The man who randomly started walking home with me.

So when I (25F) was about 16 I was walking home from a mates house, it was dusk and the streets were pretty empty, but I wasn't too afraid because I'd been in this situation a few times before. I'm just walking and smoking a cigarette, another person is walking in the same direction, but I pay them no mind since it's a busy street. They get closer and I see its a guy, not sure of his age, but I remember him being taller than me (I'm 5'2) and he was wearing a beanie and a denim jacket with jeans. <br><br>So he gets closer and I cross the street and so does he, I cross back over and he does too, sort of like that scene in Talladega Nights where Will Ferrell's character is walking his dog and he keeps changing direction only for his neighbor to do the same. <br><br>I get to the pedestrian crossing and the guy is now right next to me, the lights aren't going to change anytime soon, so I just sort of stand there, fumbling with my cigarette packet, pretending to find a new one to light, just so I had an excuse to stop and look at him. No idea why I did that, it's not like I was going to run off into the nearby bush and escape, but it was just like my brain went into defense mode and I was trying to get a look at him incase...I don't know, anything could have happened. <br><br>So we're standing there and he doesn't really say anything, he just sort of sticks out his hand and i can see he is holding a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. I take the lighter and use it to light a new cigarette (even though I already have one lit, but that didn't matter) and I give it back and look at his cigs and I take one, even though it's a brand I don't like and I'm already smoking one, and we stand there smoking. I look back at him and realised he had no shoes on and is carrying them in his hand, I don't ask him why because I don't care, but I just realised that and the lights finally changed. <br><br>We cross the street together, we walk past a bunch of houses together, he hasn't said anything to me and I haven't said anything back, except to say thanks when I stole his cigarette and lighter. Finally he says "Want to come in and have a smoke with me?" And he points at a house. I tell him no, thanks and we keep walking, he asks again and I say no and we keep walking. Finally he asks me if I'm sure and I'm like "Yes, you can take me to a house and murder me or something, no thanks". <br><br>I finally get to where I can see my house, so I tell him I'm going home. He says ok and walks the other way, into some bush near my house, I just sort of looked back at him and kept walking. I got inside, shut all the doors and windows, told my mum what happened, first thing she says is "That man was going to take you to his house and sexually assault you". <br><br>I sort of knew that, but hearing her words just sort of made me frightened, I didn't really know what to do, so I just double checked all the doors and windows, smoked a bunch of cigarettes and watched a weird documentary on cannibalism before going to bed super scared for no real reason. <br><br>So yeah, shout out to the guy who randomly walked home with me, started smoking with me, asked me to his house, then went into the bush near my house, you could have been a weird guy who was just trying to be nice, but I'm really, really glad I said no.<br><br><br>EDIT: I feel like people are confused as to why I smoked the cigarette from him. The way I saw it was get the lighter and give it back, I didn't want to just stand next to him at the crossing doing nothing, I didn't want to make it obvious I didn't want to make small talk with him, I didn't want to run, I didn't know what to do. So when he offered me the cigarette, I thought "At least I have an excuse to stand next to him for another minute, just smoke the cigarette, take a few hits and flick it away, you don't have to finish the whole thing". Making small talk with strangers is something I've always sucked at, and I knew I would just stand there if I didn't have the cigarette.