Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) I awoke in the middle of the night to sounds of our front door and the screen door banging around. I thought that maybe it was Taiyo, who comes home for his lunch break from 2:30-3:30am, leaving to head back to work, locking the door behind him. But I wasn't even sure what time it was, and the banging kept on and on longer than normal... something just didn't seem right. Since our room is right by the front door, I opened my bedroom door a crack and looked out to see who it was. There was someone on the outside... I crept up to the door and peeked through the decorative glass. It was a MAN. Not Taiyo. A scruffy, unkempt, stumbling man, pushing against our front door with his shoulder trying to get in. My heart stopped. I had no idea who he was or what his intentions were. All I knew was that a scary looking man was trying to get into our house in the middle of the night. I grabbed the deadbolt to make sure it was completely turned to the locked position, and even held it in the locked position for a few seconds, unsure if he would be able to pick it somehow and get in... I could hear him grunting with each push and I was trying to figure out how to best react. Suddenly he stopped pushing against the door and I could see him through the window stumbling as he stepped back from the door, and started to walk (as best he could... he looked so drunk) back down the walkway. I ran back into my room and looked out the window, where he stopped and stumbled again at our driveway. Unfortunately I didn't have a phone because Taiyo and I share one, and he takes it to work with him, so I grabbed Soni out of his crib and ran upstairs to Erin's room, grabbed her phone, and called 911. I was so scared I was practically hyperventilating as I talked to the 911 operator. My parents and Erin heard me and came out, and I told them what was happening. The 911 operator told me that police were on there way and would scan the streets for him.
The police arrived and looked all around for him. One officer stayed parked in front of our house for about the next half hour, and then left. I don't know if they ever found him or not. Looking back at the whole situation though, I'm pretty convinced that this man, whoever he was, was just drunk out of his mind and thought that he was going home, but was at the wrong house. If he was trying to rob us or something he wouldn't have made such a ruckus with the screen door, and he could have tried to get in other ways. But rather, when the front door wouldn't open, he just left. Maybe he realized his mistake at that point. I don't know. (I wonder if he even remembered it the next day!)
It was such a scary situation for me that just a few hours later it was almost like a blur, like a bad dream. I couldn't get that image of him trying to push the door in out of my mind. Because of his appearance and demeanor it was almost like a zombie movie where the evil zombies break down doors and invade. Taiyo came home for his break just 10 or 15 minutes after it happened, to a police car in front of the house. He stayed with me for the hour, and then when things were calm he had to go back to work. I eventually tried to go back to bed around 4am. I couldn't fall asleep though until sunlight filled the room, and even then it was not quality sleep.
The next day, I was a little paranoid throughout the day. Little things made me jump, I kept making sure the doors were locked, and once when I opened the front door there was a moving shadow that made me literally jump back and my heart skip a beat. Every time I walked past the front door I got that image in my head again of him pushing against the door. As long as I kept my mind busy with something though I was fine. Even when night fell I was okay doing what I was doing, until I was all by myself and decided I needed to go to bed. Suddenly every noise jumped out at me, and I had to try to calm my anxiety to fall asleep.
Today (day 2) has been fine though. I still thought about it several times but I haven't been as on edge as I was yesterday and I think I'll be able to fall asleep fine. The funny thing is, somehow Everett never woke up during all of it, even when we went in his room to look out the window for the guy. We decided not to even tell him about it because we didn't want to spook him. He did ask me today though why I was acting so paranoid yesterday, lol. I just gave a general round-about answer and changed the subject.
So that's my scary story of the year. Or decade, perhaps. I am so grateful that it seems to have been just a drunken mistake, rather than an intentional (and armed) home invasion. I just had to say a prayer of gratitude and rethink my emergency action plan for the future. In any case though I have not been so scared in a loooong time. And hopefully none of us will have to feel that kind of fear or implement a real emergency action plan anytime in the near future!
