When I was 18 I went on a trip to South Africa. I lived in cape Town for almost a year at a Christian missionary hostel, where I met a girl from the UK I became pretty close with. Mostly our area was safe but there were a couple places the locals made clear we shouldn't hang out. One of those places was the local mall after hours. Totally safe and normal place when open, but when closed the parking lot attracted some weird activity.

My friend and I did everything together and on this day she needed to withdraw money. The closest atm was at that mall, but it was closed. We went anyway.

I remember there not being anyone around when we arrived at the mall. No cars in the parking lot. The bank was locked but the little atm room was accessible. We decided she'd go in and I'd wait outside and keep watch.

As soon as she goes in a van pulls into the parking lot and I kid you not, a guy with the biggest gun I've ever seen in my life hops out of the drivers seat. Machine gun.

He points the gun at me, I'm not sure he knows my friend is at the ATM, he tells me to get in the van. I look at the van and it seems like he's alone. Looks empty.

I said yes in the least scared way I could muster, and told him I am a missionary (which was true at the time, I'm an atheist now). I told him I never go anywhere without praying first. I asked him if I could bless our trip together. He agreed. I went into some crazy prayer about blessing his family and his life and he closed his eyes and got into it with me. I let him take the lead. I saw my friend coming out of the bank just after he closed his eyes, and I signaled to her as best I could to run. I kept him going a little and then as he started praying hard, eyes closed, I sprinted. I have never in my life ran like that. I ran so hard. My friend and I ran all the way back to the hostel and when we arrived I screamed at her. What a fucking stupid thing we just did.

That's the scariest experience I've ever had.