I've always been afraid of being attacked on the street at night.
Despite years of working in a bar, and coming home late around midnight, this fear had never left me.
The pay was lousy and the boss forbade employees to park their cars in the parking lot reserved for customers. So every night, I had to walk alone for several minutes to my car parked a little further away.
One day, as I was talking to one of my friends, she told me about this application.
"Don't you know this app? It's called "Are you being followed?" or AYBF for short. Basically, the app detects the waves of nearby cell phones, and if the algorithm notices that a signal is following you, the app sends you a notification," she explained.
"Some say it also detects ghosts and "supernatural" creatures that give off particular waves, but I think that's bullshit to attract views on Tik-Tok," she added.
I couldn't quite figure out how it worked, but she assured me that the algorithm was never wrong, and that it had already allowed her once to be alerted early enough to be safe from a strange guy one night.
I downloaded it, figuring it couldn't hurt.
One evening, as I was walking down the street clutching my coat, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.
It was the app that had sent me a notification, and on the screen simply appeared the message: "YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED".
I slowed down and looked around.
The street was deserted, only the wind sounding in my ears.
Perplexed, I continued walking, the sound of my solitary footsteps echoing around me.
A minute later, I received another notification.
"YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED".
With no one behind me, I wondered if it was a bug or if this app was literally a scam.
"BOO!"
I jumped and shouted.
And right in from of me was my colleague, Ian, wallowing in laughter.
"Sorry sorry I couldn't help it. Here, you forgot your tips," and he handed me a few bills.
"Next time you do that, I'll empty my pepper spray in your face".
Safe in my car, I finally managed to laugh it off, and figured that at least I had proof that the app worked.
The app never triggered again after that.
Until tonight.
I'd just finished a long evening and was exhausted. All I wanted to do was go home and go to bed.
As I was walking alone in the cold night, with just enough strength to look at the tips of my feet without falling asleep while walking, my cell phone vibrated and I picked it up, thinking someone had sent me a text message.
"YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED"
The appearance of the message caught me off guard and woke me up all at once.
I looked around. There was nothing and no one around at this late hour and the temperature was negative.
I thought back to the only time it had gone off and Ian's joke. He knew perfectly well by now that I didn’t find it funny, and I had made it clear that I hoped he wouldn't do it again or he would get his ass kicked.
I stood there, looking back. Looking for someone who obviously didn't exist.
Still suspicious, I resumed my walk, keeping my phone in my hand.
After a minute, it vibrated again.
"YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED
I looked around again, but there was nothing. I was starting to panic. I was alone, in the middle of the night, and I was beginning to think something was wrong.
A paper cup was pushed by the wind and the noise startled me.
"Is anyone there?" I felt compelled to say aloud.
Obviously, no one answered.
"If there's anyone, I’m warning you, I'm armed," I lied, trying to be as convincing as possible.
When nothing happened, I started to turn around to resume my walk. And at the last moment, out of the corner of my eye, even as I turned my head, I swore I saw something moving in the shadows at the corner of an alley.
It took me a while to process what I'd seen. At first I thought it had been a cat.
No, cats don't have white eyes.
I walked quickly.
"YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED"
Behind me there was absolute silence.
"YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED"
Was it the sound of bare feet on the sidewalk I'd just heard?
"YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED"
I clutched my pepper spray can as I took the last few steps to my car while looking around like a madwoman attacked by imaginary birds.
I closed the car door and locked the doors.
Finally I managed to exhale the air I'd been holding in my lungs.
I didn't wait any longer, not wanting to linger here, and started the engine.
Once home, I took a shower and got ready for bed.
It had been a strange night. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why the application had triggered so many times. Wasn't it possible that there had been a malfunction and I'd just imagined what I thought I was hearing and seeing because of the stress?
After a while, I came to the conclusion that the app was bugged and that my overactive imagination combined with my natural fear of being attacked had done the rest.
I put my mobile in my pocket and made several trips to the kitchen to throw away the remains of my dinner.
My cell phone vibrated.
"YOU ARE BEING FOLLOWED"
My breathing stopped.
I stood there for several seconds, staring at my screen.
I raised my head slowly and looked around. I inspected every nook and cranny accessible to my view without making a move.
The light in my bedroom was still off. Apart from that, I couldn't see any place where an intruder might be.
I made my way discreetly towards my bedroom.
Stop stressing, you said it yourself, this app doesn't work.
I continued walking slowly, and put my hand on the light switch just to the left of the door.
I pressed it.
I took a few steps inside, but without a doubt, no intruder, ghost or monster had entered my room.
As I returned to the living room, reassured, my gaze was drawn to the window and the night outside.
And there I saw the pale face of a creature glued to the glass, staring back at me with the two whitest eyes I'd ever seen in my life.
After a second spent trying to understand what I was seeing, I screamed in fear.
The police immediately dispatched a patrol car after my panicked call.
The two officers inspected the area around the house without finding anyone who resembled the vague description I'd given them, even though they seemed worried. I had obviously avoided mentioning the fact that what I had seen had white eyes and skin and a bald head.
After a while, they had to leave and told me to call back if I ever saw "someone" at my window again.
I closed all my shutters, and spent the night awake, a knife resting on the living room table.
When day broke, I finally got the courage to leave my house.
I looked around it, and saw something the police hadn't seen, or hadn't wanted to tell me.
Just below the window where I'd seen this thing, there were dozens and dozens of bare footprints going from left to right towards all the other windows.
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