Why my Halloween was ruined last year

I wasn't originally going to write about my whole stalker ordeal that I had to go through and did so reluctantly, but here I am.  Rewind to the summer of 2023, the day my stalker got trespassed from my job, he came back that night; although I couldn't prove it.  A big black SUV with blacked out windows was parked right next to my car boxing me in, in the employee parking lot.  Mind you, the entire parking lot was empty, and no one ever exited the vehicle, instead the car ran for at least an hour, right next to mine, sitting and waiting.  I, not feeling safe, had one of my managers get into my car and move it to make sure that I wasn't being followed (or abducted), I thought that was the end of my stalking situation and that it was finally over, I didn't realize at the time how wrong I was.  Fast-forward to Halloween of 2025.  I love Halloween and dressing up and was super excited to dress up and go to work and then go out after work and just have fun with my friends.  There were a few times prior to this that I thought I had seen my stalker at my job (after he was already banned), but it was so fast and he was gone before I could do anything, just like a ghost.  When you see someone every day for months you can recognize their walk, their body, and presence; you're familiar with it, I honestly wasn't sure the first couple of times because I thought surely, he can't be that stupid to blatantly ignore a legal trespass, but as I soon found out, he was and didn't care.  I was at our fine jewelry counter selling some jewelry to a customer with my back facing the customer, finishing their sale at the register.  My stalker walked behind my customer with a hoodie on (trying to obscure his identity) and looped back around me to the cosmetics department that I worked in and waited at the fragrance counter. I glanced up because I saw someone walk past me quickly out of my peripheral vision.  I was so stunned to see my stalker on Halloween no less waiting at one of my counters.  Very quickly I quietly called our loss prevention officer at the time and panicking told them that my stalker was here, and thank God, they got it on camera.  I was in fight or flight mode now because I felt like my life was in danger, I quickly exited the floor trying to find somewhere to hide; I left so fast I didn't even tell my coworkers.  He was gone before the police could even show up and it was the first time that I realized how dangerous he actually could be, I now had no choice, but to get a restraining order for my protection, especially because the trespass order wasn't stopping him, he very clearly didn't respect boundaries or the law.  I also didn't realize initially how time-consuming and grueling a restraining order can be, and that to get it I had to face my stalker in court and prove my case with evidence that I was really being stalked and that he was a danger to me.  I did keep my original stalking story very G-rated, but the day he originally got banned from my work when I called the police on him, he was found with his pants down in his car, that was verbatim what the responding police officer told me on that day, but since I didn't press charges or get a restraining order then (because I made the mistake thinking that a trespass order would protect me) an official police report was never written or recorded, and that evidence in court was hearsay; my saving grace was I was able to subpoena the original police officer that signed the trespass order.  It took me nine months going back and forth to court to get a three-year restraining order.  It wasn't pleasant facing my stalker in court, let alone being in the same room with him.  Since being stalked I have done a lot of research and learned about it.  Women have a one in three chance of being stalked in their lifetime, not nice odds.  I'm grateful that I'm safe and thankful that I had witnesses and video evidence to get that restraining order.