4 Scary Home Alone Stories With Rain & Haunting Ambience

[Music] my older sibling and I were staying at home inside a small town in Ohio with fewer people inside it than my mom's graduating class of the city that we came from my sibling is grounded both the house phone and their own phone are locked in my dad's gun safe which neither of us had the combination to the reason for being grounded is something silly and arbitrary I can't exactly Remember why our grandparents live down the street our great-grandmother lives in a small house they built on that property so she could be independent and they

would still be close by our parents told us they were going to go check on my great grandma as our grandparents were out of town that day they told us when they got back we would order pizza that sounded good to 7-year-old me and to my 15-year-old sibling who I'll call Emily we played video games for a Little while and we both started to get hungry quickly wondering when our parents would be back I'd say after around 2 hours of them being gone we heard a knock at the door I went downstairs pretty excited for

the food my sibling followed close behind I walked up to the door which had this large window in it and it's not our parents it's a very tall lean white guy some short black hair and Scruffy facial hair I'd say maybe 24 or 25 years Old it's pretty jarring because everybody knew everybody in this small town and we had no clue who this was I held up my finger like 1 second to him and then closed the curtain I turned to see Emily staring at the door in bit of disbelief because she'd seen that person

too a few seconds later That Knocking turned into pounding then turned into shaking and rattling of our door knob we're both now terrified with no Way to call our parents Emily grabbed my hand and ran me into the kitchen she grabbed a knife and I distinctly remember it breaking in her hand it broke as in the little blade fell like right out of the handle back then for whatever reason our kitchen was just ramshackle lots of rust utensils things were Jimmy rigged together and of course all kinds of stuff broken or breaking regardless we both

hid inside the laundry room and just held each Other still hearing that banging and pounding on the door it went on for about 5 minutes which felt like hours then we heard the front door open one thing that I will say about my sibling is she's always been ready to protect me at a moment's notice they were ready to jump up with that shitty knife and defend me that moment the dude was Upon Us instead it was my mom rounding the corner holding up two pizza Boxes and wondering why her two kids were in this

crumpled up heap of Tears On the Floor we both stood up and ran to tell her about that man outside but we were met with laughter my dad was outside talking to him she said he was asking about buying a broken down car that's been in her driveway for a few months he was apparently a mechanic my mom felt terrible but found the situation a bit Amusing apparently she went out and told the man and he said he felt bad for scaring us we were given hugs and promised the phones wouldn't be locked away when

they were gone again spent the rest of the evening eating pizza with choked up sobs something still bothers me even though it didn't as a kid and it's something that I just never thought about why would a grown man pound on the door like that shake the handle try his Very damnedest to get into a house whether the parents were home War the youngest child had held up their finger like one second to go get their parent why would someone want to talk about a car that didn't have any sort of for sale sign on

it especially at 9 or 10:00 p.m. at night it's kind of scary that my parents just brushed it off so lightly but something in my gut especially being an adult now just told me that that's not The way adults at least normal adults act the guy's name ended up being Chris he came by the house a few more times times that week to inspect that car the first time he came by our parents were home he got the hood up and went underneath it checked out pretty much everything from what I can remember everything was

I guess friendly that first visit except sometimes I would notice him looking over at me and Emily giving us this weird creepy Smile he came over a few days later that same week but the next time was at an odd time again and our parents weren't home now that we knew this guy Emily opened up the door for him hey sorry to bother you Chris started it's no problem but our parents aren't here you'll have to come back tomorrow she explained oh it's not a big deal I wanted to check out the Tires and wheel

Wells real quick it won't take long Emily gave him the okay then closed the door we watched him from the living room window as he went back to his own car the this crappy old thing and rummaged around then went over to the C that he wanted to buy he did proceed to do exactly what he said we was going to do and after a few minutes we kind of got bored we almost left the window went back to whatever we were doing but he Did something weird that immediately caught our attention he turned and

walked right at the house snapping photos of the exterior he got the sides the front the Second Story and he almost went into to the backyard that's when he noticed us staring wideeye through the main window he put the camera away and waved then pointed at the front door as if to suggest to meet him There Emily went over and told me to stay by the phone if anything happened she told me to call 911 and then Dad this was back in the day where everybody had landlines so even being in first or second grade

at the time I had all my cloes those friends and our parents' numbers memorized it was just part of being social back then they talked for a minute before Emily closed the door again and came Back she was white like a sheet of paper she looked Hollow gunt totally unlike herself I asked her what happened and if I should call and she shook her head no to this day I still don't know what Chris said to Emily she's always been private about it but it definitely gave me the heebie jeebies for years after the fact

especially with my imagination going wild with all manner of theories she said something to our parents once they got home I remember my Dad going to his office to call Chris he went in angry all big and heavy footed we could hear his Stern Voice through the door but eventually it softened up he hung up and came back out he explained it was some sort of misunderstanding much like that first experience that we had with him but he was taking pictures of the house I said my dad quickly gave me this funny look he what

