

Although it happened nearly twenty years ago, I remember it as though it were yesterday. In an effort to attain perfection, I spent nearly three hours getting ready for my first date and, in that time I tried on every outfit I owned, changed my hairstyle four times, and applied my makeup perhaps five different times. Tony was so devastatingly handsome, with his slightly long and curly blonde hair and intense blue eyes that seemed to be able to read your soul in an instant. I was so nervous that the butterflies in my stomach grew to full-grown birds well before he arrived to pick me up, and I was actually starting to feel a little sick.

Tony did not have a car of his own, so he arranged for a friend of his, Rob, to double date with us. They arrived exactly on time, and after Tony met my dad, who gave the expected lecture on proper behavior, we were on our way. The movie did not start for several hours, so we agreed that we would go to Rob's house and hang out until it was time to pick up Rob's date and head for the theatre. We played several games of pool and listened to music in the basement game room to pass the time. Both Rob and Tony were wonderfully funny, and my nervous knots completely disappeared as the evening progressed. Then Rob went to pick up his date, leaving Tony and me alone, and the nightmare portion of the evening soon began.

As I bent over the pool table to take a difficult shot, Tony came up behind me and started some moves of his own. It quickly became clear what he wanted, and when I said no, he went psycho on me. He yelled and cursed at me and said that I was the worst date he ever had. The next forty minutes were the most terrifying of my life, even to this day. He started stalking me though the house, all the while calling out in a crazed singsong voice similar to that of Elmer Fudd calling out for Bugs Bunny. "Where are you? Come out come out wherever you are. I'm going to find you." I caught a glimpse of him from one of my hiding spots and panic nearly overwhelmed me when I saw the butcher knife in his hand. Thankfully, it was a rather large house with a circular floor plan, so I was able to avoid him until Rob returned with his date and another friend.

When I heard the door open, I ran for the safety of numbers, barely getting to them before Tony did. Rob took one look at me and demanded to know what the problem was. As I explained between sobs the ordeal of the past forty minutes, Rob and his friend both became outraged and Tony disappeared from sight. Rob asked his date to stay with me while he and his other friend dealt with the situation. When they found him, they made him leave and I never saw Tony again.

Learn more about this author, Michaela Goebel.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.