I met a serial killer when I was a child. This is how it happened.

In the 90s my family moved to a small town in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded by dense woods in every direction. The only thing between the woods and the town was a small stream. There was a bridge that went over the stream that connected the woods to the town. One side of the stream was dense woods with a dirt path, the other side was small houses with very small yards. Every single house had a chain link fence around the yard.<br><br>My family moved into one of these houses right by the bridge. We never really had any problems in our neighborhood. We even didn't lock the doors at night. I was about 11 years old.<br><br>Every morning I would get up at 6 am for school. The bus driver would get to my house at 6:30 am. 15 minutes of me sitting on the curb waiting for the bus. Every single morning a guy in a trench coat would be walking from the bridge towards the other side of the neighborhood as I was outside waiting for the bus. We would wave at each other every morning. He never tried to talk to me, but he was friendly and would wave back. He looked like he was in his 50s.<br><br>One morning he walked up to me. I didn't feel scared or anything because he had been waving at me every morning for months. As he got closer I realized how tall and big he was. <br><br>*Hey there little girl, you sure are pretty*<br><br>*Hi, thanks*<br><br>*When was the last time you were in the woods?*<br><br>*I haven't been in the woods*<br><br>*Why not?*<br><br>*I don't know*<br><br>*My house is just over there. Why don't you come by tonight? We can have dinner. Would you like that?*<br><br>*I have to talk to my parents*<br><br>*I'll be waiting*<br><br>He walked off and waved at me. I grabbed my school stuff and went inside to tell my parents about what he said. They immediately called the police and filed a report. Nothing ever happened.<br><br>One day a few weeks later the police showed up at our door. We didn't file any report. They told us that a man had gone missing in the town over. His car was parked by the bridge. They found his car and looked around and noticed a strong smell. It was a freshly dug grave. They found him in the grave. His head was cut off. They started to investigate and found out that graves identical to this one existed all over the town. The police asked my parents if I would recognize the man if I saw him.<br><br>They showed me a bunch of pictures. I picked out the man in the pictures. It was him. He then went to prison for life. I found out he committed over 100 murders of men. He would decapitate them and bury their bodies in the woods.<br><br>When we moved to the house we didn't know any of this was happening. I have no idea what would have happened if I decided to go to his house.