Imagine walking home after studying for your finals. You are with your best friend talking about the random things that come to your mind. It's 8 o'clock and the sky, which was sunny before, has an ominous darkness to it.
The path you are on has very few blue protection buttons and there is not too much light. Two guys end up walking behind you and your friend. You turn to spit your gum in the passing trashcan and you hear one of the guys say, "No, the girl in the grey sweatshirt just looked back at us." You and your friend keep walking thinking nothing of it.
The sounds of their voices get closer and closer. You hear them talking about you and your friend, and before you know it, they are chasing you as you are running and screaming thinking you are about to be attacked. You turn to look and one of the guys is running at you in a zig-zag pattern, staring you dead in the eyes, yelling. They eventually run a different direction, leaving you and your friend hyperventilating and crying in the middle of the nearest dining hall. You are scared and don't feel safe as you return to the sidewalk to walk back to your dorm. You and your friend talk about what just happened, how you felt, and how after screaming at the two guys chasing you, the people around you didn't even turn their heads to see what was going on, let alone help you.
After you get home and are encouraged to call the police, you find yourself waiting outside for your college police to show up. You are sitting on the chair scared that the guys will show up again and all you could do is run. Your friend leaves you to use the restroom really quickly while you beg her not to and to stay with you until the police come. She runs upstairs and you sit on the black chair in the dark of night crying because you are just as scared as you were two years ago when you were sexually assaulted.
Your friend comes back, the police take your statement, and you go back to your room with your friend hoping that they will catch the guys. Months later, you get a call while you are out shopping for the holidays, you answer it and listen to the detective say that they have found nothing and are closing your case.
Understandably, you no longer feel safe at school. You can't walk to and from the library without one hand on your siren and your mace in reach.
The next year, you learn you have to worry about getting taken and forced into the sex trafficking scene. You can't shop at Target or your local Publix without worrying of being grabbed or followed.
Some people can't even go to the pool without fear of being sexually assaulted or raped. This is not okay. The world, a place where you should be able to walk around safely, is now a place that you can't walk through without fear of something bad happening. You have even tried the buddy system and that has failed you. You are having trouble figuring out how you can walk around feeling safe when there are so many parts about life making you feel like there is no way to do so.
However, as true as this may feel, there are a few ways to help. The main thing you can do is to be alert. Know your surroundings, know where your keys are in case you need to fight someone away, have your pepper spray in hand or your finger on the button of your siren.
In case this is all in effect and you still don't feel safe, find someone to walk with. If you are a girl, I suggest asking another girl or a group of friends if you can walk with them. If you'd rather not do that and are on campus, call your college police and ask if they could send someone to walk you back to your room. If you are off campus, call the non-emergency police and tell them you feel unsafe and they will send a car to help you. Yes, these options may seem scary or drastic, but unfortunately, that's what the world has come to. If you feel unsafe, you don't have to live with it. There are people that can help you, but you have to find them.