he took photos of the house with One of those paper cameras Emily immediately backed me up paper cameras my dad asked for clarification like a disposable camera with a wraparound cardboard on it my mom asked my sister yeah like that she almost screamed it felt like we were actually getting somewhere now well my dad said I'm sure there's some kind of explanation but I'm not calling him back now I'll just talk to him Later that was that we were ushered off as kids that didn't know better and just told to go to bed I remember

just lying there in the dark for most of my night staring at the window wondering if I'd see a Flash come through the blinds why the hell would he come by and take pictures of our house Emily said something like it was probably so he could break in he'd have an outside layout of all the entrance and exits and I guess in my kid brain That made sense but it really really freaked me out the next time Chris came by was the following Monday I was actually home alone we gotten out of school around the

same time rode the bus home like normal but when Emily and I got dropped off she unlocked the door for me walked a couple of streets over to her friend house it wasn't super uncommon for her to leave me alone for 30 or 40 minutes at which point she'd run back over get In the house right before our parents got home from work it was harmless I didn't mind being home alone because I got to watch whatever I wanted have some snacks all that good stuff well not 5 minutes after sitting on the couch with

my juice box and gummies there's a knock at the door I froze in place and willed myself to actually disappear in into the cushions remember trying hard not to actually wet my pants got to remember I Was six maybe seven at the time shouldn't have been unsupervised fortunately I knew better than to answer the door so I did the only thing that made sense and pretended that nobody was home whoever it was would move on shortly right except they didn't there's that pesters some knock that turned into a banging I'll be damned if it wasn't

familiar it was that same aggressive knock from our first encounter with the Man I knew something was wrong and I knew it was him so I didn't even bother to go to a window I just continued to sit on the couch until finally to my relief it stopped I'd been staring at the clock on the radio for 9 minutes and it ticked by while he banged on the door even longer than that first time Chris was truly unhinged with that he didn't go away though I watched in horror as I saw him creep around the

Far side of the house checking the dining room window the biggest one that he could get to remember my throat nearly swelling shut from anxiety as I heard it slide open I felt the warm air blow in from the yard he leaned in and peered into the living room we locked eyes he brought a single hand up and then waved at me like he was a puppet or something then he gave me the horrific smile hey he Started I didn't say anything mom and dad home he asked still nothing from me yeah I didn't think

so he crawled the rest of the way through the window frame still even with him in the house I couldn't move to this day it was the most fear-inducing experience of my life I couldn't see what he was doing as he moved through the house somewhere down the hall on the other side of the dining Room the only things down there were Emily's bedroom and my parents' bedroom the front door to the outside before eventually circling back to me in the living room he never came back down the hall so wherever he went was in

one of those rooms eventually he comes back out waves at me says goodbye and then slips back through the window I'll never forget seeing his arm snake back through through that opening And pulled the shade clothes behind him truly nerve-wracking just covering his tracks right behind him in front of me he knew I was just a kid that it was possible nobody would believe me and I think he was counting on that eventually my sister gets home and finds me in hysterics on the sofa I started shaking after he left from the fear spilled my

juice box on the couch which set me spiraling even further thinking I was now going to get in even More trouble anyway I told her what happened or tried to I watched her face twist into worry and then she finally understood what I was saying Chris came banged on the door before just letting himself into the house did he touch you she asked I shook my head no Emily nodded and ran to the phone called my dad and before I knew it both parents were spilling in the front Door they questioned me pretty thoroughly assur

me that you staying on the couch was not a big deal all they wanted to know was what happened with Chris finally I told them what I could and where he went in the house which window my dad asked I pointed to the one in the dining room okay and then where'd he go down the hall I said okay and then what I shook my head and started crying Again my folks and Emily all shared a look and then they quietly agreed to go check their bedrooms they understood he he must have gone in one

of them a few minutes later I heard Emily make this weird sound like a Yelp our parents quickly rushed in in the moment I really wasn't sure what they found but later it was all kinds of weird stuff of hers that went missing panties a hairbrush pictures from her corkboard super creepy and stalker Stuff my dad called Chris non-stop for the next 24 hours never got him to answer he never came by for the car he never paid us he never picked it up the whole thing was a Rouge just to get close to us

girls Chris would end up being arrested Years Later by the time I was in high school we all had that moment of what the [ __ ] and we saw his photo in the paper turned out that Chris wasn't even his real name and he certainly wasn't a Mechanic it was a career peeping Tom and a sexual as salent known for targeting families I consider us super fortunate to get off the hook when we did knowing I was alone in the house with somebody that was so violent creepy and unpredictable is just a sickening thought

and everyone in my family shares it his history of crimes and abuse is appalling and it only seemed to escalate after our initial encounter with Them as for our incident my parents called the police and filed the report but never saw him again not until that mug shot in the article like 10 years later I remember my dad would periodically call the number Chris gave us just to see if anybody would answer he did that for years part of me wonders what he would have said Chris would have picked up I went to a college

in a small town called Sheridan up in Wyoming I moved there in the fall of 2009 just after one of the worst crimes freeze rocked the entire Community from top to bottom the crazy part of it all is I actually moved into a house just two doors down from where this happened I was living with my grandparents at the time and they were really shaken up I remember my grandpa just sitting awake at his desk until 2: or 3:00 a.m. every night glass of whiskey in one hand and a gun near the other he's a

