[ WP ] TIL that I am not the good person that I thought I was .

For as long as I can remember, people have always told me I'm so sweet, such a caring person, and I am. My grandma especially thinks there's no one in the world as sweet and darling as me, you know how grandparents are. I'd do anything for them, for all of my family and friends and they know that. 
 
 Then today happened. I'm still trying to process what I did, figure out how I could have handled it better, maybe. It just happened and it went wrong, too fast for me to think it over. The day started out just like any other, nothing unusual, I got up, did my morning stuff and then decided to go into town. I was running some errands and I went to the dollar store to pick up a few things, still nothing unusual. 
 
 Just as I was done shopping and about to head to the register, I saw an old friend I had n't seen in a few years and we stopped to talk. She began telling me this elaborate, sad, `` down on my luck'' story ( I do n't know how else to describe it ), after listening long enough to be polite and a few ignored attempts to speak, I just began to try to remove myself from the conversation. This only proved to be as difficult as trying to talk to her. She seemed to be trying to trap me and did not want to let me get past her in the aisle. Her buggy had somehow ended up crooked in the aisle, with only a small space between it and the shelf, where she had planted herself and showed no signs of moving. 
 
 Now, as I've said, I'm a nice person, but I feel that other people should be nice and considerate also and at the moment, she was n't being those at all. So, I smiled my biggest smile and began backing up, the only way I could go, pulling my buggy back with me. This action caused a slight pause in her steady stream of words, the first pause and I took advantage of it. 
 
 `` It was great to see you! I hope you're doing better, I'm sure I'll see you soon. I'm around all the time,'' the smile never left my face as I said this and I turned my buggy around to retreat faster. `` You're looking really good, too.'' I threw this one over my shoulder as I began to walk to the opposite end of the aisle. 
 
 No fucking luck. She was behind me before I made it around the corner to the next aisle. And that's when it happened. You know the story, you've heard it before, it's always just a slightly different version of the same damn story, all that changes is the part wrong with their car and why they ca n't fix it right now. Then comes the fucking question, `` Could you just give me a ride?'' Then the other same story, I just really need to go here and if you can take me by such and such I can get some gas money for you. I really need to pick up my kid, my boyfriend, my mother... anything to pull at the heart strings. 
 
 I'm a nice person and I'm having trouble just saying no. What if her kid really is somewhere and needs to picked up? That's my reason for agreeing to give her a ride, there's a child involved and they are n't where they need to be. 
 
 Next thing I know, we're in my car and have made two stops, no child at either stop and no gas money either. I got to see her lovely white trash boyfriend that she got into an argument with immediately. That was fun. Of course, his car is another version of that same story. At this point, I'm not exactly happy to be driving her and ready to be done with it all. 
 
 `` Ok, where's your daughter? Do n't you need to pick her up from somewhere?'' I ask as soon as we're back in the car and on the road. 
 
 Her answer made my heart beat faster, my hands clenched the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white and I felt my face get hot. I knew it had turned beet red. 
 
 She did n't need to pick up her daughter, I must have misunderstood her. The casual way she said this, the little laugh at the end, made my blood boil. Her ride was over. However, as I was just about to pull over on the side of the road and make her get out, I had a moment of clarity. We were still pretty close to her trashy boyfriends place and I wanted to make this bitch walk. The road we were on was perfect too, outside of town and deserted. It was going to be dark soon and there no street lights, I could n't have found a better road if I had tried. 
 
 I drove silently for another mile and a half, until I found a good spot to stop and pulled over. I slammed it in park, killed the car, taking my keys and jumped out, popping my trunk as I walked around to the back. In my trunk I dug around until I found my tire iron, I did n't know what this chick was going to do when she found out what was happening and I wanted to avoid an altercation if possible. If she decided to jump on me though, I wanted to be able to defend myself. 
 
 I walked around and opened the passenger door, stepping back out of arms reach but holding the tire iron where it was plainly visible. 
 
 `` Alright, ride's over. You need to get out of my car. Right fucking now,'' I told her as she stared at me stupidly. Oh, she tried to argue with me, tried to act like she had n't done anything, but I was n't having any of that. I was done. And I told her that. 
 
 It fucking sucked getting her to get out of that seat, she did n't want to budge but she finally did. Apparently I pissed her off enough that she decided to get out and try to take a swing at me. Dumb ass, I blocked her punch with my tire iron then just bopped her on the side of the head with it. She stumbled and fell in the gravel on the side of the road as I ran to my car, jumped in and took off. 
 
 I'm sure she's fine. But maybe I'm not as nice as I like to think I am. I've got some thinking to do.
