Burglary

Friday, September 6: A story about a time you were very afraid. 

The first thing that came to mind when reading this prompt was my bungy jumping experience.  But I already wrote about there HERE.  That was absolutely terrifying.  My stomach still drops just thinking about it...

After thinking a little more, I remembered another time I was afraid- the time our apartment in Houston was broken into.   Before buying our house in Houston, we lived in a large apartment complex in Uptown Houston.  When choosing which unit we wanted, we specifically chose the top floor (3rd floor) for many reasons, but partially because of the fact that being on the top floor makes your chances of a break-in pretty slim.  Right?  Unfortunately, we were wrong. 

I came home from work about an hour earlier than normal one afternoon, because I had been at a training that day that finished earlier than scheduled.  I walked down the outdoor hallway toward our apartment door, and as I got closer I saw that the door was cracked open slightly.  For a second, I thought maybe I hadn't closed the door all the way when I left for work that morning.  But then I saw that the door had obviously been opened by force.  I obviously wasn't thinking clearly at this point, because I made the very stupid decision of going inside our apartment.  As soon as I opened the door all the way, it was obvious that we had been robbed.  Our stuff was thrown everywhere, drawers open, TV missing, etc.  I didn't take more than a couple steps inside before I finally panicked and realized I needed to get out of there quickly.  I ran down to the apartment leasing office where I called the police and my husband.   

Luckily, there was no one in the apartment when I entered.  And luckily, we didn't lose too much- mostly just electronics, both our computers, cameras, TV, a few minor pieces of jewelry, luggage/sheets/pillows that they used to cart our stuff out of there with (which infuriated me!), etc.  It's just a really scary and unsettling feeling to know that someone has been in your home, rifling through your property and personal items.  What scared me even more is that the police said that they thought that I probably came home while the burglary was still in progress.  They didn't think anyone was in there when I walked in, but they did say that because the second of our TV's was wrapped in blankets and pillows just near the doorway all "ready to go" probably meant that whoever had broken in was most likely taking the first load of our stuff out and meaning to come back for the other TV and who knows what else.  So that means that whoever it was probably saw me going in to our apartment.  They also thought that because I had come home earlier than usual, it might have meant that whoever robbed us knew my schedule and thought they knew when neither of us would be home.  That still just gives me the creeps.  Such an unnerving feeling!