Vietnam vet Take security very seriously after that crime wave he just went back to his survival instincts I was new to the community when all the information was rolling out so it was a little hard to follow I'll give you the bre break down the way that I understood it all there were three boys in Sheridan that ran together and were known for causing trouble Petty criminal Behavior their names were Wyatt Dy and Dennis who was the oldest at 18 At the time to me these names meant nothing but for the people of Sheridan they

were well known and usually the first to be fingered for a lot of the basic crime that happened around town from what I gathered it sounded like these three had been on a bit of a tear in regard to shenan created so much Whirlwind destruction that they had it in their heads they needed to get out of town this was all in their heads as they Were teenagers 15 16 and 18 nothing they were doing was actually really that bad still they convinced themselves they were career criminals and about to go on the run so

they start allocating the stuff that they thought they would need namely money a series of overnight robberies landed them with a small pile of cash a few items of value and a handgun Wyatt procured the weapon from a card that he broken into and handed it Over to the group from there they felt like they'd reached it big time they could start robbing people for real now I believe it was within the same 72 hours of stealing the gun they broke into the earnest house in the middle of the night with the intent to take

everything of value they weren't expecting to find Bob and his wife asleep in bed but they were prepared for it now trapped with the handgun they ordered Bob and his wife on The ground but Bob did not like that he rolled right out of bed and approached the boys telling them to get out of the house one of the boys pulled the trigger without hesitation Bob took the bullet to the chest and died right there on the floor of his own bedroom his wife stayed in bed and just watched the whole thing happen which easily

was the most tragic part of the story The Boys immediately realized they [ __ ] up they just discharged a firearm In the middle of the night in a Township with less than 14,000 residents they could have just left town that night and they would have never been arrested with the wrap sheets there wasn't a scenario where they escaped now the reality was they didn't have a means of travel so it was essentially hiding out around town until their inevitable Discovery all three boys were rounded up within 24 hours the investigation was cut and dry

they were given life senten Or at least that's what I heard rumor was the life sentence got overturned for the two that didn't pull the trigger but I personally never looked into it I can't say that my time there was tarnished by the event the community was still beautiful still had little great social Pockets but I can't say that I wasn't affected Sheridan is a tiny little town a place where murder just doesn't happen very often being a new face around town I could tell when Oldtimers were cautious around me there was a shadow over

the longtime locals one of suspicious and unknown fear true paranoia like I mentioned earlier my Grandpa would walk the house every night check the windows until the sun came up some nights the neighbors were reserved elderly folk around town the same but the college was even stiffer all the staff were a little uptight worrisome the students kind of the same the Student body was big for being such a small town cuz many of them were transplants from other areas like myself we were all shocked to hear about something so heinous going down just a couple

of streets over it made us look at other students with caution like anybody could be a thief or a murderer remember that first semester being some of the most uptight energy I've ever felt not just at school but Everywhere in town rest in peace Bob I actually went to high school with Wyatt Dary and Dennis I won't say that they were nice guys or anything but when I heard what they did I was shocked I mean these were the kind of kids that shot spitwads in class made loud noises to distract the teacher it was

hard to imagine them breaking into somebody's house and murdering them we were all in shock that next morning especially when All the details came rolling out they stole a gun entered a house forced themselves on a sleeping elderly couple it was like we were discussing details from a case from Los Angeles or New York City what we were talking about just didn't happen in Sheridan and yet it did and some of my classmates were responsible I remember Dary being funny almost like the class clown type of kid he had jokes and always wore a smile

across his face he was the type of kid You actually watch in the hallway just to see what he would do he came from a good family I think they did pretty well financially so to hear about him getting caught up with Dennis and his Crim spree was heartbreaking he was the last one I ever would have guessed to be involved but just like everybody else had said something about the energy of those three boys they encouraged each other in a way that made it seem like they could Do anything and never get caught poor

