14x13: My Brother and the Cult

[00:00:00] Our friend Desi, a long time listener of the show, needs some help from the Lets Not Meet community. Desi is going through a lot of medical issues including a number of autoimmune diseases as well as stage 3 kidney failure. I was lucky enough to meet Desi at a convention a few years back and it was one of those genuine interactions, the kind that just really stick with you, and I'm really glad to have befriended her and kept in contact but I couldn't just watch her go through these health issues and not do whatever I could to help. Her family is struggling financially to

[00:00:29] keep up with her care and honestly it's up to us to help out if we can. Please, if there's anything that you can give to help with the cost of medical bills, medication, and all of the other financial hardships that they're going through right now, please visit the link at the top of the show notes to find her GoFundMe campaign. She deserves better and we can give that to her. Thanks for

[00:00:50] listening and thank you for your help. Enjoy the show. When I was 12 I went to a private school.

[00:01:23] As such I needed to take a long walk to my apartment since the school was a bit far from the city center. This was in Croatia so I had a lot of public transport options to get home. My usual routine was to get on the bus at the station in front of my school until I reached the main street then take a tram to a public park and walk home the rest of the way. The school that I went

[00:01:50] to had a double timetable. This meant one week classes were in the morning and the next classes were in the afternoon. This happened during one of the weeks when the classes were in the afternoon. I was walking out of school with a few classmates since we all got on the same bus that was headed to the main street. The rest of my classmates were picked up by their parents. When we got to the bus

[00:02:15] there were a few empty seats so I took a seat in front of a middle-aged man which turned out to be a mistake. As soon as I sat down he started staring at me. He was staring with this cold look in his eyes. Feeling uncomfortable I took a book out of my bag and started reading. I would have used my phone if I could but it was dead since I forgot to charge it before I left the house that day. The guy wouldn't

[00:02:43] stop staring at me for the whole bus ride. His staring was so intense that I couldn't even concentrate on my book but I refused to put it down since I was scared. I would have mentioned something to my classmates but we had all separated on the bus and I was too scared to move. I don't know why but I didn't want him to see that I was scared. I thought that maybe if I acted brave enough that would deter him.

[00:03:13] When we finally got to the main street my classmates and I all deboarded the bus. Some headed towards the tram station while others were able to walk to their houses from there. The guy who was staring at me got off the bus as well. He started tailing us while keeping a fair distance. I finally told one of my friends about the man but urged him not to look back thinking ignoring him would be our best option.

[00:03:39] When we got to the tram station different people got on different trams since each of them had a different route. I needed to take tram number two and so did my friend. As we waited for it to arrive the guy was somewhere to the right of us but we refused to look at him. When our tram finally came my friend and I got on and so did the creepy guy. When I arrived at my stop I tried to quietly ask my

[00:04:07] friend if he would get off with me just in case but then we saw the guy get off first. We then started heading to the park opposite where I needed to go. As soon as I stepped off the tram it sped away to the next station so I started walking home. It was a short distance and should have only taken about five minutes to walk there but that's when I noticed somebody was following me. I immediately knew it

[00:04:33] was that same guy so I picked up my pace and walked to my apartment. As I turned a corner into the alley that housed my apartment the guy began getting closer. I got to the building and buzzed my mom on the intercom. I was wishing she would hurry up but in the end the guy managed to catch up with me. I could smell this stench coming off of him as he started talking.

[00:04:58] Hey how have you been buddy? He said. I saw your dad yesterday. He told me all about how you were doing in that new school of yours. I immediately knew that he was lying since my dad had been away on work-related business for months and hadn't returned home. I didn't know what to do so I just stood there quietly staring at him. Just then the door buzzed and unlocked so I bolted inside. I managed to rush in

[00:05:26] and started running up the stairs but he was following behind me running as well. Never in my life had I felt such a rush of adrenaline. As I ran up the stairs to the third floor I realized my backpack which was full of my books was weighing me down. I had a disadvantage. In the end I managed to arrive at our door where my mom was happily waiting for me. With no warning I shoved her away from the door and

[00:05:53] entered before slamming it shut. Fortunately the guy had enough common sense not to continue the chase. I told my mom what happened and she called the police. They arrived sometime later questioning me about what the guy looked like and how everything happened. In the end they reviewed the CCTV camera footage of the street but it was so dark outside

[00:06:18] they weren't able to get a clear view of his face. After that I was too scared to make the trek home alone so my mom picked me up every day. Two weeks later I saw a story on the news about a man who was arrested for attempting to kidnap and assault children. The face that they showed was of the man that I saw that day. I finally breathed a sigh of relief knowing I was now safe but I know there are

