My Story

This is a true story that happened to me in 2003 and is what my book "A Killer Emerges" is based off of.

Background

 

Recently I asked some friends of mine to proof read the first section of my short story (hopefully a publishable book one day) “A Killer Emerges.” Aside from finding out that I am not a grammar or spelling expert, I also found out that I left my friends wondering why I was writing such a dark and violent book. It dawned on my that haven’t shared my experience of what happened to me in 2003 with any of my newer friends… truth be told, it is something I have had a hard time talking about as it was the most terrifying experience of my life and is the motivation for writing the short story. My hopes were to put the message out there to young female models, actresses and other young women that stand in the spot light that there are dangers associated with such careers if you are not careful; the threat doesn’t always come in the form of a male stalker either but it can be a psychopathic female as in my case. “My Story” is my true story of what happened to me and I now plan on including at the back of my fictional book so that readers may understand why I wrote it. Thanks for reading and I hope this helps at least one woman.

 

My Story

 

In 2002 I became a Hooters girl for a Hooters located in Florida to earn a little extra cash while working on my career as a model. On a slow spring afternoon, I believe it was a Tuesday, a woman came into the restaurant and sat down at a booth in my section. I greeted her, took her order and walked over to the bar area to place her order. While I was placing her order I noticed that she was checking me out. But it wasn’t the usual occasional glance… no, she was staring at me hardcore. Still, I didn’t think anything of it as we get just as many lesbian guests as we do straight males. And truth be told, I don’t mind the occasional female companion.

Like I said, things were slow and I didn’t have any other customers in my section so while I was waiting I sat down with the woman for some casual conversation. The very first thing that struck me about her was her muscular, almost bodybuilder like body. I inquired about her, Abdula was her name (hence the name Adrulla in my fictional story), about her muscular physique and she told me about her extensive martial arts and military background. She was very polite to me and I didn’t get any feeling of being unsafe while I was around her- I even felt a little safer around her…initially. Some more customers came in and I left Abdula to enjoy her meal. I talked to her briefly again one more time before she left and I thanked her for her military service.

About a week later Abdula came in and requested to sit in my section. I again sat down with her to make small talk with her and she told me about some of her recent fights before taking her order; I still could not get over her muscular build as I had never seen a woman like her before. We were a lot busier that day and I didn’t get to talk to her any further. Another week later she was back and she again requested to sit in my section. It is nothing unusual for us to have regulars and I didn’t think anything about her requests for me to be her waitress.

Abdula started asking me about my personal life and I told her about my modeling career and some other aspects of my life; I even told her what kind of car I drove and where I liked to hang out with friends. Abdula’s visits became more frequent, going from once a week to a couple of times a week to almost everyday- every time she requested for me to be her Hooter’s girl for her visit. Even some of the other girls began to take notice but I still remained oblivious to the danger. One thing that I did notice, however, is that Abdula started becoming rude to me when we were busy and when I didn’t have time to talk to her. This went on for a couple of months until one day when I returned back from a small vacation I took and Abdula didn’t come in for her usual visits. I didn’t really give it any thought but I did notice that there were a few days where I didn’t see her at all.

Kelly, my best friend and fellow Hooters girl, and I were sitting by a pool one day. Somehow I brought up Abdula and about how I hadn’t seen her in a while. Kelly’s jaw dropped and she asked me “you didn’t hear?” “No?…” I skeptically questioned. Kelly told me that while I was away that Abdula came in and demanded to sit in my section. She told me that Abdula was belligerent that the manager had to come out and tell her to leave but that Abdula refused to leave, continuing to demand to see me. Kelly stated that Abdula began cussing and that she backed our manager, who was a petite female, into a corner; she told me that all of the Hooter’s girls hid in the back and that one of them called the cops. Subsequently, Abdula was arrested for disorderly conduct and she was told that she was no longer allowed back at Hooters. My jaw dropped and chills shot down my spine as Kelly told me the story but I still didn’t feel endangered.

A couple more weeks went by and I had completely forgotten about Abdula and Kelly’s story. One day I was upstairs getting ready for work. Kelly was on her way over to pick me up because my not so trusty car was in the shop. While I was getting ready I heard a prying or cracking sound coming from outside at the back of my house. I looked out my bedroom window and what I saw almost made me pass out with fear. I watched in horror as Abdula attempted to break into a window to my living room.

Luckily I had my cell phone with me upstairs and I immediately dialed 911. To this date I have no idea how the 911 operator understood a word I said because I was crying hysterically and it felt as if my words of panic would not come out of my mouth fast enough. I even pulled the cliché horror movie trick and I hid under my bed as I spoke to the calm female voice on the other end of the line; within minutes (felt like days) the police were at my house. Abdula did actually make it into my house through the window but the police were able to apprehend Abdula inside the house; luckily, Kelly arrived after the police were already on scene.

Abdula received several charges including stalking. A detective that interviewed Abdula later told me that Abdula confessed to following me home from Hooters on multiple occasions. He told me that Abdula stated that she even followed my to some of my photo shots, to my visits to the spa and that Abdula would even watch me when I was getting my hair and nails done. As they say, ignorance is bliss and I almost wish the detective never told me these things as they make me sick to my stomach and I still feel disgusted by it all. Abdula never told the detective exactly what she planned on doing to me (or me and Kelly) other than the fact that she had violent intentions.

So that’s my story. I pray that it helps someone out there in the field that I am in. I don’t want you to be paranoid or for you to feel that you have to go out and buy a gun or take some silly self defense class. What I simply want is for you to be aware unlike I was. Be aware that a predator can come in all shapes, sizes and sexes. The other thing I would like to leave you with… and I know I’m preaching here, is to appreciate your local police and firefighters. I really believe that they saved my life, and Kelly’s life, on that horrible day. And I also hope that this helps my friends and readers better understand the book that I am so not-easily attempting to write! Best wishes!