Wyatt the thing that I remember most about him is that he loved the outdoors he liked camping fishing all that kind of stuff but what he really loved was the Rodeo if he had more access to outlets and preferences maybe he would have never gotten involved to the extent in which he did out of all three of them he seemed to have the healthiest lifestyle actually had his own hobbies and Interest outside of causing trouble to think he threw it all away just for an evening of what he thought would be fun it's just crazy

to think about now Dennis he's the only one that doesn't surprise me he had quite a rap sheet but a aside from that he seemed to thoroughly enjoy creating chaos he did school he stole from stores and people's houses sad to say but he was probably always going to be going down the road Of imprisonment had a history of being a hodad biting making threats there were even rumors about him hurting animals being kids we did the only thing we could and just avoided him it's sick I know but I'm grateful it wasn't any worse

than that night my friends and I had night Mires the rest of the school year about that group of boys breaking into our own homes killing our parents in the same exact Manner and I guess it really wasn't totally out of the question a boy like Dennis he had enemies kids at school he didn't outright like and all it would have taken was just one little suggestion he might have broken into a different house that night maybe even my house as hard as it is to think about I was there the night that Robert was

killed I lived next door to the earnest for years and years would have never thought that something like this could Happen to Bob there's no warning no lead up to the strange events or confrontations nothing and that honestly to me is the scariest part this one really hits hard because of the outright randomness of the act itself these boys just picked a house that looked dark and empty and even wealthy and just fully committed to the robbery it was well after dark but I don't remember the exact time I was actually asleep when I started

hearing Something weird outside walking talking voices I could tell they were trying to be hushed but weren't doing a very good job this actually put me at ease that night I figured it was just somebody getting home late surely somebody committing a crime would take much more caution to be quiet in their actions whatever the case they made a few laps of the earnest home before slipping through a window I believe one of the ground for slats to the B Basement was it a lot of the homes around here have basement the windows are pretty

easily forced in with enough pressure ours had previously blown out with a hard enough Windstorm well being half asleep inside my own house I figured whoever it was had gotten to their own home I didn't think they'd slipped in through a window was quiet after that I almost fell asleep until the yelling started suddenly there was commotion Next door I had no idea what was going on on I thought maybe a fire or some other kind of emergency until I realized I was hearing lots of different voices none of which I recognized don't move stay

in the bed or you'll get hurt don't [ __ ] move tell us where the jewelry is tell us the code to the safe this as well as other manner of threats were being screamed at the top Of their lungs it felt like a lifetime that I listened to it all but in reality it was probably just 90 seconds the hollering went back and forth most of it just being outright demands then I heard a bit of a scuffle at this point I was getting out of bed thinking about reaching for the phone when I

heard it the unmistakable blast of a gun being discharged I remember immediately hitting the floor thinking bullets might Stray through the walls and pass through my own home we were close enough that it was a real possibility as the light from the gun blast flashed Through the Windows I crawled to the phone and dialed 911 I found the line busy everybody on the street was apparently calling the police as well this was a good thing as whatever I chocked it up to a late night neighborly Excursion was obviously something much more Dangerous I dialed again

had the same result so I just waited this was a huge mistake as the things I heard are still with me to this day I could hear Bob going through the motions of death even a whole house away a thud a grunt another thud then Haggard breathing and gurgling it's horrendous this was a guy I knew very well a pillar of our own Community couldn't imagine what could have led somebody to kill Him then I could hear his wife sobbing screaming pleading for help probably also trying to call the police could also hear The Killers

whoever they were panicking and running desperately around the house knocking stuff over scrambling for valuables before ultimately spilling out through the front and back doors and bolting in different directions I sat there in a panic and waited to see if anybody would break Into my own house it might be a natural hiding place after such a crazy crime fortunately nobody tried my doors or windows so I figured they were just trying to run and not hide next thing I knew my house was being lit up with red and blue Sirens Cruiser after Cruiser pulling into

the earnest driveway an ambulance EMT crews even the medical truck from the fire department rolled up again this is a very small town something so out of Character for us was a full scale call to action everybody wanted to be on scene make themselves available after such an evil act the boys didn't get far hell Bob's wife knew a couple of them by name they were rounded up by night or in the morning without incident booked and then Justice was served they all made many attempts to overturn those lifetime sentences that They received to which

the Supreme Court denied as for the rest of us the town was not the same after it at least not for a few years we like Mayberry before the murder some of us literally didn't lock our doors to our homes cars or anything we just didn't have that kind of criminal here since that killing times have changed we actually had a few more since people seem to react less and less Now the younger generation just aren't as phased don't seem to care what happens in their own Community as long it doesn't happen to them directly

a very strange way of thinking one that I don't understand but hey I'm an Oldtimer what do I know I've been retired from the police force for nearly a decade but I was on duty the night those boys killed Robert it's a truly tragic incident almost an accident honestly those boys were stupid Wild and up to no good but I can't say that any of them have the heart of a murderer I think one thing led to another one bad decision after the next and soon they were just in too deep to this day I've