[00:06:47] still many bad people out there. Everybody please stay safe and to the person whom I met if you ever get released for some ungodly reason I hope to never see your face again. This happened when I started

[00:07:17] texting someone that I met on a dating app. Our conversation quickly turned into an 18 plus conversation as soon as we started corresponding via text. I wasn't playing into it as I was at a family Christmas party. He was upset about this and asked if his magic wand wasn't enough for me. He then sent me more and more photos trying to get a response out of me. But as I said I was at a family event. He knew

[00:07:46] that. I didn't find it the best time or place to continue looking at texts from him. When I got home later I decided to take a bath since the day had been rough. The guy was then blowing up my phone wondering if I was home yet. Mind you I told him I was busy and may not reply until much later that night. This was a generous explanation considering I'd only known this man for five hours at this point.

[00:08:14] He asked me what I was thinking about after I got home and I told him I was honestly thinking about sleep. He didn't like that reply so he asked me why I wasn't thinking about the photos he had sent me. This dude was being nothing but provocative with me even though I continually turned him down. He wasn't taking no for an answer though. He kept spamming my phone and calling me even though I told him I was going to unwind with some drinks before heading to bed.

[00:08:45] He immediately called and said since you're drinking shouldn't you be in the mood? I hung up on him and I ignored all other text messages he sent me until the next day. In the afternoon that following day another gentleman that I had been talking to for a few weeks asked me out on a date. I said yes and we had a great time. On said date I drank at his house.

[00:09:12] It got late and we were pretty tipsy from taking shots so I just stayed at his place for the night as I didn't want to drive home. The overly provocative man ended up calling me at 3am while I was lying next to my date. Without thinking I picked up the phone and in a half sleep daze said hello? He was calling me to tell me that he was at my apartment complex and wanted me to let him in.

[00:09:40] I was confused since I had no idea how he knew where I lived. This was so shocking that I was wide awake now. I asked him how he knew where my place was and he proceeded to tell me that he found out on Facebook through some of my family's pages since I was tagged. I assume he was specifically talking about my mom's post from when I moved in two years ago since the sign for the apartment

[00:10:06] complex was in the background of the photo. But I'm not sure how he was able to find my family on Facebook since I never told this man my last name. I was freaking out so I woke up my date and I let him know what was going on. He took me back to my apartment complex but we didn't go to my door right away. We looked around the complex and I ended up asking this other guy what kind of car he was

[00:10:31] driving. When my date and I found the car that he was in we drove by slowly so that I could take down the plates. I then called the local sheriff's office and let them know what was going on. They sent an officer out there to ask the guy to leave the property. Once he was gone my date waited inside the apartment with me for an hour just to be sure that he wasn't coming back. We then returned to my date's house where we slept for the remainder of the night.

[00:11:02] Sadly it didn't end there. Even though I blocked this guy I woke up to more texts all from a new number. He was asking me why I didn't give him a chance. He told me I needed to stop letting my emotions get in the way of what we could have. He thought his magic wand was God's gift to the earth and he told me that if I missed this opportunity with him I'd live the rest of my life wondering what real magic felt like.

[00:11:31] I didn't have any words for this person. I was stunned. How did I get into this situation with someone I didn't even know 24 hours before this? How did it escalate so much? I was thoroughly creeped out. His last text to me said, No wonder you're still single. Sure man. No wonder I'm still single.

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[00:14:26] which have sometimes led to the shop that didn't work. End of course our Nemo Boards Shop also makes on mobile devices a good figure. And the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer, what is important to us and what our brand also makes us out. Start your test today A couple of years ago, I flew home to visit family. I was going to be there for about a week before heading to the coast with them for a week

[00:14:56] and then I was going to spend another week with them back at home. I totally needed this three-week break. I had just ended an on-again-off-again relationship. Seriously, it was day by day. One day on, the next off. I put up with this for seven months since it's good to try and fight for what's important, but I finally just had to say, it was fully done. No more chances, not trying to work it out.

[00:15:25] I said we were completely done. So, with that chapter of my life over, I was more than happy to be somewhere else, surrounded by family, so that I could begin to put myself back together. I went home to my family and I spent a couple of days sleeping a lot. My mother is a nurse and she was becoming concerned that there was something physically wrong with me, but really I just needed a couple of days in a safe place where I could let my brain digest the new life

[00:15:54] that I would have when I went back to my home. Before we left for the coast, I met up with a friend from grade school with whom I had kept in contact over the years. I thought it would just be the two of us, but it didn't really phase me when I arrived and another person was there. The three of us hung out for a while and then I needed to head home because I had quite the backwoods rural route to get home. Otherwise, taking a different route would add another 20 miles or so to my trek.

