Well, my fear is someone breaking into my house -specifically at night when T is away and I am home alone.
I have gone so far (when unemployed) as to completely change my schedule so that I would sleep during the day and be awake all night, just to avoid the chance of someone breaking in. My justification is that if all the lights are on and there is movement in the house no one will break in. Logical right??!
And yes, I’ve had this crazy fear since I was a kid and our shed was broken into and my parent’s bikes were taken. I was so young that I slept on the top bunk and even though my parents were in the house and still awake, and only slept a few feet from my bedroom, I would every night until I passed out from exhaustion continuously watch a) the door to my room, b) the window to my room (which was on the second floor!), and the closet (you know in case a bad guy was hiding out in there or maybe a monster?). It probably didn’t help that I watched Detroit news and being geographically challenged believed the bad guys in Detroit were a mere 10 minutes away – thinking a local bridge was the Ambassador Bridge.
Anyway, then in my early twenties no one broke into my apartment but I had a peeper who was luckily caught, but again it just fed the fear.
(Do you find it creepy that the peeper was only 26?)
Now T & I have moved out of the city into a small town where the crime is reported in three sentences in the weekly paper and all consists of cars being broken into that were parked outside. The paper gives the street name, and I Google map it to make sure it is nowhere close and my car is never left outside. However I still have this insane fear of someone breaking in. Our house backing onto a ravine that is pitch black at night doesn’t really help the fact either. Now I haven’t gone so far as to put blinds in all of the windows as I enjoy the light, however, I have strategically switched out curtains to ensure that my movement around the house cannot be followed. I know it’s crazy, my friend who is a police officer always attempts to simmer my fear with her knowledge of break and enters, and still I’m terrified.
I have so far when T travels been able to pass out at night due to exhaustion, having all the lights on in the house and maybe even a TV, and having drank a large amount of wine. Yes, when T travels I become quite the late night alcoholic. You should give me a call any time before 2am; I’m awake and quite humorous.
This all changed Boxing Day of 2010.
T had gone to a friend’s house to play poker and had called to tell me he’d be staying the night. With nothing the next day I knew I could stay up until I passed out and all would be fine. I left a light on in the kitchen, double checked all the doors were locked, had some wine, and I think passed out around 1am?
2am I wake to hear what sounds like the latching noise of a door. The sound can only be from one of the two doors on our main floor. I listen for the sound of walking, maybe the closet door or bathroom door opening, or even the fridge thinking that T had possibly changed his mind. I hear nothing.
I give it some time (probably 5 minutes) but what felt like an hour, while my heart is pounding so hard I really have to listen to hear over it, and I’ve broken into a cold sweat while gripping my phone. Still, I hear nothing.
I decide that if T is in the house and I call his cell phone it will ring and I’ll know it’s him. I hide the phone under the covers (to conceal the button sounds) and call his cell. Nothing. Panic has set in.
I look around the room for something that I can use as a weapon in case I have to defend myself and realize that my first objective should be to find a robe. The last thing I want is for something crazy to go down and the neighbourhood to get a peep show. So I find T’s robe and a red high heeled shoe – it was the sharpest object I could find!
Very stealth I tip toe across the bedroom and flick on the light. You know because light scares bad guys! I enter the hall flick on bathroom, spare bedroom, and hallway lights. I glance down the stairs to see if I can see T’s coat? Nope. Shoes? Well there were three pairs of his, who knows which pair he wore? I glance to box of Christmas gifts that hadn’t been put away yet in the front entrance and there was a cast iron pie iron. The sucker was heavy and would do serious damage. So down the stairs I went in stealth mode and grabbed the pie iron, flicking on the front entrance light, the living room light, and the outside lights. I see nothing, I hear nothing and at this point two of the three floors of my home are lit up.
So I decide while wearing T’s robe, carrying a red high heeled shoe, the phone, and a pie iron that my best move is to exit the house and call the cops from the driveway. I decide to exit through the garage as the door makes less noise as to not startle the intruder. I slip on a pair of T’s shoes and slip into the garage. I flick on the light to see…..
T’s car.
I fly back into the house yelling every obscenity known to man and probably a few new ones. T came flying up the stairs from his office (far back corner of the basement) trying to figure out what was going on. The adrenaline, the sweats, and the fear just let go and my legs gave and I continued to yell at him from the floor.
He knows I have this fear. So what part of slipping into the house, not waking me to tell me he was there, not taking off his coat or shoes, or turning on any lights was a bright idea? He forgot.
Well Mr. Forgetful is now paying for ADT to install a security alarm before he travels again for fear of being ‘pie-ironed’.
So whatever your fear is, I say do everything that you possibly can to avoid a situation like that. Exterminate for spiders, take a self defense course (they are actually fun), or maybe put a red high heeled shoe in your purse?! Believe me if taser guns ever become legal in this country I’ll be the first in line to purchase one.
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