never gotten a call like the one I did that night we got radioed for the earnest house just like everybody else that night I worked for the local precinct not the county sheriff's department so I was one of the first to get there the Street was lit up from all the Neighbors coming outside half of them armed themselves standing alone on the street waiting to hear what was going on we taped off the property and let everybody know to stay back and put their guns up sharidan police department has he covered first thing was securing

the scene and getting poor Linda out of there his wife was in absolute hysterics and Robert was actually still alive just As we got the scene cleared and everything taped off EMTs arrived got the victim loaded up and transported to the hospital unfortunately he died there that night the gunshot wound was just too much for him at close proximity Bob was an old guy a military vet so it was just tragic for us to see a guy like that from our community get gunned down in his own home Linda gave us the name of one

of the Boys and it was just downhill after that the second that she said Dennis I knew he'd only have certain individuals with him during such a high energy crime like I said earlier these kids were dealt with a lot but we never saw anything like this coming Dennis grew up with a history of poor Behavior getting in fights at school was a big problem we caught him vandalizing stuff before as well as a lot of theft and burglary that being Said all the times we busted his ass he was under 18 so couldn't really

do anything and not much happened his family didn't discipline him in a way that mattered so Dennis just kept having this latchy lifestyle right up until turning 18 at that point I think he knew the reality of the situation had changed for him and because of that he decided to up the caliber of the crimes and that was a shame because none Of the kids were that Cutthroat of their own something about them being together just made them constantly up the Annie in fact while they were Soo on their own they were actually pretty good

kids great senses of humor good work ethic but the second they all got in the same room it just turned into hijinks chaos dishonesty and trouble unfortunately Robert and the rest of the Earnest family had to pay the sacrifice for those boys to Understand the weight of their own reality we scrambled that night and had them all by morning two of them just went home Dary and Wyatt both they were easy to locate and folded under the pressure of questioning almost right away the story very quickly started to come together Dennis had somehow convinced the

other two that they were some kind of street gang they needed to allocate their means of getting out of Sheridan this is a common thinking up Here for our delinquent youth there's a couple private school facilities for troubled kids many of them have that same outl look Sheridan is just a place for kids to escape the scary part is is that our Township is very isolated tucked along the Montana border so the options for these kids are pretty minimal most of them end up stealing cars or wandering off into the Wilderness and if it's wintertime

temperatures can easily Plummet to what most would consider fatal many truck drivers up here report seeing kids trying to hitchhike down the roadways in and out of towns usually one Escape or criminal trying to get to the next town it's a very weird problem to deal with living in such a rural community but it's better than having a bunch of tweakers and junkies around I suppose so that's where it all started Dennis convincing the other boys it's time to skip town become real life Criminals Dary and Dennis start stealing cash from all over town literally

any place they can find money or valuables Wyatt had a different idea knowing this is the quaint little town that we all know and love he starts checking door handles knowing that he'd find a number of them to be unlocked it only took him a couple of tries and soon he had his own little wat of cash as well as a fully loaded firearm when he brought it the dentist It changed the entire perception of these kids they were in it now finding that gun was a whole new Avenue of options for these kids like

I said we might be the capital of runaways for the entire country very few of them perhaps none had ever had the idea to secure a firearm before hitting the road nothing would secure a ride faster could you imagine stopping for three boys hitchhiking in the cold only for one of them to pull a gun on you tell you to Drive until the tank was empty spooky because that's where they were headed but it never got to that point Dennis [ __ ] that up for them before they ever got a chance he dropped the

gun after pulling the trigger and fled like the others we knew knew he wasn't armed or at least hoped he wasn't as we combed all of town for him that night and the following morning he knew going home wasn't a smart move so we hopped from One friend's house to another doing his best to avoid all the usual places he might be one tip came from one local walking their dog in the park that morning they said that they spotted dentist cutting through the area we swarmed the whole park but he vanished kids that wander

at night know every little Avenue of Escape still it wasn't even an hour later we had him cornered between a nearby Neighborhood and some businesses he surrendered agreed to come with us and proceeded to dodge every question we threw at him once we explained that we already had Wy and Dary in custody they' flipped and ratted him out then he started to talk did his best to try to pin it on the other kids too it didn't work though Wyatt had carefully laid everything out for us even admitted to finding the gun and Handing it

over we even had Dennis's fingerprints on the gun as well as Linda nnest witness testimony all three boys received life sentences but Dary and Wyatt later had their sentence adjustment 25 years for the killing and 10 years for the Breakin total of 35 years behind bars they'll be 50 when they get out and many of the locals around here didn't care to hear about the lighter Sentence Bob was a local businessman in town he had the respect of just about everybody you can think of the craziest part of it all to me is that it

happened 15 years ago I've been retired for a while now but for many of us longers that murder still feels like it happened last night hell to this day nothing like that has ever happened again there may have been two clear-cut killings since then but they were both like parking lot disputes or both Parties were aggressive Until Somebody went too far no one has been gunned down in their own home since Bob if we hadn't arrested them as quickly as we did who knows what that body count could have actually been I moved to New

