One weekend, TikToker Addison (@addisonnking) decided to go to the mall to treat herself. As she walked around the mall, she saw a crowd of people gathered in front of a store. They were looking up at the ceiling and watching something flying back and forth. It appeared to be a bird.
Addison was unfazed because she used to work at a home improvement store, and birds would fly into the store all the time. She kept walking through the crowd when suddenly, the creature started flying straight toward her.
She realized that it was not a bird, but a bat. The bat was out in the middle of the day, so it was probably rabid.
She freaked out, threw her arms up, and screamed. Then, the bat disappeared. She felt embarrassed because she had just made a scene in front of all those people for no reason.
She continued walking into the store she wanted to go to. That was when she made eye contact with a guy in the crowd. He gestured to his own back, trying to tell her that the bat was on her back.
It was summertime, so Addison was wearing a thin tank top. The bat must’ve been attached to her tank top because she didn’t feel it on her back at all. Naturally, she chucked her purse across the store and sprinted out in her bare feet.
“And if you thought I was making a scene before, you should’ve seen the scene I just caused then,” said Addison.
“Because not only was I screaming, but I was also cursing and actively trying to hit this bat off my back, and there are poor mothers with their children around, covering up their children, like shielding them away from me, and obviously, nobody’s helping me because it’s probably rabid.”
Finally, she got the bat off, and it landed on the floor. Now, she was extra embarrassed and started apologizing profusely to everyone around her.
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A kind woman came up to her and told her to go to the hospital. She immediately began sobbing and raced to the bathroom to wash her hands because she had touched the bat with her bare hands.
When she was done, she left the bathroom and saw the kind lady talking to a security guard. Addison walked over to the security guard, still in tears.
She gave him her contact information and then drove to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, she called her parents. They Googled the situation and found that bats had such small teeth that you might not be aware of being bitten by one.
Google also said to collect the bat and take it to the Department of Health for rabies testing. The mall security called her back, and Addison told them what she had read online.
They reassured her that they would call the Department of Health right away.
Once Addison arrived at the hospital, she told the doctors what had happened, and they were absolutely shocked by her story. A doctor examined her and didn’t see any bite marks. Since the bat was getting tested, he decided to hold off on the rabies vaccination.
She left and called security again. They told her that they had thrown the bat away because the supervisor wanted them to get the bat out as quickly as possible.
She called the doctor back and let him know the bat was no longer getting tested. The doctor was unsure of what to do. Addison really began freaking out and was terrified that she would die from rabies.
The doctor instructed her to call the Department of Health, but no one picked up the phone. Finally, the doctor decided to start her on the rabies vaccination series.
She went back to the hospital to get a series of four shots. The initial vaccination would go in her arm, and the remaining three would be split between her other arm and each of her backside.
They charged her $350 for one shot, and she had to come back on day three, day seven, and day 14. She was sore, traumatized, and angry. She filed an insurance claim and told the insurance guy her story.
She just wanted the mall to pay her hospital bills. She believed the mall should be held liable for failing to report the bat to the Department of Health and get it tested.
“He calls me back about a month later and tells me that they found the mall to be negligent in the situation because they couldn’t help that a bat was loose in the mall, like they didn’t put it there,” said Addison.
To sum up, insurance wouldn’t help her cover any costs. Now, she is out $1,000, but at least she is protected from rabies for the next 10 years.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
