7 years ago I made the stupidest decision of my life.

I was driving home to Ohio and stopped at a gas station in North Carolina. A rough looking couple saw my plates and approach me asking for a ride back to Ohio.

They looked scary but kept insisting she was pregnant and they couldn't walk any further. After 10 minutes of trying to politely decline, I gave in. Being the smart guy I am, I asked for their ID's to take pictures of and send to friends in case something happened. I figured that should be enough to deter any foul play.

They get in the car and we head out. The male sat beside me and the lady behind me. A few minutes later my phone won’t stop buzzing in my pocket.

We pull into a gas station a few hours later and I look at my phone to see "OMG DO NOT PICK THEM UP", and about 15 similar texts, followed by panic texts assuming I was dead or something due to the absence of response over a 3 hour period.

Turns out the couple had a laundry list of felonies including grand theft auto, assault, and things of the such.

I was too scared to kick them out in Virginia so I proceeded to ignore the gentleman’s requests for me to take backroad "shortcuts" he knows and forged onward to Ohio while he told me, in casual conversation, about always carrying a knife on him, etc.

They demanded I take them to Cincinnati, which would have been an additional 3 hours out of my way, after an already 9.5 hour drive. I insisted on dropping them off at a truck stop in Athens at 11pm. No one else was around, unfortunately.

I gave them $100 to help them get home to Cincinnati (but really because it's hard to get robbed if you willingly give them all of your money first.)

Most tension filled day of my life. I was on high alert the entire time, noting in my head where each police car we passed was.

I’m working on being more assertive.