York City with the same crazy aspirations as many others did I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do but I had this general idea I've always felt like a creative person so I Envisioned myself working on sets or running errands for a production company I couldn't even get an interview with the few companies that I found in the phone book I ran out of money started to slip into that lower class lifestyle that was waiting for me I realized I had to find something fast I took the first job that would have me got

hired at a pound something like an animal shelter where I washed dogs and sprayed out kennels for 8 hours A day was miserable I hated every second of it as they weren't friendly animals they were kind of Scrappy Fighters picked up from the streets of New York City every shift was this battle of Supremacy inside this animal shelter getting nipped bit pissed on was just part of the gig the other issue was that I smelled like wet dogs pretty much all the time it made it hard to book interviews after my shift as I always

had to run home Shower and then change by then all the offices that I was trying to get to were closed honestly it was just a l lose situation on both ends for me some time went by and I just wasn't adjusting well keep in mind I was 22 years old old at the time and I think this was back in the early 2000s so unfortunately for me my living conditions created a situation wherein I started drinking every day I had a few friends that I've met from bars and my Place of work as well

as Neighbors in the building it wasn't uncommon for us all to get shitfaced on our days off blast music and play beer pom we were all broke as [ __ ] but we got together we would always scrape some cash together just to party this wasn't what I moved to New York for so it dried up pretty quickly especially since we were all tight when it came to budgeting and having our bills paid as I drank more I started showing up late for Work started performing poorly and complaining then a couple of weeks I got

[ __ ] canned part for the course in the city because there's a line of people waiting to replace you I think I got fired in October just had just enough money to scrape by for another month maybe two I remember hitting rock bottom that winter the one that left me shivering in the darkness of my own Making I was already living in a real slum a truly scary place and I couldn't wake up from The Nightmare struggling to make ends meet working as much as possible just to keep a roof over my head but

it never seemed like it was enough the city was this cruel mistress always demanding more always taking everything I had without ever so much as giving me another Opportunity that's just the way of life in these busy metros if you aren't already established or at least have your ducks in a row financially the city itself will swallow you it happens to folks every day Falling by the wayside and I'm not even talking about the covid times New York City has been hard living for a century and I'll bet the bank on that that being said

moving there was my choice and now my mistake too too I should have never moved to such a Fast-paced high economy City with nothing but Daydreams inside my pocket as you can imagine I was evicted from my apartment a dingy little hole in the wall that I'd called home for a few months the landlord did not care that I was struggling that I was doing everything I could to pay the rent just wanted me out he wanted my stuff gone too I was left with nothing no place to go and no one to turn to

the anxiet was suffocating the Anxiety was suffocating the fear of being alone and vulnerable in a city that did not care it was a fear that I'd never dealt with before honestly once I ran out of money all the people that I called friends quit [ __ ] with me wouldn't even answer a call or an email but I guess it's not like I had a phone for much longer after getting served those eviction papers it was scary because someone Could come along at any moment police probably literally forced me out of the apartment that

was in I couldn't eat I couldn't sleep just biting my time looking for any kind of option to get the rent paid the other thing was all my stuff if someone came to actually get me out I wasn't prepared to leave all my [ __ ] would just be tossed out on the street the vultures that were my neighbors would steal it all before I could even Save an arm load I realized I would lose everything if I didn't start making a move of some kind I scraped together what little cat cash I had I'd

say maybe 200 bucks from that job at the animal shelter on top of that I had some various items that had value I low balled them just to secure the funds stuff like a metal detector an electric drum kit literally the most random stuff you can imagine either way it got my savings up to over $11,000 it was enough to get me into a new place a studio apartment that was a step below the one that I just lost I didn't even walk the place just called and reserved it said I would have the cash

on hand in the moment and walked in the guy on the phone liked that so I knew I was getting ready to live in a serious dump I imagine the place was in disrepair maybe we even have leaks faulty pipes help some of these old New York buildings are known for black mold asbest and even gas leaks but the fear of transporting my belongings alone through the inner city was almost too much to bear way worse than the [ __ ] that I just mentioned I was a target a vulnerable Soul carrying boxes of stuff

through the streets just begging to be robbed or worse it's New York baby worse [ __ ] happens every day and being an out of towerer I bought into all the myths About violence on the streets what options did I really have though just made sure to do it during the day so normal people would be out too I made the move the next day my heart racing with every step my eyes scanning the crowds for any sign of danger there were Shady characters lurking in the shadows sizing me up wondering if I was worth

