this was the first year I'd be spending Christmas alone I think it sounds sadder than it was but I couldn't afford the flight back to my hometown and couldn't take off any extra vacation time to make it worth it anyway I always enjoyed seeing others decorations in driving or walking around on Christmas Day when I woke up I turned on the old cartoon Grinch movie and made a nice breakfast and some coffee then I spent the next hour on FaceTime with my parents and siblings after all that it was probably around noon I didn't have
much else to do but at some point I went out to get the mail and when I opened the door there were footprints in the snow on my porch what's odd is that they were frozen over like not freshly made in the powdery top layer of snow they were clearly made hours ago like overnight when it was well below freezing I looked around even though they clearly were not here anymore then went out and got my mail it was very strange I don't know if I felt scared but definitely a bit unsettled I didn't really
know what to do about it though I tried to continue my day without worrying too much after all it was Christmas I had some Hallmark movies play while I opened the gifts and letters that my family had sent in the mail around 3: I started getting bored and checked the weather it was supposed to get a lot colder later in the day so I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood while I still had the chance I bundled up and started down the sidewalk looking at all the Christmas lights and taking in the
calmness a little bit into the walk I noticed someone else walking in the neighborhood they were the only other person I saw and they were walking on the other side of the road I thought nothing of it but a few minutes later they passed by me again I did a double take thinking I was seeing things because there was no way we could have pass each other twice so soon unless they turned around right after we passed each other the first time I kept walking and came up to a split where I could either head
back home or keep going around the neighborhood I ended up going home it wasn't because of the guy I saw sure it was strange but something else just felt off and made me want to head back I went in through the front door and eerily soon after I got inside there was a knock at the door I had only just taken off my boots and was still standing right by the door my heart pounded in my chest like I knew this was bad I looked out the peephole and saw a guy standing very close to
the door wearing a baseball cap tilted downward covering his face weirdly he seemed familiar I didn't know why at the moment I thought it was just because he was the man I'd seen walking around the neighborhood he knocked again I knew he had to have already seen me enter what do you need I called out they didn't answer a few seconds later they banged on the door again I asked again what they were doing here and what they wanted and watched out the peephole as he just stood there against the door and refused to answer
or speak at all before banging on the door again he then grabbed the door handle and started shoving his whole body into it I backed away as the whole door shook rattling from its hinges with each blow it went on for maybe 20 to 30 seconds then it all suddenly stopped there was a pause and then multiple people yelling when I went over and looked there were two cops outside my home arresting the man at my door I was completely confused and Unsure how this happened I thought it was just some kind of miracle that
they showed up at the perfect time it turned out a neighbor had had actually called the police and reported a man acting unusual walking back and forth down our street for hours and standing outside my home even more disturbing though I knew the man he was an old ex from probably 6 years ago he didn't even live in the same state as me anymore and we hadn't talked at all since the breakup it's scary to think that so suddenly years later he just decided to show up at my house on Christmas Day and try to
break in the cops found two knives on him and in his car that he parked a few blocks away he had a firearm and a whole roll of duct tape both that he purchased just a few days prior he admitted to nothing but it's not hard to see what he was likely intending to do I'd already spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon with family so now it was just time to go home and wind down for the rest of the night maybe watch a holiday movie or something I drove 45 minutes from
my parents' home to mine the roads were empty as you could imagine and if not for it being Christmas it would have actually been kind of eerie everything was so quiet and motionless outside anyway I got home around 800 pulling in the garage and heading inside I flicked on the entrance light and immediately saw some papers spread across the floor in the hallway it was all from a stack of mail I had sitting on the counter that I guess had fallen over I didn't overthink it I just picked it all back up and tossed it
back on the counter I did leave the house in a rush that morning so maybe I ran past it and caused the pile to fall and I just didn't notice after cleaning it up I walked around and turned on the rest of the lights then went into the living room I had a Christmas tree set up in the corner it was one of those small fake ones that looked pretty sad but it was better than nothing I sat back on the couch and found a movie to watch some new Netflix Christmas movie it was actually
pretty good I watched the whole thing but throughout the whole movie I kept hearing something in my house it was like quiet almost inaudible Creeks I wasn't even sure if I was actually hearing it or not because every time I'd think I'd heard something I'd pause the movie and listen but didn't hear it anymore I took it as a sign that this Christmas day was over for me as I needed to get to bed and sleep off the exhaustion of seeing all my family I turned off the TV and all the lights downstairs and went
up to my bedroom walking in and turning on the overhead lamp without hesitation I knew something wasn't right I couldn't pinpoint what it was at first but I knew my room was not how I'd left it something had been moved and I quickly put all the pieces together of everything else had been experiencing since getting back home my body felt numb both fear and adrenaline taking over me I walked back out into the hallway and looked down the staircase trying to listen to see if whoever had been here was still here or not I quietly
