I was driving home from my friend's house it was late I don't know exactly the time but if I had to guess it was probably two or three am I live 20 minutes away which wasn't too far since most houses around here are spread out the rain and lack of street lights made it hard to see though so I was driving slower and more carefully five minutes down the road I pulled up to a traffic light I had the red light but there was a blue car on the other side who was on the road
partially in the intersection its headlights and everything were on but it was just sitting there at a green light I couldn't tell if there was something wrong or maybe they were asleep but when the lights changed I drove forward slowly maneuvering around them I tried to discreetly look in their car as I passed but the rain on my window blocked most of my view only a moment after passing them and driving down the road again the blue car turned and started following me down the road so it wasn't broken down after all I kept my
eye on the mirrors I wouldn't consider myself a paranoid person but the situation felt staged another minute down the road the car's headlights started getting brighter in my mirrors as they pulled their car closer to what felt like just a couple of feet from my back bumper in weather like this that made me really uncomfortable I looked back at the road but saw a small light pop up on my dashboard it was a signal that one of my tires was low on air a common signal but it felt like an odd time for it just
to pop up given the situation I looked back in my mirrors seeing the car still tailing me they were so close their headlights almost made it hard to even see the actual car I was just four or five minutes away from home nearing the entrance to the neighborhood when my dashboard started flickering a new signal flat tire my stomach dropped the second I saw that signal I put all the pieces together and was almost 100 sure that this car behind me had done something I drove another minute hoping to make it closer to home but
I could feel my car sinking to the left and I was practically driving on the rims now I had to pull over the car behind me did the same I should have called someone as soon as I parked but I was so concerned and focused with what the person behind me was doing that it didn't even cross my mind though even if I did call someone it probably wouldn't have prevented what happened next once parked three doors opened from the car and three men came out I only had a few seconds to prepare and react
but I was helpless and defenseless they ran up to my car two on my side and one on the other one of the men came right up to my window yelling at me to open the door and pointing a gun at me it happened so fast I was just in some dazed state I started to reach for the door but the man by the back door smashed something against the window shattering it then reached his hand in and opened the back door they were all still yelling both at me and at each other the man
in the back reached a cross opening the other back door then reached in front of me to open my door I was still just sitting there holding my hands up now to show I wasn't a threat I knew there was no way out of this even if I did have a weapon once my door was opened the man with the gun pulled me out of the car and slammed me on the ground the oddest thing is while I was on the ground looking out into the Rainy pavement all I was thinking about was how cold
and wet the pavement was not about how I had a gun being pushed into the back of my head or that I was being robbed and beaten I think it was my head trying to distance myself from the traumatizing situation I was in I wasn't on the ground for long before the men by the car called out and the guy holding me down hit me in the back of the head causing me to Ricochet off the pavement I wasn't even sure if he hit me with the gun or just his fist because I was already
numb I'm surprised it didn't knock me out though I heard their car doors closed and then driving away I rolled over still in the days and tried to pick myself up they'd taken my phone so I was forced to drive my car home and call the police when I got there which ended up denting and damaging my rims anyway the investigation went nowhere determining only that the suspects had purposefully placed small Tire spikes in the road at the intersection I crossed them at I got lucky to have only hit one Spike and four to have
caused less damage than usual they likely plan to Ambush me as soon as I hit the Trap but in the end it didn't make a difference I'm 24 and I lived alone with my dog bear in a cozy town home up until three months ago I moved in when I turned 22 having a decent enough job I love the home being the first place I'd ever rented for myself but two years of happy living was ruined by this one night it was gloomy outside and raining quite a lot it was my day off so I
was sitting on a chair in my living room scrolling on my phone it was 8 P.M which was just an hour before I usually went to bed had been sitting by the back door for a while looking outside he started whining and ran up to me which was his way of communicating to me that he needed to go outside I got up and let him out then closed the door and stood in the kitchen while it was just a town home there was a small fence separating the backyards so I didn't have to worry about
