Let's Not Meet Again

Forced To Let Him Ride

This is not my account, but that of my Friend's, Hardy.

Four years ago Hardy was pretty depressed. He worked really hard and long hours and his girlfriend and him just broke up. Something clicked and He went on some cross country drive for a couple months -- the type where you don't shave and come back with a huge beard... During that time, he encountered a lot of people. There was one in particular that ruined him as got back through Dallas late at night.

Hardy stops at about 11:30 PM at a gas station in kind of a rougher part of South Dallas. As he is filling up, a rough man approaches him and asks for some money. Hardy, being the kind of guy he is, gives him a few bills and then the rough man asks if he can get a ride home. Hardy says he needs to get going, but the man insists and just gets into the back seat even as the car is getting filled up.

So -- there he is, stuck with a really ominous looking dude, nicely demanding a ride "home". As he gets back into the vehicle, the man doesn't explicitly show any sort of weapon, but Hardy was petrified because something was protruding obviously from his jacket and again at his waist. The rough man starts to direct him where to go - which is 30 minutes even deeper into the rougher part of Dallas. Mind you, it's past midnight and Hardy is getting freaked out. Moment by moment, the pleasantries erode from the rough man. He then directs him to a specific house and tells him he will be right back out and NOT to leave him there because he is just getting something. There were a lot of people outside and in cars looking at him - none of them seeming to welcome him.

Hardy told me that he wanted to leave, but he didn't have cell coverage or a GPS, and was on some dirt road already. He stayed for 30 minutes hyperventilating in the driver's seat. The man comes out as it approaches 1 am and then tells him to drive to another place. This cycle continues all through the night - literally, into the morning. Going from place to place, "getting things" and then coming back. He noticed a car from the house that started to follow him.

The rough man apparently milked this and then told Hardy to buy him things. He went to the mall in Arlington, TX and had to buy him shoes and some clothes. Ultimately they ended up at a motel and Hardy paid for the guy's room. This was after about 14 hours with him through the night. He made it out alive, but suffered some excruciatingly fearful hours.

Shortly after this nightmare he moved to Colorado because he felt like the guy may have known too much about him and thought he could get more out of him. I do not think he felt safe in North Texas anymore.