[Music] I unfortunately had to move back with my family after my most recent breakup he and I were living in Boston together in an apartment we got just a little word of advice never sign a lease with someone who you recently got into a relationship with he was not the person I thought he was my parents live in Western Massachusetts if you've ever been to Massachusetts you'd know the more West you get typically the more rural it gets I'm not a big country girl I like to be in or near a major city especially since I'm in my 20s still my parents area is super boring I'm hoping I'm only here temporarily until I find another apartment I can afford myself though I'll be staying away from Boston for reasons I had to get a job back at the Urgent Care Facility I used to work at before I moved they welcomes me back excitedly even if it is just temporarily until I move again the trade-off with this job though is that I tend to work undesirable hours meaning overnights though the shifts are easy they're boring and they entirely mess up my sleep schedule on social life not that social life is even the best around here after my shifts sometimes I'll stop for what's considered my dinner usually takeout since not much is open at these hours though this morning I got out at 4:00 a. m. and there's a bagel place that opens at that time and they serve a lot of types of food so I stopped by there and grabbed a chicken sandwich and a salad I was going to eat it once I got home I also had to make a pit stop for gas as well I stopped at the local Shell station one of the few gas stations open at this hour that was on the way home the parking lot for this station is huge and yet I hardly ever see any other cars in there even during the day I went inside to pay cash to save a little money I went back outside to the pump and there was now another car at one of the other pumps it was a blue sedan a guy got out of the car as I was walking over to the pump I was at as I began fueling I noticed him start to fuel up as well I guess he locked the handle in place so that it would automatically keep dispensing gas without him holding it because he walked through the two pumps to my side and then said to me want to see a funny trick I immediately hated this interaction still for some reason I said what's the trick he then started doing that stupid old trick where you pretend you're pulling your finger off with your other hand by just folding it down he kept looking down at his hands and then back at me with this kind of sarcastic looking expression as if he knew what he was doing was stupid but honestly I couldn't tell I fake laughed so that he'd go away but he didn't stop he kept doing the trick even after I looked away and tried my best to pretend not to notice anymore when I felt the click of the gas nozzle indicating that the tank was full I was so relieved I quick quickly Ratched the nozzle to the pump and hurried inside for my change when I came back outside the man wasn't in sight anymore yet his car was still there and the hose was still pumping gas into his car I didn't want to stick around to catch his attention again I got back in my car though just out of paranoia I checked the back seats just to make sure he wasn't hiding back there I locked the doors and then I was back on the road I was home in about 5 minutes after that I was so excited to eat my 4:30 a.
m. dinner I picked up the spare for my parents hiding spot unlocked the door and then quickly hit it back in its hiding spot I locked the door once I entered as I always do I went straight to the kitchen to eat I make sure to be quiet when I get home late so as not to wake up my parents we only have two cars in the family so I share my mom's car I didn't need a car in Boston anyway but since I moved back I'd just been using the hidden spare key they would hide in the front to let myself in as I was at the table eating I heard the front door being unlocked and then opening and closing I stopped chewing and froze to listen with a mouth full of food I said Mom Dad no answer I didn't hear any footsteps or anything I hurried out of the kitchen to take a peek in the foyer no one was in there I felt like my heart was in my throat I ran up the stairs to my parents room and barged in I was horrified to see both my parents in bed and they were both awoken to my very forceful opening of the door I sat very quietly but in a clear Panic that someone just came inside the house my dad jumped out of bed and hurried downstairs I cautiously followed behind him he turned on all the lights of every room we passed then he went out front to check for the spare key and it was missing my mom and I were absolutely horrified yet my mom still found the time to lecture me for not checking my surroundings before rehding the key my dad began searching every room in the house and we followed when he was done checking my older brother's room he left to continue searching and left the lights on in here I stayed behind in this room and decided to check a couple of the spots that I felt my dad had missed because I know internally I didn't expect to find anyone I checked under the bed and then I checked the closets nothing so I went downstairs to the main floor it seemed my dad was already checking in the basement I was honestly horrified to go into the basement right now even with my dad down there so I stayed on the middle floor with my mom but curiosity still got me and I went to the dining room which is adjacent to the foyer by the front door I got down on my knees and looked under the table and there he was it truly did not feel real there was that man from the gas station hiding under the dining room table I recognized him instantly I screamed as loud as I could and in response my mom started to scream too my 65-year-old dad came up the stairs as fast as he could ready to fight this Intruder the man came out from under the table and began fending off my dad who is at least 20 years his senior and as my mom and I saw him overpowering my dad we began doing whatever we could as well hitting and punching at the man as my dad still held on to him it was when all three of us were attacking him that he finally decided to retreat and fled through the front door this was when we called the cops and thank God for a quick response time however that man still had the key to the front door that night the police left a police car parked in our driveway to deter that man from coming back my dad wedged a chair in front of the front door as well and slept in the living room the next day he switched out the lock to the front door and with that my parents' days of hiding a key outside were over I do feel guilty for bringing that dangerous man to my parents house and it was definitely on me for being careless but honestly I think that man followed me with his headlights off because I didn't see any cars behind me the entire ride home I'm happy for my and my family's safety though however this just made me want to move out of here even [Music] more I like driving at night because there's nothing more that I hate than driving in traffic I'm from New York Long Island specifically and the traffic here is truly unbearable my brother lives in Florida and I like to go down and visit pretty often it's a long drive though depending on when you leave it could be upwards of 18 hours I like to leave New York very early in the morning like 2: a. m.
so that I could be out of all the hi traffic areas by the time any cars are on the road so it was a Thursday morning at 2:00 a. m. that I was leaving home to get on the road I stopped for my morning coffee at Dunkin Donuts knowing I had a long grueling Drve ahead of me the reason I was driving and not flying was because I was going to be down there for a whole month and I didn't want to rely on my brother to take me everywhere I needed to go by the time I was off of Long Island it was after 3:00 a.
m. it was smooth sailing from Jersey the drive from New York to Florida is very easy once you're out of New York you take the I95 all the way down at about 4:00 a. m.
the hunger was starting to set in and so I pulled off the I95 at the first sight of a food sign I saw Wendy's on the sign and so I figured I'd get breakfast from there I skipped breakfast at the house because waking up so early I feel like your brain doesn't have a chance to realize how hungry you are for a few hours at least that's me personally I followed the signs to the Wendy's I was in some random spot in Jersey there were no street lights here I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere just about the only light was from my headlights when I got to the Wendy's parking lot some of the lights were on and I saw a car in the parking lot so I pulled into the drive-thru the menu in the Drve-Thru was lit up so I thought it was open but I sat there for over a minute looking at the intercom waiting for someone to greet me but they didn't I even said excuse me to no avail I pulled out my phone and looked up this Wendy's and wouldn't you know it it didn't open until 6:00 a. m.