[00:16:24] Being in the backwoods, I needed to be able to keep an eye out for deer, so I said goodbye and told my friend's friend that if he was ever in my neck of the woods, he needed to look me up so that we could grab a drink. I told him to grab my number from my friend and out the door I went. About halfway home, I got this weird queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, so I slowed down and sure enough, there was a deer in the middle of the road.

[00:16:53] Since I had slowed down, I could see that another car was out there on the road. But I couldn't shake this queasy feeling. I figured it would be better to cut out of there and go down the main road since there were more places to stop. I didn't want to make the mistake of stopping in some rural farmer's driveway. I've watched too many movies to make that mistake. So, I cut over to the main road. I pulled into a gas station to sit for a couple of minutes,

[00:17:23] trying not to get sick to my stomach. I then ran into the store, grabbed some water and a ginger ale, and came back out to my vehicle, still unable to shake that queasy feeling. I then started to head home from the gas station, but I knew I didn't want to go straight home, so I drove around, arbitrarily taking this road and that road, until that weird feeling started to go away. I eventually made my way back home and read for a bit before going to sleep.

[00:17:53] The next day, everything was fine and my family and I headed for the coast as planned. Two weeks later, my trip was over. I was still feeling a bit fragile over the breakup, but that was about it. I figured then would be a good time to begin the process of cleansing the environment of negative energies and working through the baggage I had accumulated from the breakup. There was a lot and it would take time. The next day,

[00:18:23] I was going about my business and everything was as cool as it could be as I picked through the junk left behind after the breakup. I was really just doing mindless things to zone out. I didn't want to have to think too much about going through the breakup junk since my brain naturally works full time as it is. A bit later in the day, my phone rang. I don't get a lot of calls, so I assumed that there might be a family emergency and thought that I needed to answer the call

[00:18:53] as soon as possible. The area code of the caller, who was not in my contacts, was the same as my cousin's, so I answered without a second thought. On the other end was the acquaintance I had made at my friend's house. I remember telling him to get my number from my friend, but it was a little weird to have him calling me. I didn't think this was anything too terribly out of the ordinary, though. I asked him what was up and he said that he was at the airport.

[00:19:22] I found that to be odd and said, oh, that's cool. Where are you going? He said that he had already landed. As I was on this call, I was feeling distracted since I wanted to get him off of the phone so that I could just go back to my mental sidestepping and zone out. So, I said that I hoped he was having a good time wherever he was, but then he said he needed me to pick him up.

[00:19:52] That was the record scratch moment. Did he really just say he needed me to pick him up? He continued, I came to visit you. I was taken aback since I knew for a fact that I didn't show any interest in him and my offer for him to reach out to me if he was in my neck of the woods was more of a general courtesy. I never actually planned on seeing him again. Why did you come to visit me? I asked.

[00:20:21] He then said he felt a deep connection and wanted to be with me. I was starting to get angry as well as freaked out as he said this. I told him that I didn't feel a connection at all and I couldn't believe that he flew across the country to see a person who he only spent two hours with. He said that I invited him by telling him to contact me if he was ever in my area. I said, um, no.

[00:20:50] That's just a polite thing I tend to say in social situations, especially to friends friends. He then said that he needed to find a way home and that I misled him and he said that he needed a place to stay until he could scrounge up the money for a plane ticket back. I told him that there were more than enough hotels where he could stay while he got himself sorted out. He said he didn't have any money to pay for a hotel after buying a one-way plane ticket.

[00:21:19] This made me feel flabbergasted, angry, and freaked out. I couldn't believe that someone would impulsively buy a one-way ticket to fly across the country. I finally caved and said that he could stay the night while he sorted this out, but I expected him to be gone no later than the morning of the day after tomorrow. So, I brought him back to my place, threw some pillows and a blanket on the couch, and turned to head to my room.

[00:21:48] He asked me if he could sleep with me. I had to be clear, so I said, actually, no, there's no fucking way that's going to happen. I made sure to mention that I had firearms and told him that he shouldn't attempt to come into my bedroom. The next day, I had to work, so I woke him up and told him, get up and find a way to get home immediately. I told him that I had work, but would check on his progress since, no matter what, I was dropping

[00:22:18] him off at departures the next morning. After I went to work, he blew my phone up all day. He wanted me to come back to my place for lunch and I told him I was too busy. When I finally got home from work, I was looking down at my phone and chuckling at a text that I got about my dog. When I looked up, I noticed he had rearranged everything. I flipped. I asked him why he thought it was a normal thing to do,

[00:22:48] he blew off my question and asked who I had been talking to since I was laughing at my phone as I walked in. I said that I had received a text from a guy that was watching my dog while I was on vacation. I was shocked when he told me he didn't want me to talk to that guy anymore. I was no longer freaked out. Instead, I felt that a full force apocalyptic disaster was about to be unleashed and leave nothing but a smoking crater. I then very calmly said that he

[00:23:17] needed to get his shit while I called him a cab to take him to the airport since he was clearly a fucking psycho. He was completely unaware of the environmental shift that had occurred, which meant that he was also unaware that his chances of survival were dropping by the second. That's when he decided to tell me that he used my computer to get my ex's phone number. He said that they had chatted and they both agreed that I was being heartless.

