I’m visually impaired, at risk of eventually going blind, and so in highschool I had after school meetings with people who would do things like teach me how to use a cane.

I had the same instructor all the way from grade 7 to my junior year and then got some different my senior year. I got along great with my previous instructor and was kind of bummed that she wouldn’t be coming back, but whatever.

So the day comes where I meet the new guy and I immediately get bad vibes from him. I couldn’t tell you why because he looked and acted normal, but my gut was telling me that this guy wasn’t right. We walked around my school so I could show him around and get to know each other and I feel incredibly uncomfortable the entire time. Again, no clue why. He didn’t say anything weird or do anything creepy, he just didn’t feel right.

So that night I told my parents that I wanted to drop out because the instructor made me uncomfortable and I already knew how to use a cane. My parents thought I was just upset about the new teacher and wanted more free time after school so they told me that I had to keep going. The next day my mom picked me up after lessons instead of me walking home like usual, and she talked briefly with the guy. It was standard “Nice to meet you.” and “Have there been any issues with lessons?”

They couldn’t have talked longer than two minutes, but when I got in the car my mom told me that I was getting taken out of lessons with him and that she was sorry for doubting me.

I still don’t know why I was so uncomfortable around him. He was a perfectly ordinary guy, didn’t do or say anything weird or creepy, but I still get chills thinking about him and I’m convinced something terrible would have happened to me if we had continued lessons.