bear running away or anything also I should mention that bear isn't a large dog at all he's just fluffy and small like a teddy bear not long maybe 15 or 20 seconds after I let him outside I heard him whimper and bark it was very clearly a cowering bark like he was running away from something scared me and I rushed to the door and looked out seeing bear running back towards me with his tail between his legs once he was inside I leaned my head outside and scanned the backyard expecting a coyote or something to
be lurking by the fence but nothing was there I made sure bear was okay and locked on my door he never does anything like that so that made me really worried for him I let him sit on my lap for the rest of the night through the next 30 minutes he was constantly perking his head up and staring at the windows and doors a different one each time then after 45 minutes of sitting there bear turned his head and stared at the window behind me lowering his ears and growling there I said turning to look
where he was looking and right in the window just a couple feet from us was a man staring back at me was almost right up against the glass I jumped up and screamed stepping backwards the man sprinted away down the side of the house bear started barking again from the sudden chaos I closed the blinds and checked all of the others making sure they were closed as well from the quick Glimpse I got I didn't recognize the man I didn't know who he was or what he was doing here or why he was staring at
me I tried to listen for any more indications that he was still around but the rain outside was too loud covering up any possible sounds bear seemed calmer though so I stayed up for a while longer just to be safe then went upstairs and had bears sleep in my room with me it took a long time for me to fall asleep having a lot on my mind but after an hour or so I slowly dozed off when I woke bear was standing up right by the bedroom door staring at it this was a freaky thing
to see waking up in the middle of the night but not even seconds later I heard something below me a man talking and not long after a man on the other side of the house talking back their footsteps were loud and they didn't even seem to be whispering either it was like they didn't care if I knew that they were inside my home my bedroom door was locked but I had nowhere else to go I went over to Bear quietly trying to keep him calm then picked him up and went over to the corner of
my room behind the bed it took me a while to realize but then it struck me that I hadn't heard any noises at all in the past minute no steps or voices this was when I took my phone out and called the police Whispering as softly as I could as I told them my address bear started a low growl then began barking and whining as two sets of footsteps started making their way up the stairs I begged for the operator to send someone immediately the two men started talking to each other again but it was
hard to make out their words hey we just want to talk we're not here to hurt you I screamed saying I called the cops and for them to leave I was panicking not knowing what else to do there was a pause afterwards we're here to help you one of the men said I didn't respond as I was busy trying to muffle my crying open the door it got quiet again I could only hear them breathing behind the door for what felt like a whole minute before one of them walked back down the stairs I couldn't
tell where they went downstairs or if they'd left or not but I was sure that it was just one set of footsteps that left the bedroom door it was so quiet though and I couldn't hear any breathing in the far distance the soft sound of sirens started to get louder a sense of safety was finally coming back once the sirens got closer I heard footsteps running out of the house downstairs but now I was unsure of where the other man was it seemed really unlikely for him to be by my door still but I could
swear I'd never heard him leave I waited for the police to pull up and make their way inside I heard them searching downstairs then slowly make their way upstairs and knock on my door I almost didn't want to answer still thinking that other man had to be somewhere nearby when I open the door though it was just an officer I immediately told him about my concerns he directed me out of the house as one of his Partners continued searching but nobody was found the only thing they were able to find was watery Footprints all around
the house as well as an unlocked window which to be honest I wasn't sure if I kept locked or not it terrified me though feeling so confident that the other man was still there never hearing him leave but then there being no trace of him it made it impossible to sleep at night having this feeling of someone still in the house watching me I moved out three months ago it was too much stress on my mind having a loose end like that especially since neither of them were ever identified or arrested there was no clear
intention the men had either which is just another question added to the list of uncertainty even now living miles away in a new apartment I still sometimes feel like I'm not alone I work at a convenience store at the corner of a small shopping strip it's basically a smaller local version of a 7-Eleven I worked morning shifts for a while which started at 3am and ended at 1pm I agreed to these shifts because they were always the slowest and required the least amount of work all the parts of my job included tending to customers filling