[00:23:48] We were fast approaching an epic disaster, and he finally seemed to notice how deep into a rage I had sunk. I told him it was unlikely that he had gotten onto my computer because my password was a full quote from part of The Art of War. Then I told him he had three minutes to get his stuff and get out or I wouldn't be responsible for what would occur next, so he gathered his stuff and left while hurling insults at me. I continued to get

[00:24:18] calls and texts from him after this. Whenever I'd block one number, six more would pop up, but eventually, all of that stopped. To this day, I have no idea nor any interest in knowing where he's at or if he even made it back across the country. So to the crazy guy who hopped on a plane with a one-way ticket after a mistakeing a random, polite comment as an invitation, let's not meet again.

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[00:25:54] See terms at casino.draftkings.com slash promos. Ends April 27th, 2025 at 11.59pm Eastern. We are Teresa and Nemo and that's why we switched to Shopify. The platform, the before Shopify used, has used regularly updates, which have caused to have led to that the shop didn't work. End of our Nemo Boards will make the mobile devices a good figure and the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer

[00:26:24] what is important and what our brand also does. Start your test today for 1€ per month on shopify. .de slash radio. Back in June of 2022, I met a man named Wilton on Hinge. I'm from Victoria, Australia, but he was working in Victoria. I was 24 at the time while he was 28. We hit it often within a day of chatting. He asked to meet me

[00:26:54] in the city for drinks. He seemed friendly and I thought he was cute, so I figured why not get dressed up and see what he's about. Funnily enough, my spidey senses were tingling already, but I just thought it was the usual first date nerves. I should have trusted my gut, but ultimately brushed it off, since he hadn't been waving any red flags yet. He met me at the station, and based on my first impressions, he was dressed really

[00:27:24] nicely. He wore a suit and a long coat, and I could tell that he took pride in his looks. He was instantly very affectionate, way more than I'm used to. He kissed me on the cheek, picked me up, and squeezed me when he first saw me. We were hand in hand from the get-go. Although I was taken aback, I kept in mind that he was of Brazilian descent, and I know that cultures can be different about this kind of stuff. I wasn't overly

[00:27:54] alarmed by this, but that was how he reacted to me within ten seconds of meeting. So we decided to go somewhere for drinks, and he recommended a very well-known fancy bar. I'm a nurse, and this place was way above my pay grade, but he said that he would cover the bill for the whole night. It was quickly apparent that this was a very chivalrous man. He was charming, a sweet talker. I'm not going to lie, it made me feel

[00:28:23] like I was in some kind of sappy early 2000s rom-com. He was very open about his life, and since he was so open, I was too. We had so much in common, and everything just kind of felt right. But this all makes me want to gag now that I know the real him. It just goes to show that if something feels too good to be true, it probably is. So according to the life story he gave me, he was born in Brazil.

[00:28:53] His parents had a family business and were well-off, but somehow lost everything. I think he said that his dad died, and his mom couldn't afford to care for him and his four sisters all on her own. So she gave him up for adoption, and he moved to Portugal. I guess he was the runt of the litter, since he said she kept his four sisters. He then grew up in Portugal from about age five until he was 17, which was when he decided to

[00:29:23] move back to Brazil with his biological mother. mother. He said that his Portuguese family was lovely, but they were incredibly religious. He didn't like the constraints that they had, such as arranged marriage and no sex before marriage. So at 17, he returned to Brazil and rebuilt his relationship with his biological mother before eventually moving to Australia. He said that he moved so that he could acquire some kind of degree involving aerodynamics.

[00:29:53] This was just some degree that I didn't really care about. Eleven years later, he found himself in Australia and working in Queensland as some kind of manager for shipping companies. And he flies to and from Melbourne for work every few weeks. Now that you're up to speed with all of that, we'll get back to the date. I had a traumatic upbringing that involved neglect, poverty, being raised by grandparents, and so on. So hearing his story really touched me.