went down step by step until I reached the bottom there was no sound or motion at all is anyone here I've called the cops hello it was as I was saying that that I realized my stupid mistake of not having called the cops yet I started to go back upstairs planning to lock myself in my room and call the police when sudden footsteps rushed from the living room it was too dark to see anything more than the Christmas tree branches swaying and a figure rushing away from it I followed the sound into the kitchen and
then the back door they opened it it and ran away I was just standing there Frozen Once I snapped out of it I dial 911 and lock the back door I still don't really know what happened that Christmas night whoever had broken in hadn't taken much of anything at least nothing that I really noticed what I think is that they got in just as I was getting home and once they heard the garage open they probably sprinted through the kitchen knocking over the papers and hid I know I saw them running away from the tree
but if they were hiding the whole time I was watching the movie it wouldn't explain the noises I was hearing maybe there really weren't any noises or it was something else entirely the thought of them being right there in the corner of the room in front of me waiting and watching me for two whole hours is just horribly disturbing I wish I had more answers and could tell you more but that's everything I know police weren't of much help and nothing has happened since hopefully it stays that way [Music] I'm nearing 30 and Christmas nowadays
isn't as exciting as it once was I usually take a trip down to whichever family member was hosting the get together that year and just hang out for the week then go back home it was always nice but often there were just so many people that it was just a bit too chaotic for me this was last year I rented an Airbnb near my cousin's place who was hosting the G together he lives kind of out in the middle of nowhere so a lot of the options I had to rent were just small cabin I
chose one pretty much at random and come a few days before Christmas I drove out there the first two days were actually really fun I saw a lot of family I hadn't seen in years and enjoyed catching up then even more people showed up like maybe 30 people total stuffed in a three-bedroom house house it was a mess on Christmas Day we spent the morning watching the kids open their presents then had a big breakfast I hung around until dinner time then called in for the night at 7:00 I drove back to the cabin the
place was nestled away in the trees just outside of town I thought the cabin was fairly nice though when I pulled in and parked out front I noticed shoe prints in the snow going up to the front door I thought it had to be the Airbnb host maybe wanting to check in on me or something when I got up to the front door it was clear they hadn't gone inside or anything they just stopped maybe waited for me to answer the door for a bit then walked away I went inside and tossed my jacket on
the couch and sat in the sofa chair I thought about texting the host to see what he stopped by for but I figured if it was something important he would have texted me so I ended up forgetting about it after only a few minutes of sitting down I dozed off it must have only been 10 or so minutes later when I woke up to a ring at the doorbell I got up and walked over to the door trying to rub the tired look off my face I opened the door there was a man with medium
black hair and a brown jacket he had a short smile and greeted me quickly introducing himself as the host of the Airbnb and shaking my hand I was still just trying to wake up so I let him control the conversation while I just stood there and went with the flow he asked me how my stay was and then explained that he just needed to check on a few things again I was just nodding and too out of it to care about what he was saying it was only after he walked past me and into to
the house that I realized I'd unknowingly agreed to let him in to check on some things that almost immediately woke me up he walked into the living room and kind of just stood there for a moment looking around at the walls it almost looked like he didn't even know what he was looking for it was around then that I remembered it was still Christmas day which just made this whole thing even stranger why would he need to do this on the hall couldn't he wait until tomorrow or have come by yesterday his strange behavior only
made me feel worse he was just slowly walking through the room moving his head around and clearly pretending to be looking for something the thought of him not being who he said he was began creeping into my mind I was just so caught off guard by everything and it being Christmas I just wasn't expecting to deal with anything like this hey do you think you could come by tomorrow instead I've actually got a bunch of family that should be here any minute now he stopped looking around and turned to face me his face was stiff
and he looked almost angry at me for saying that he then casually walked down to the front door as if he was going to leave but instead he closed and locked it that instantly sent a c surge of fear through me I ran straight into the bedroom and locked it behind me the man ran up only a few seconds later and began trying to open it I had no idea what to do my car keys were still in my jacket on the couch along with my phone I knew that I needed to act now though
I looked at the back of the room there was an old window one with a handle that you push open like a hatch I hurried over hearing the door behind me Bend and crack with each hit as I squeezed myself out of the window I then bolted for the tree line he must have heard me leave or broken down the door right after I fled Because by the time I was in the woods and looked back I saw him run out the front door I was well covered by the dark though and he didn't seem
to know where I ran off to he stayed out there for a while like 20 minutes before he finally got into his car and drove off I waited an extra few minutes just to be safe then ran back and got my phone calling 911 during the investigation the homeowner and Airbnb host came down confirming he was not the one who stopped by the cabin with this situation there's not too much to go off of so it can only be assumed that the man had found out that the cabin was an Airbnb and used that against
me to get access to the place his intentions after that aren't known but it likely wasn't to just Rob the cabin of its mediocre decorations that night was a close call and I don't think I'll ever be so trusting of anyone again for