the trouble but nobody robbed me nobody attacked Me took me around five or six trips and anything that was really heavy was unnecessary and I just left it behind carried my mattress down the street was one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen to me but hey I needed a place to sleep I make it to my new apartment a dingy little Studio that smelled the mold and despair it was home for now the place was beyond disgusting when I turned the sink on for the first time I literally Flushed a family of roaches

out of the pipes beer was my Solace my comfort in that Darkness I spent the afternoon just lounging on the couch watching TV and drinking alone the apartment was loud the sounds of the city LED right through those thin walls like a diseased heartbeat but I didn't care was too busy drowning my sorrows in that sweet golden nectar of beer it wasn't until I cracked open the Last one that I remembered the fridge full of goodies a six-pack of beer some Chinese food and who knows what else I kept the key planning to return it

in the morning but but I wanted it all and I wanted it now the walk back to my old apartment was this Gauntlet of Shadows and fear the darkness almost seemed to ride around me like a living thing street lights casting these long ominous fingers across the sidewalk I pressed on Driven by my thirst for beer and my own stupidity I make it back to my old apartment unharmed Slide the key into lock with that satisfying click stepped inside my eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness the air was thick with the scent of Decay and

rot the remnants of my old life just lingering like a a ghost there was even unclean vomit in one corner piles of empty beer cans evidence of a true dirt bag I found what I was looking for the Beer and Chinese food and did my final walk through with my footsteps echoing off the walls I turned up with nothing else no Hidden Treasures or forgotten memories just The Echoes of my own footsteps haunting me like a spectre part of me was honestly hoping to find a forgotten paycheck or maybe even an envelope with a birthday

card and a crumpled up $20 bill in the folds NADA just that stuff in the fridge I Left my key on the kitchen counter a symbol of my complete abandonment then locked the front door behind me the night air was cool and crisp a welcome feeling from the stifling darkness of the apartment cracked open a beer on the walk home with the sound of the tab popping like a tiny explosion in the Stillness of the night I was completely oblivious just lost in my own little world of beer and Darkness and this is where I

believe it all started to go down I wandered the last stretch to my building which was an absolute dump smooshed between two larger condo complexes the windows were barred on many of the ground units as well as the main door to the building which was this rattly little piece of [ __ ] anyway there's a punch code to let residents in as well as a key to provide some meager security over the employing Doorman I struggled to unlock the door my hands were full of beer and Chinese food I finally managed to squeeze inside but

my relief was shortlived the floor was slick with some kind of liquid and I didn't notice until it was too late I slipped and fell my body crashing to the ground with a sickening thud just laid there for a minute dazed and disoriented my hip my back and my knee Were all screaming in agony at first I waited for somebody to come and help me but nobody ever did I realized this was a new building a lower class building and banging around was pretty common around here so I was on my own Panic began to

set in as I realized I could be laying here for hours alone and injured the floor smelled like rancid like rat [ __ ] in human piss it's the only place that I could lay as I lay there I felt my knee and ankle Swelling up the muscles constricting with pain I knew I had to get up but I couldn't move I was trapped helpless and alone then I saw it the front door still partially open stopped by one of the Chinese food boxes I realized I could potentially get somebody's attention from the street if

they happen to walk by it's pretty late at this point though closing on midnight so my chances of somebody walking by or walking through The building were a lot lower than normal especially in the dangerous neighborhood that I was in but when I looked up at the door I saw a shadowy figure grab it from the outside and pull it open my heart skipped a beat for a moment as I felt a rush of fear who was this person why were they coming in I tried to speak but my voice was barely even whispering maybe

they saw me fall or just noticed Me on the ground and were coming to offer some assistance it was the best case scenario and one that I was desperately hoping for I smiled and said hello as best I could and started to explain what happened to me and slurring and drunken stuper the figure loomed over me his features obscured by Darkness clearly this person didn't have any good intentions I tried to scramble to my Feet but my injured body just wouldn't cooperate I was trapped at the complete mercy of this stranger and then just as

suddenly as it appeared the figure fell on me I fought back at first but the guy grabbed my head with both hands then slammed it into the floor nothing but Stars after that he rummaged through my pockets took my shoes off checked every little nook and cranny that might have something to Offer and get this he even took my beer as I lay there getting rifled through and robbed I realized this was probably just some random homeless dude going through the area and no call to the police would really yield a result either way I

just did my best to fight back but in the state I was in I couldn't even give him trouble he emptied my pockets out and took everything then disappeared back through that Door he didn't assault me anymore besides that initial headbanging but he was filthy smelly the whole encounter was seriously grossing me out I ended up having to lay there for another hour until one of my new neighbors had gotten off work discovered me just lying there in the lobby she called the cops but that was it she left me out there too after learning