[00:30:23] The man essentially had me in the palm of his slimy hands. I felt that he was cocky and had an ego on him at times, but he kept mentioning that he can come across as such, but reassured me that it was only how he was perceived. He swore he wasn't actually that way at all. So our date was progressing, and he was ticking so many boxes. We then spoke about how I loved to dance

[00:30:52] and always wanted to learn salsa. He said that he knew of a studio that has dance classes on weekend nights, and when he looked it up, it had sold out. So he asked if I'd go back to his place just to hang out instead. My common sense was starting to slip away, so I said yes. But I at least had the common sense left to tell him I was only coming over to talk, and I needed to leave to go home before midnight. When we got to his apartment,

[00:31:23] it was like a scene from Crazy Stupid Love. He lit a bunch of candles and put on some salsa music and poured a few heavy glasses of red wine. When he asked me if he could teach me how to salsa in his tiny living room, I felt like I was Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days or something. I obliged because my flutters were in full control of my every function at this point. night, we ended up making out and things got hot and heavy, but I

[00:31:52] stuck to my guns and didn't let him pass my chastity belt. Don't get me wrong, I've had one-night stands before, but I had turned a new leaf and my new rule was at least three dates. That night, we ended up falling asleep together and I remained fully clothed. We woke up the next morning and he took me out to breakfast before reserving an Uber to take me home. Keep in mind, this was the one and only time I physically met him and it

[00:32:22] stayed rather PG. A few days later, things started getting weird. He started making these grand gestures, complete with love bombing. Without asking, he bought me lingerie. He didn't know my size and had never seen me in lingerie. He also bought me jewelry for my birthday and offered an all-inclusive holiday to Queensland. As he told me about the trip, he said that we were going to a private restaurant that his friend owns.

[00:32:51] He also said that we'd be going on a helicopter ride and a cruise on a yacht amongst a bunch of other completely insane things. He paid for the flights and told me not to bring the lingerie because he had that covered. My alarm bells were going off at this point. I remember wondering, is he a sugar daddy or am I about to be trafficked in the lingerie and jewelry he just bought for me? I mean, think about it. The dude works for a shipping company. Was he

[00:33:21] about to ship me off to some market? My stomach was churning at this and I was getting suspicious. I also realized I hadn't done much digging on him. If I was going interstate with this schmoozy wet sock, I needed to know everything. So my housemate and I spent hours investigating. His Facebook was on total lockdown and his Instagram had no signs of family. He didn't have any people in his photos and the few photos

[00:33:50] he did have were posted from years ago in Brazil. All of the photos he had were just of him solo and traveling, so I started questioning everything. Was his name even Wilton? That name doesn't even sound Brazilian or Portuguese. Then we searched his number on my bank app and lo and behold, a completely different name came up. I was flabbergasted. I was wondering who the fuck is this toenail I've been wasting my time with?

[00:34:21] So I went a bit deeper. I was going through all of his Instagram followers, looking for any remnants of him. As I scrolled through a bunch of different accounts, I felt like I was in a deep, dark cave. But then I finally found a group photo with him in it from around 2016. He was holding a Brazilian woman who appeared to be about 35, and the comments said things like, love you both, can't wait to see you two again. I couldn't confirm if they were

[00:34:51] married or not, but I was ready to put my money on it that they were. Then I did some digging to see if I could find out who this woman was. I couldn't find anything, but I did have a lead on what her name might be, so I searched on Google for her name along with the name I saw attached to his phone number on my banking site. After sifting through countless pages, I couldn't fully comprehend since they were in Spanish and poorly translated, but I found a settlement document.

[00:35:21] The document detailed a civil dispute about a debt, but both of their full names were on there. To my surprise, his full name on the case was Wilton, along with the other name that I saw. It was good to see one truth, but that didn't fix the whole truck of lies. As my housemate and I continued investigating, I asked him to send his passport so that my friends had his details for when I went to Queensland,

[00:35:50] just to be safe. Hours later, he sent me his passport, and he had blacked out a bunch of info and covered his face, but he didn't cover his date of birth, so I saw that this guy was born in 1986, making him 36. I confronted him about it, and he made up some shit about how his date of birth got messed up as he was being registered as a citizen in Portugal. I didn't know a 5-year-old could be mistaken as 13, but there you have it.

[00:36:20] Over the next few weeks, he kept canceling and changing the trip to Queensland. Days before each rescheduled flight, there was another issue. I went along with whatever he was saying, even though I had no intention of actually going, I just wanted to see his cunning plot come to fruition, I guess. I ended up messaging the woman from the Instagram photo, as well as the legal documents, because I had a horrible gut feeling there was more to all of this, and I was sick of the games.

