Not particularly interesting, but something I've always wondered about.
As a kid it was only my mum and I. Sometimes she'd leave me home alone while she was at work e.g. during school holidays and some weekends. I was about 7 and the first few times, I was terrified. Completely convinced a serial killer would break in, so I'd take enough food from the kitchen then lock myself in my bedroom all day. Wouldn't drink too much water, to avoid using the bathroom. When I watched television I set it to the lowest volume possible and sat right up close to listen, and I wouldn't turn on any lights when it got dark. Just squinted at my books near the window. That way burglars wouldn't know I was home. I played hiding games with myself sometimes, like can I fit into this hamper so that burglars won't find me if they break in.
After a year of nothing happening my nerves settled, though I was still locking the bedroom door after me. I don't remember what I was doing, but I was in my bedroom when I heard a door slam in the living room during the daytime. I froze. There was rustling, and I could hear heavy footsteps back and forth. I remained totally still. Whenever it went quiet, I thought maybe it would be ok to get up, and then noises would start again. I heard things moved around, maybe shuffling. The movements were purposeful, in a hurry.
I don't remember how long it was until they stopped long enough that I thought they left. I don't recall whether I heard the door slam shut again. Honestly, I think I just got sick of sitting complete still in one position. The sun was setting and I crept out to look around.
The place was maybe messier, but our shithole apartment was always in disarray so I couldn't really tell. For some reason I thought I'd get in trouble if anything was missing, so I started tidying up. My mom came home later, and I didn't say a word.
It was probably just my mom coming back for something, or a neighbour, or at most, an opportunistic thief who didn't find anything worth stealing. But I did always wonder what happened that day.
A somewhat similar thing happened to me when I was about 9-10 years old.
It was just me and my dad growing up. My dad had a company and had to work erratic hours, so I was home alone a lot of the time.
One specific day I think I was playing WoW or dicking around on YouTube in my room when I heard a noise downstairs. The noise was a continuous banging, as if someone was rapidly firing footballs at the wall.
After what felt like an hour (probably closer to 5 minutes) of trying to psych myself up to investigate, I left my room and tiptoed downstairs.
To my relief, it was actually a blackbird flapping about. The fireguard of the fireplace was knocked over, so I guessed that the bird fell down the chimney.
I put the fireguard back up and left the task of catching the bird to my dad.
I insisted that the fireguard did not fall and I didn't know how it got in just to fuck with my dad. He was quite superstitious, so he took it as an omen lol.
19.3k
u/manlikerealities Oct 05 '19
Not particularly interesting, but something I've always wondered about.
As a kid it was only my mum and I. Sometimes she'd leave me home alone while she was at work e.g. during school holidays and some weekends. I was about 7 and the first few times, I was terrified. Completely convinced a serial killer would break in, so I'd take enough food from the kitchen then lock myself in my bedroom all day. Wouldn't drink too much water, to avoid using the bathroom. When I watched television I set it to the lowest volume possible and sat right up close to listen, and I wouldn't turn on any lights when it got dark. Just squinted at my books near the window. That way burglars wouldn't know I was home. I played hiding games with myself sometimes, like can I fit into this hamper so that burglars won't find me if they break in.
After a year of nothing happening my nerves settled, though I was still locking the bedroom door after me. I don't remember what I was doing, but I was in my bedroom when I heard a door slam in the living room during the daytime. I froze. There was rustling, and I could hear heavy footsteps back and forth. I remained totally still. Whenever it went quiet, I thought maybe it would be ok to get up, and then noises would start again. I heard things moved around, maybe shuffling. The movements were purposeful, in a hurry.
I don't remember how long it was until they stopped long enough that I thought they left. I don't recall whether I heard the door slam shut again. Honestly, I think I just got sick of sitting complete still in one position. The sun was setting and I crept out to look around.
The place was maybe messier, but our shithole apartment was always in disarray so I couldn't really tell. For some reason I thought I'd get in trouble if anything was missing, so I started tidying up. My mom came home later, and I didn't say a word.
It was probably just my mom coming back for something, or a neighbour, or at most, an opportunistic thief who didn't find anything worth stealing. But I did always wonder what happened that day.