A young woman was left trembling in fear after being "kidnapped" as part of an elaborate proposal gone wrong.
The 23-year-old explained how her boyfriend supposedly arranged a "funny kidnapping" - but his friends took it too far in an attempt to make it feel real.
She is now considering pressing charges against her boyfriend and his three friends after putting her through such an anxiety-inducing situation.
Taking to Reddit, she said: "A week ago my boyfriend told me he had a camping trip planned with his friends on Friday.
"He said he would have no service and he'll see me on Sunday. He messaged me at 5am this morning and told me they are hitting the road. At around 8am, I went for a run like I usually do on Fridays. I had one headphone in while [running] because I was on a work call.
"While I was running, I noticed a SUV that kept popping up. I sent a message to my sister saying to standby and shared my location.
"Right after sending the message, I looked up and the SUV was right beside me and someone jumped out and grabbed me.
"It happened so fast I even dropped my phone on the pavement.
"I was pulled into this car and I could tell there was at least two masked guys in the back before they covered my eyes."
Scared for her life, she started to "freak out like crazy" - but the masked men just laughed at her attempts to break free.
"I could feel one of them holding me down by my arms behind me and the other was holding my legs down at the knees," she added.
"I don't know how long I was in there but I kept begging them to let me go and crying. I even admit I peed on myself, but I don't think they noticed until we arrived at the house.
"They pulled me out of the car and I was screaming for help until I was pulled into a house."
When the mask was removed from her head, she realised she was kneeling in front of her boyfriend of two years and was surrounded by "romantic decorations".
She said: "I realised who he was and what was going on and collapsed into sobs. I probably had a five minute panic attack in that car on my way there and another one sitting in the entryway to his house.
"I was sweaty, wearing soiled yoga pants, flushed with fear, scared for my life."
Seeing her distress, her boyfriend paused the proposal and instead took her upstairs to get showered and changed.
But downstairs, a sudden commotion broke out.
"I heard yelling while I showered, but I don't know what is going on," she added.
"I'm sitting in his room now holding my shattered phone after crying to my sister about what happened. She lives an hour and a half away but was speeding over to get me.
"I know now I was never in any danger, but I don't think my brain can comprehend it.
"They were snickering and teasing me in deepened voices about what they were going to do to me.
"The one that was holding my legs down kept caressing my thighs up and down into the inner area. When the car would brake his face kept falling into my chest.
"I don't even know who that was. I just know one of them sounded unsure and kept trying to diffuse the situation, but I think it was the driver."
As soon as her sister picked her up, the pair went to the police station to make a statement - with officers saying she has a claim for "false imprisonment" if she wanted to press charges.
She said: "My sense of time was so warped. From where I was picked up to his house was about seven or 10 minutes in the car. It felt like way longer than that.
"As for the friends, the driver was his childhood best friend who I actually get along with well.
"He was in tears when he voluntarily arrived at the police station for a statement.
"The other two were friends from his athletics class that he started attending a few months ago.
"It seems like the two guys I didn't know wanted in on what otherwise was supposed to be something more innocent.
"The original plan was for them to pop out of this car in their funny kidnapping attire and hand me a letter that explained I was being summoned by my boyfriend and resistance is futile.
"[But it] seems like the plan changed as the two new friends wanted to shake me up a bit more and make it feel more real.
"We are going to meet up with my boyfriend for dinner tonight. He has been respectful of my requests for space but has been emotional whenever he thinks about what I went through this morning.
"His best friend contacted me repeatedly apologising for allowing it to go that far, but I asked for him to stop and he did. The best friend's fiancé reached out and has been supportive and apologetic, too."
Commenting on the situation, one user said: "That was not okay, and you are allowed to be not okay too.
"You were actually assaulted. The guy who was touching your thighs? Actually assaulted. The grown men who picked you up, isolated you from help, and took you to a second location? Actually kidnapped.
"When you screamed and cried and peed yourself in fear? When you begged for them to take their hands off you? When you worried about gang rape, torture, death? Very much actual trauma.
"I'm so very sorry. I'm glad of your sister, she sounds like a good one. Im sorry to ask you this. Do you think any of them recorded it? If so, it may help your case.
"Be extra good to yourself right now. And if you choose to approach this legally, you have every right to fight like hell."
Another user added: "I'm so terribly sorry this happened to you! This would be one of my worst nightmares.
"I understand that the one you know (the driver) has been apologetic, and tried to slow down the a**holes attacking you.
"But he didn't pull over and make them stop.
"He felt bad, and he tried to calm things by talking, but he didn't pull over and make them stop so even though he wasn't 'as bad' as the other a**holes, and you may have thought of him as a friend, and he's terribly sorry for what happened.
"He didn't pull over and make them stop."
A third user said: "I am so very sorry this was done to you. Please know that you are allowed to feel anyway you feel. And you are allowed to not be OK.
"Even if this was a 'prank', It was not a prank. It was an assault - and you were assaulted.
"It absolutely does not matter that there wasn’t rape or murder at the end. Give yourself the grace to be as traumatised as you are.
"Definitely find a therapist specialising in assault trauma and PTSD. I wish I could be there to stand with you as you traverse this new reality."
Do you have a story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