[00:36:50] It definitely felt like I was crossing a line, but I needed to know. She ended up messaging back. She let me know that she unfortunately knew him, and wanted to tell me everything over the phone. What she said completely blew my mind. This absolute asshole was the biggest narcissistic, pathologically lying, cheating scumbag I had ever had the displeasure of knowing. He had lied about everything.

[00:37:18] He was 36, born and raised by his mom and dad in Brazil, where he lived for his entire life. He never lived in Portugal. He had brothers, sisters, and not four sisters, as he stated to me. He studied social work, and is currently studying to become a physiotherapist, so his schooling had nothing to do with whatever he had previously told me it did. He was the same charming, suave man to his ex, whom he married in Brazil, and they moved to Queensland shortly after.

[00:37:49] As soon as they arrived, he became financially and emotionally abusive to her, and refused to get a job, so she worked and paid the bills. She also paid for his social work degree, random business trips, and whatever else this scumbag needed. After moving to Queensland for five years, she got a message from a 24-year-old Australian girl who was about the same age that I was at the time. It turned out they had been dating for three years. They met at

[00:38:18] university, and he had been using her to do all his university work. She was told the same life story that I was. But the poor thing never questioned it. She even believed the whole mix-up about his date of birth on his passport. She finally found out about his wife through a mutual friend at university who said that she thought he was married. And thank God for that friend. So, Wilton and his wife got divorced, and the 24-year-old kicked

[00:38:47] him out to the curb a year later. That was when another girl reached out to his now ex-wife. Same story. She was 24 years old. She was also told the same bullshit life story and believed it. They had been together for four years, and he was using her to pay for his lifestyle and clothes. After that, two years went by, so his ex just hoped that he had finally come to his senses. But then I wound up being the third girl to reach out to her.

[00:39:17] My guess is, he keeps a few girls on the roster at a time. His plans with me probably kept changing because of them. I mean, even the jewelry and lingerie that he got for me was probably on some other woman's hard-earned dime. Needless to say, I was furious. I ended up ghosting him because that tends to be the best way to piss off a narcissist. He messaged me for a few weeks via text, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Eventually, I decided to

[00:39:47] give him a taste of his own medicine. I told him I knew some things and that he needed to come clean. I never mentioned what I knew or how I found anything out, but he said that he would be fully transparent and fly down to Melbourne to see me. He probably thought that I knew 1% of the truth. I thought about actually seeing him and seeing what bullshit he would come up with next, but I was done. I told him I was about five hours away from the city in a town that's so small there's only one train

[00:40:16] that goes there in a day. I said that I couldn't pick him up from the airport, but offered to let him stay for a few days so I could show him the real Australian countryside, and then I said I'd drive to the airport at the end of his visit. So, after catching a two-and-a-half-hour flight and sitting on a train for five hours to go to the middle of nowhere, I asked him to send a photo of where he was so that I could find him. He had made the trek while I was at home in my pajamas watching a movie.

[00:40:45] He was stuck there until the next day, and I can only imagine how pissed off he must have been. I sent him an already prepared message. I was just waiting for the exact moment when he realized he had been bamboozled. After I sent that message, I waited for a reply so that I would know he got it. Then I blocked that piece of shit on everything and never looked back. So there you go. Stay safe, everyone, and always trust your instincts. I posted this years ago

[00:41:14] on a Melbourne form, and unfortunately, there were a lot of girls who had met him online for a date. But thankfully, they all got the same vibes that I did, and it never went too far. I was the only one who did the digging to find out who the scumbag really was. I just hope he hasn't been able to trick any more women since my run-in with him. But if he has, I hope they've been able to find the truth.

[00:41:59] I want to preface this story by sharing that I'm pretty used to casual harassment and creepy incidents. I'm a young blonde female, I'm 5'2", and I'm from a Chicago suburb. I've had my fair share of weird guys saying things that make me feel like I'm in danger, but this situation in particular has been haunting me for a while. I go to college at the University of Illinois. I walk to all of my classes since it's good exercise, and the farthest one from my

[00:42:28] dorm is only 20 minutes away on foot. I take the same route at 11am every Friday. About two weeks ago, I was walking to my class, and I had only one earbud in. I was minding my own business, jamming out, when I noticed a slightly beat-up white pickup truck driving alongside me. This in and of itself wasn't scary, as there was a lot of construction happening on the campus at that time.