I was mostly okay the whole thing was a terrifying Experience one that opened up my eyes to a lifestyle in the heart of a big city I got myself together and saved some money ended up moving out of state not much later after this being robbed while I was incapacitated on the floor was a thing that I needed to happen to me to give me this real perspective on life you live alone even in one of the most populated metros in the world anything can happen to you I live in LA in the suburbs it's

a pretty nice neighborhood most of our neighbors are pretty wealthy but it's still not unusual to hear those ghetto Birds late at night on the night the story takes place an Airship was right over our house the spotlight kept Shining back and forth I had my wife and toddler son asleep in the room with me neither of them had woken up I thought it might be best to pull out my shotgun out of the safe and get her loaded up Just to be sure I grabbed my Remington Pump and just loaded it up with double

lot buck and slug went out to the living room and locked the bedroom door behind me yes we have a house lock on the bedroom door I turned off all the interior lights and then turn on all our exterior lights in the yard I just stood there shirtless in my pajama bottoms with a shotgun occasionally walking up to the windows on either side of my house the Halo just kept circling the Spotlight kept darting back and forth quickly I sat down in my chair and within a minute started to doze off again this is when

I saw a figure run by me on our sliding glass door from our backyard toward our sidey yard I sat there in disbelief waiting for it to happen again when it didn't I thought maybe just caught some kind of Shadow casted by that Spotlight but still it didn't account for the footsteps that I definitely heard Blowing by the back Door I kept my eyes open trying to remain as alert as possible sure enough I see him run back by the opposite direction checking the opposite perimeter of my house I slowly stand up and watch him

peek around the corner of my house and down the sidey yard it was really impossible to deduce anything about him he was standing in the dark with a hooded sweatshirt he could have been maybe 15 he could have Been 50 either way he was standing in my backyard when he definitely shouldn't have been I watched as he silently crept back the way he went before and then around the closer side of my house this side was less illuminated and had access to the garage even the front yard via the gate the other side yard was

just a straight shot to a deadend wall something similar to a dog dog run this guy was definitely casing my House for the best possible route of Escape but he also seemed to be looking for something too maybe a weapon or a vehicle anything to improve his situation I ran through my kitchen and realized my side door to my garage was open I had a habit of always leaving that door unlocked because of the ease of access also the hardware was a little finicky honestly it needed replacing I was just being lazy either way that

night it almost Cost me a heart attack or maybe even something worse I unlocked the door to the garage and went in I tried to lock the door to the side yard he was already at the door turning the knob and pushing it though the knob is tricky even when it's unlocked the door itself was swollen from rain exposure and old framing it's difficult to open I racked the shotgun pointed at the Door and yelled stop reached forward for that tactical flashlight that was mounted on the shotgun and of course my batteries were dead maintain

your weapons folks I recoiled back towards the water heater I figured if he came through the door I'd have to shoot him there'd be no choice if I didn't he'd overpower me the door behind me was unlocked he'd have access to the house and a shotgun so I just use that water heater As cover so I realized I really didn't know anything about this person he could potentially be on armed I realized then that I had to pull the trigger the moment that door opened up if he had a gun and I hesitated he could

blast me first get to my family that was sleeping upstairs we all think we're going to be heroic and steadfast and resilient in those moments and I probably would have stood my ground because I had my wife and son to protect but the last thing That I wanted right then was to pull the trigger you're the blast and have a man die violently in my house what would my life be like after that would I have to get lawyers and lose my house worry about retribution have to look over my shoulder sometimes i' lay awake

at night thinking about blunder that I said in conversation or a mistake that I made driving would I relive that moment I killed that guy over and over again While I was trying to fall asleep the problem ended up solving itself though the guy stood there hand on the door but looking behind him as the cops rushed up to the side gate flashlights and lots of yelling 10 different commands all being screamed at the same time they reached over and got the gate unlocked the guy was on the ground I put my shotgun down on

the other side of the door a female officer Shined her light through the side door window and yelled sir get inside I went back into the kitchen and locked the door behind me then cracked a beer and took this long pole off a bottle of tequila they arrested that guy die then the Hilo carried off about an hour or so later then they were all gone except for a few neighbors who were now awake I went outside and locked the gate went back to bed with a dry mouth and Heart racing my wife finally woke

up asked why I'd been sleeping I'm fine it's just insomnia I didn't want to tell her then not at 3:00 a.m. she'd freak out and that was the last thing that I wanted I called the next day to see if I could get any more details The Watch Commander told me the guy was a 16-year-old kid from the neighborhood later I found out he ran away with my neighbor's kid with No previous record who had wealthy parents got caught breaking into a friend's house took the cops on a chase ditched his car block away and

then ran like hell my yard was probably the darkest and most shaded so he hid there I never mentioned the shotgun or almost killing him less they know the better as far as I was concerned the kid would be a man now in his early 30s I've never seen him but The kids he ran with all definitely have kids of their own now Drive minivans and careers wherever he is I hope he's doing better he may or may not know that he was one door's threshold away from a violent and painful death I want him

to know but I don't want him to know now you know