The most unsettling thing that ever happened to me

I have been sitting on this story for so long now, and I still don't even know how to go about it even though I've written it down. It happened way, way back in the early 90's, when I was a toddler. It was a big thing for me and my family for a long time, and it's still talked about every once in a while. It's not something you ever really forget.<br><br>This happened at a mall. After getting lost for a little while from my mother and not knowing what to do, I went to a nearby kiosk to talk to a lady who was selling those hair clip bows. She was very nice, and when she saw I was lost, she called mall security for me and they were going to come find my mother and tell her where I was. We talked for a while, and she let me sit next to her until someone got there (I don't know if it was a manager or an actual police officer, but I'm just going to call them security for the sake of simplicity)<br><br>While waiting, a man came up to her and started talking to her about different things. I don't really remember what their conversation was about, but I remember it was nothing in particular. I think he was just making small talk, things like "Oh, you're selling bows! Do you sew them yourself?" and trying to get a gauge on what kind of person she was, but I remember in no uncertain terms she wasn't interested in him. She was very polite, but seemed slightly annoyed by his presence. She reminded me multiple times that my mother was going to come soon, and that I was safe. Every time she said that, she'd look at the man out of the corner of her eye, and she'd always immediately go back to looking at me.<br><br>After a while, mall security showed up and asked me a series of questions like what my mother was wearing, where we were before I got lost and stuff like that. The man was still hanging around and I remember him talking to the security guard, who seemed very outwardly annoyed and stressed that he was there. I think he might have even said something to him like "Sir, you need to go away" but I'm not entirely positive.<br><br>After getting all the information, the security guard said he'd go find my mom and that I should stay here with the lady until he got back. She had this look of absolute relief on her face that the man was gone, and I remember we both watched him walk away. A little while later, she excused herself to the restroom, which was just behind her kiosk, and told me to stay where I was. I watched her go in, and once she was in there, I don't know what possessed me (I was literally 3 or 4) but I went behind the kiosk, and into the bathroom after her. She was shocked that I followed her in, and she asked me "Why did you come in here with me? What are you doing?" and I remember just saying "I don't like that man" because even at the time, even though I was a toddler and didn't know a lot, I knew something was wrong with him.<br><br>She just looked at me for a while and went silent, then stayed in the bathroom with me for a long while. I don't know how long it was, but eventually someone came into the bathroom looking for us, saying they found my mother and she was looking for me. I remember the lady came out and just looked around, as if she was expecting to see somebody. I didn't see anyone though, and someone asked her what was wrong. She told them there was a man earlier who was acting suspicious, and she was worried he might have been lurking around or something.<br><br>I was taken to my mom, who was absolutely hysterical. Not mad at me or anything, just that she was so worried about me and she finally had me back, you know? I told her about the lady, what happened, and the man, and she thanked me for sticking up for her and getting her attention, and that I was very clever and very brave. Then we left, and that was that.<br><br>Some time later, I think it was a couple of weeks, I don't know how long it was, my mom had me show her exactly where it was that I got lost, and she went into every store, asking everyone if they remembered me talking about a man. Most of them didn't, but the one who did was that lady. She told my mother that she was very concerned for me, because she'd had an ex-boyfriend who used to work at the mall, and she recognized him when he came up. He had a history of being not okay with children, and she was genuinely afraid he was going to abduct me from the mall. She told my mom that when I followed her into the bathroom, she had never been so happy and so afraid at the same time. Happy that I was safe, and afraid that my instincts as a toddler were so on point that I knew something was wrong.<br><br>She told my mom that his name was Warren something, and my mom didn't write it down. She told some mutual friends about it later, and one of them recognized his name and told them that he was a child abductor, and he'd been wanted for a long time. He was caught and convicted some years later for the kidnapping of several children, although he was never charged for anything else like that. From what I know, he's still in jail, although that could have changed over the years.<br><br>So, to Warren, who would've kidnapped me that day if the lady hadn't been there, or if my instincts hadn't told me to get away from you and to follow her into the bathroom: Let's not meet again.<br><br>UPDATE: <br><br>Wow, this got a lot more attention than I expected so quickly. I just want to clear up a few things.<br><br>First, I know I was pretty vague about some things, and that's just because it's been so long since it's happened. I'm not entirely sure what all *did* happen, but I remember what I remember, and I've written it all down. There was way more conversation than what I wrote down, but I don't remember it word for word. I remember how everyone acted, and what I felt like, more than anything else. <br><br>Second, I'm glad so many people have appreciated the story, and have been so supportive of me and my family. I know it might seem a little uneventful to some people, but it was something that happened to me personally, and it affected me in a really deep way, and I just wanted to share it. Thank you all so much for your comments.<br><br>And lastly, if you're going to message me basically saying "This is fake" or something like that, I'm just going to ignore you. If you don't think it's real, that's your opinion, but I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise because there's no point. I'm not going to convince you one way or the other, so maybe just be quiet.