[00:42:58] The truck itself had a generic symbol for a masonry company on the side. I even remember noting the symbol since it was so generic and a little cheesy. It was a bunch of bricks that just spelled out masonry, complete with an exclamation mark. Now here's where things get weird. The truck slowed down to match the speed at which I was walking. I attributed this to him wanting to pull into the parking lot entrance that was

[00:43:27] just a few feet ahead of me. So, I stopped to let him pull in, but he stopped as well. I looked at the driver, who made it obvious that he was trying not to make it look like he was staring at me. He had a paper map unfurled in front of him, and his eyes kept darting over to me. He was an older guy who appeared to be about 60. So, I started walking again, this time passing the parking lot, and he began driving and

[00:43:56] matching my pace just like he had been doing. Whenever I would speed up, he would speed up as well. I could feel his eyes on me the entire time. This was when I started to freak out. It was broad daylight with people all around, yet this creepy man was following me in his pickup truck. I then began weighing my options. I figured if he tried something, I could probably take him out, since I've taken self-defense classes before.

[00:44:26] I also considered going inside a random building to wait for him to go away, but that would mean risking missing my lecture. Thankfully, a bus pulled up behind him and honked repeatedly, since the driver was annoyed that this truck was only going about 5 miles per hour on a 30 mile per hour road. So the pickup truck drove away. After class, I returned to my dorm room and started researching. I looked up every single masonry company in the area.

[00:44:56] I scrolled through websites and Yelp reviews for a couple of hours, and none of these companies had a logo like the one I saw on the side of that truck. I told my roommate about what happened when she got back, and she thought that I should report it to the campus police. I agreed, and decided to phone it in. After being put on hold several times, they listened to my story and immediately rerouted me to the actual police department. They sent an officer and his deputy to my dorm.

[00:45:25] I recounted the story to them. The officer looked very concerned and agreed that I was being followed. He asked if I happened to catch the license plate, and I mentally kicked myself because I was too freaked out to even think of taking a picture. I did give them a description of the truck and driver, and offered to draw the logo from memory since I was an art student. After taking the information that I had, the officer said that they would increase patrols in the area and pull over any vehicle matching that description.

[00:45:55] To the man in the white pickup truck, let's not meet again. We are Teresa and Nemo and deshalb are we to Shopify gewechselt. The platform, the we before Shopify used, has used regularly updates, which have sometimes been to the shop that didn't work.

[00:46:24] Endlich makes our Nemo Boards shop on the mobile devices a good figure. And the illustrations on the boards come now very clear, what is us also important and what our brand is also made out. Start your test today for 1 Euro pro Monat on Shopify.de slash radio. Recently on a Sunday, I locked my keys in my car. My usual go-to lock-popping service is closed on Sundays, so I did some googling to see who I could call.

[00:46:53] I ended up calling my insurance provider, who said that they would send a tow truck. I got a text from the tow company saying that it would be about a 90-minute wait. I accidentally locked my keys in the ignition in my car while it was running, so I was worried that the car would run out of gas. I decided to continue my search for help and found a 24-7 lock-popping service and gave them a call instead. They had a much better 30-minute ETA. After about 45 minutes, the

[00:47:23] locksmith I had been waiting for showed up. He was a young guy who appeared to be in his early to mid-20s. He was kind of skinny with red hair, and he was wearing a backwards baseball cap, a cross necklace, and a muscle tee. After some quick introductions, he started to work on popping the lock. As I watched, I got a call from an unknown number, and I sent it to voicemail. They called back immediately, so I picked it up, and it was the tow company that my insurance company had set me up with.

[00:47:51] I had completely forgotten about them. He was calling to tell me that he was on the way to help me with my car. I told him that a guy was already here taking care of me, so he could cancel the service request. He seemed cool about it, and that was it. While still trying to unlock the car, the locksmith then asked me who that was. I told him it was actually a different lock-popping service that I had called and jokingly implied that I decided to book both and wait to see who got here first.

[00:48:20] The locksmith suddenly had a serious expression on his face and said, Don't ever do that. I assumed he was trying to look out for my financial well-being, considering almost all of these types of services had a cancellation fee, so I started to say, Oh, well, I have roadside assistance, so... But then he cut me off. Those roadside assistance guys, he said, they're subcontractors just like me. I've had them show up to a locksmithing job and get pissed

[00:48:49] when they see someone else already taking care of it. Then the guy lifted his shirt and revealed a bullet wound in his abdomen. I've been shot over jobs like this before, he explained. He then lowered his shirt and reached into his pocket before continuing, That's why I always carry this with me on all my jobs. He then flashed a handgun that was in his pocket. Holy shit was the only thing I managed to say in response.

[00:49:19] I was in disbelief. I apologized to him and he said, I bet I just made you see this job in a whole new light, huh? I nodded and that was that. Then I signed a form and he drove off. Ever since this happened, I've been wondering, was he serious? The bullet wound seems so real. But was he serious about getting shot over a stolen locksmithing job? I figured that had to be the truth because why would he even say that if it wasn't?

