A Real Life Nearly Horror Story

It all started off like a normal evening. Work. I was supposed to get off at 9:15, but they didn't let me off until 9:35, and I didn't leave until 10. My till was off 35 cents, and I decided to write down my schedule, request Claire's wedding off, and then I ran up to get my purse from my locker. No big deal. A normal night. I casually strolled out to my car, watching customers come and go from our parking lot. It's a long walk to the employee section of the parking lot, but no big deal.
I unlocked my car, and got in, noticing that the moon is almost to the waxing gibbous stage - approaching a full moon. One window was slightly open, so I rolled it up. It was relaxing to sit alone at night in my car; relaxing to drive home. As I pulled up to a light, it turned green just for me. I was almost the only car to make it through the short light, but a car behind me sped up to make the yellow light. They got pretty close behind me, blinding me. I slowed down to turn left, and saw there was a gap just big enough for one car to make it across. So I turned. The car behind me proved me wrong, tailing me close enough to barely make the gap. I turned right. The car turned right. *shrug* "A lot of cars take this route to get to the high way." I thought. "This road leads a lot of places."
I turned left. The car turned left. Instead of finally giving me space like I expected it too, the bright lights in my rear view continued to ride my tail. I sped up. They sped up. Apparently I wasn't going fast enough for them. I was starting to get annoyed. I switched lanes to let them pass. They switched lanes, almost as if I was towing them. A little bit of fear began to creep into the back of my mind. They couldn't be following me, could they?
I finally came to the turn-off into my rural neighborhood. "Now I'll turn to go home, and they will keep going. Just watch," I reasoned. I turned on my blinker.... and they turned on their blinker! They were still following me! I started to worry. I had a couple of miles left to go to my house and I definitely didn't want them to know where I lived. I gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. Options began to race through my mind. I could keep driving past my house until they stopped following me. That seemed logical. But what if they didn't stop following me??

They were still riding my bumper, blinding me. They started to flash their brights on and off, as if to catch my attention. My next thought was "Maybe they are following me just to warn me something is wrong with my car". Then I thought about it, and realized my lights were working fine, I would feel it if a tire was flat, and they wouldn't follow me this far for failing brake lights. "Maybe it's a cop, then". This failed under closer inspection also. The lights were rectangular like a truck, or jeep, not like a cop car. I really started to freak out.

Next option: Call home. At work my cell phone sits in my locker without reception, so it often runs out its battery searching for service. I begged for it to not be dead. I pulled it out and... whew. One bar left of battery. I had a couple of missed calls, but I ignored those, thought about calling Willie (he was a missed call), but just called the home phone instead. Mom answered.
"Mom. Someone is following me and I don't know what to do." My voice was shaking.
"What? Where are you??"
After a short conversation - look up, yep, headlights still bright and close in my rear view - my mom tells me to drive to the church parking lot across the street from our house, and dad would be waiting for me there. Hope starts to be an option, but my hands still tightly gripped the steering wheel, and my foot determinedly continued pressing the gas to exactly maintain the speed limit. The car continued to follow me through the miles, too close.
The lights of the church appeared, and grew in my vision. I turned on my blinker - they turned on their blinker - and turned. My brain flashed more options - what if dad wasn't there yet?? What if he wasn't there yet??? They turned on the street after the church, not into the church parking lot. And there was dad. Holding his huge, possibly-usable-as-a-weapon flashlight. Relief.

Only then did I glance over to see the vehicle that had been following me, now that its lights weren't blinding me.

It was a small white pickup, covered in rust spots, sporting an ugly, brown camper.

It was Willie. My brother.

I slowed to a stop near my dad, let go of the wheel, buried my face in my hands, and burst into tears. My dad quickly explained to Willie the situation (I can just imagine the grin of a good joke sliding off of his face as he realized that not everyone had thought it was funny). He sheepishly drove home and parked. I did, too, sobbing with relief. After hugs all around, I finally calmed down and stopped crying. My heartbeat slowly returned to normal. All the pieces fell together. The missed phone call - he had tried to tell me he was behind me. The silly swerves I had only noticed subconsciously, the flashing lights. The square headlights.
We hugged it out, talked it out, and put on pajamas. Time for bed. Wow. What a night. Potential disaster turned out just to be a badly placed joke.
But now I know what to do if it really happened...because it could happen to anyone...Including you. What would you do?