I was almost kidnapped out of a mall. I was 11 years old. Strange man gave me a phone number to call him.

This happened many years ago, and I am now in my 40s. I was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s. It was a nice time to live. I grew up in a suburban area and never had any issues. My parents were naturally protective, but I never felt threatened or scared.<br><br>One day, when I was 11 years old, I was at the mall with my mother. We were walking through a hallway that was not busy at all. There were some kiosks of men trying to sell haircuts and things like that, and there was a man standing by a kiosk trying to sell things. He looked at me and flashed a really creepy smile. I got a strange feeling but still walked by. We walked by and then left the hallway to go into a store.<br><br>I decided to stay outside of the store because I wanted to look at some kind of kiosk. There were some free newspapers and I was looking at it for a few minutes. My mother went into the store and out of sight. 5 minutes or so went by and I still didn't see her.<br><br>A man approached me from the same hallway as before, the one with the creepy guy that smiled. He was dressed nice and looked like he was in his 30s. He told me "Are you looking for your mother?". I told him yes. He said "I saw her go into a store, but it's not that one." (pointing to the one I was at). He said "Let me show you where she is," and started walking towards the hallway we first encountered the creepy smiling guy.<br><br>Something told me this was wrong, but I was preoccupied trying to find my mother. So I followed him. We walked into the hallway. The creepy guy from before was nowhere to be seen. What happened next gives me goosebumps to this day. He said "She went in that door" and pointed to a door that said "Employees Only". I said "Okay". He said "Wait, here is a phone number in case we get separated" and handed me a piece of paper with a phone number on it. I took it, put it in my pocket, and walked towards the "Employees Only" door.<br><br>I opened the door and it was a dark room. I couldn't see anything. Suddenly I heard a voice from behind me. It was my mother. She said "What are you doing? Where were you?" and I told her that some man told me to look here for her. She looked like she was in a panic, took me by the hand, and we got out of there.<br><br>She told me that, when she came out of the store, she couldn't find me anywhere, and was looking all over for me. We went home and forgot about it for some time, until it weighs in on me that I came close to possibly being kidnapped, or worse.<br><br>I never saw that man again. I didn't even get a good look at his face. But we never went back to that mall for a while, and I was always scared to be alone in a place with people I don't know.