[00:49:48] Why would he flash a gun to a stranger to corroborate a made-up story? I'm going to make some copies of my key so that I never have to call a locksmith again. My brother Brian and I grew up very close.

[00:50:18] We always had movie nights with the family, family dinners, game nights, holidays, and family road trips. It was all very normal. When we eventually grew up, we moved away from home. We're both in our 20s now. I haven't seen him recently, but we text here and there to confirm our aliveness. But then Brian suddenly became very religious. It seemed to happen nearly overnight.

[00:50:48] And I'm talking extremely religious. Now, I don't judge anyone, but no one in our family is particularly religious, and he doesn't have any religious friends. He found a church in the new city that he decided to move to. He's completely isolated, and the first friend he made was who we'll call the priest. He was secretive about which church he was attending, and he spends all of his time there. Brian is there late every night.

[00:51:17] He says he goes there to help clean up. But that just doesn't sound right to me. They even took a mission trip to Mexico, and I can only imagine what in the world they were doing there. The only media that he now consumes is religious, and he has no friends outside of the church. Church is the only place he goes outside of work. Before ending each conversation, he always asks me, are you ready to give your life to God, or are you going to

[00:51:47] suffer in hell? He recently took a trip back home to visit our family, after which my mom said something was off. Brian just seemed wrong. She said that he sat silent for most of the time, just quietly observing. Otherwise, he looked far removed, even while looking right at her. This new energy of his filled the room, and he made her uncomfortable.

[00:52:15] He was no longer the bubbly and affectionate guy he had always been. He kept his distance and had nothing to say. After he left, she said that she had a gut feeling that he would never come back. Once a month, Brian and I catch up by playing video games together. We'll play for hours, and this is our bonding time. I entertain his religious conversations regardless of my opinion. During our last game night, he was having

[00:52:44] so much fun that he wouldn't even let me log off till around 2am. But then, I found out that he gave his console away to a church member. I was so upset. It felt like he didn't even think about what that meant. Neither one of us is the phone call type. But we love video games, and we've been playing them together since we were young. So, it was really sad to see how quick he was to give up our game nights.

[00:53:13] Our game nights were perfect. After he found out I was upset, he called me to address the issue. He said that he gave his console away because he said his future wife, who had only appeared as a premonition so far, is coming, and she wouldn't like him playing video games with other girls. He added that he simply didn't have any additional time since he was devoting so much of his time to the church.

[00:53:41] He told me that he would be cutting me off completely, since his premonition wife is more important to him than his relationship with me. But he spoke with such clarity. It was terrifying to hear him be so deluded. He was so sure of himself. Our dad then called Brian and said, For you two need to cut off your sister, you must feel for her in another way than as your sister.

[00:54:11] Brian avoided the question and didn't answer. He informed me that he would be moving overseas to find his premonition wife soon. I was shocked. Is he really going to try and find this premonition? I felt sick over this for so many reasons. I'm losing sleep, and I fear that my brother is in some sort of cult, and he seems to be under religious psychosis. What type of church influences someone to

[00:54:40] cut off their family and friends? My mother believes it's his attempt at removing his temptation from his life, a.k.a. me. I'm mourning what was once our relationship, but the situation gives me chills, and I don't know where to go from here. Thanks for listening. Make sure you send your stories in to

[00:55:09] letsnotmeetstories at gmail.com to hear them on the show. Stick around after the music if you're a patron for your extended ad-free version of this week's episode. If you'd like to get access, head over to patreon.com forward slash letsnotmeetpodcast to sign up and support the show today. You'll get access to ad-free versions of all of our episodes at a higher bit rate, plus bonus content with stories you won't hear anywhere else every single week. That's patreon.com forward slash letsnotmeetpodcast. This week you have heard How Is Your Dad?

[00:55:38] by FritzoWolf09. No wonder you're still single by Wren. 20,000 Miles To Get Here Uninvited by TheTryGuy2009. I Met An Australian Tender Swindler, and he deserves his own documentary. By MindOdd4457. Followed by A Pickup Truck in Broad Daylight by Electra P&G. The Locksmith by Eterna13. And finally, my brother joined a cult by Giona.

[00:56:08] All of the stories you've heard this week were narrated and produced with the permission of their respective authors. Let's Not Meet, a true horror podcast, is not associated with Reddit or any other message boards online. Be sure to check out the new episodes of my other podcasts, like Odd Trails, Cryptic Encounters, and the Old Time Radiocast, all at crypticcountypodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I'll see you all next week. Everybody stay safe.

[00:56:32] At the time of this incident, I was 19.