the shelves and taking out the trash which pretty much meant I had nothing to do it was the middle of winter at the time this happened but I live in a warmer state so it usually rains instead of Snows it was a light pour outside but it was enough to keep most people away on early mornings like these I like to lean against the front of the building outside and smoke to pass the time I wasn't supposed to but there wasn't anyone to stop me along the shopping strip were maybe eight or nine other stores
connected to ours all of them were stores with normal hours so none of them were ever open until around six or seven in the morning so when I saw a car pull into the parking lot while I was smoking outside I of course assumed they were coming to the convenience store I burned out my cigarette and tossed it in the trash then headed back inside and around the corner there really was nothing to do so I was just waiting for the customer to come in and leave so I could get back to being bored alone
after a few minutes of nobody coming in though I walked back around the corner and checked outside the door the car was still there parked in a parking space nearby but the headlights were off and as far as I could tell nobody was inside again it was lightly raining outside and all the other stores were still closed so I was a bit confused as to where they went I took one last look around seeing nobody then closed the door and went back inside 30 more minutes of nothing went by and I think I was just
standing in the same spot behind the counter for the whole time spacing out I checked the time saying I'd only been at work for a little over an hour and decided I should check the trash cans around the store and toss them in the dumpster out back I walked around to each trash bin putting the bag in the cart and replacing it with a new bag as I was doing this I heard a faint click sound come from outside it sounded like something snapping or breaking but between the rain hitting the roof and the sound
being somewhat far away it was impossible to tell what it was or where exactly it came from and the moment it happened though I barely even thought about it it just didn't seem like anything worth thinking about just another random sound these old buildings made once I filled the cart with all the trash bags I rolled it into the back room and unlocked the back door that led to the dumpster I sighed seeing as the rain was pouring down harder now of course right when I actually needed to go outside regardless I pushed the cart
through the rain and over to the dumpster which was directly across from the door after tossing in all the trash I turned back and started heading for the door but I noticed something was out of place the store directly connected to mine had its door wedged open I'd never seen anyone there earlier than six so it made me think I went back inside to get out of the rain and went out to the front door and looked at the other store's door all the lights were off and it looked locked up and empty like it
always was at this time I thought for a few more minutes before figuring I had nothing better to do and went back outside by the dumpster and walked up to the open door again all the lights were off but it seemed to lead into a small closet type room which then had another door probably leading to the main store room I stepped inside standing in between the doorway so as to not make it seem like I was trying to sneak in or something standing inside now I could hear someone moving around in the other room
walking opening drawers it sounded like they were making a mess which then got me thinking even more hey is everything okay in there I called out hoping to get a reassuring response from a neighboring store worker the noises stopped I waited a few seconds before I realized that this was not normal and something was definitely wrong I stepped back outside and into the rain as I quickly made my way back to my store I recognized something was missing from the door I had just left it took a second to figure it out but then I
saw that there was no handle it was just an empty hole where the handle and lock usually are then I looked down at the wedge that was holding the door open seeing now that it was actually the broken door handle I ran back into my store locking all the doors and called 9-1-1 as well as my store manager once I knew they were on their way I went up to the wall connecting our stores and put my ear against it listening to the suspected robbery taking place whoever it was had to have known that I
called the police because they were moving quickly now running all around tossing or knocking things over after 30 seconds to a minute of this I saw lights flash outside and heard sirens approaching the back of the building the footsteps quickly move to the back of the store before a bunch of loud yelling came which I assume was the officers I checked out the back door after a minute seeing a less hectic scene and walked out to talk to the officers I thanked them for coming so quickly and gave them a statement the man who was
arrested was found with a pillowcase filled of nearly six thousand dollars worth of stolen items he also had an empty firearm along with a variety of tools used to break down doors and locks and unknowing to me he'd also broken into the store two spots down as well it's unclear whether or not the man knew I was working at the time but my store lights were on so it isn't likely that he would have broken into my store but several large scratches were found on the back of our door handle which may have been from
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