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Speaker 1: This happened in twenty fifteen. I had just moved to

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a small house far from my hometown the year before,

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so I was still getting used to the area and

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hadn't met many people yet. I worked from home as well,

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which made it even harder anyway, for Christmas, I had

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no plans at all. My family was too far and

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I didn't have enough vacation time to go out and

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see them, so this was actually going to be my

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first Christmas alone. On Christmas Eve, I stayed up working,

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figuring i'd just get ahead on some things so I

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didn't have to worry about doing anything. On Christmas Day,

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I was working in the living room listening to music

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as well, when through it I heard something coming from outside.

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I pulled out one of the earbuds and listened, but

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didn't hear anything else, so I got up and looked

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around with my earbuds in. It was hard to know

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what direction it came from, but I was pretty sure

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it was outside the house, not inside. I looked out

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the back window, not seeing anything, then moved to the

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front window and again saw nothing. But then I looked

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out the front door on the porch, where a set

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of shoe prints in the snow. They led right up

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to my doorstep and then back out to the driveway.

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There was no mail dropped off or anything at all

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on the porch, just the shoe prints. It was really

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strange and made me feel a little anxious, not knowing

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why anyone would be walking up to my doorstep. At

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eleven pm on Christmas Eve, I made sure the door

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was locked and went back to work, then got in

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bed soon after. It was a bit strange waking up

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on Christmas morning feeling like it was any other day.

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I brewed a cup of coffee and sat on my

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chair to watch TV. I think I spent the whole

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morning just sitting there and watching shows and movies. I

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gave my parents a call and talked to them for

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a bit, but that was really about all I did.

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I thought about going out, but it was really cold

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and the wind was really strong, so I just stayed

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in for the day. By six pm, I had basically

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done nothing all day and made some dinner, planning on

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going to bed early, but then I heard something outside.

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It was the shuffling sound of footsteps in the snow

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coming toward the front door. I stayed quiet, knowing nobody

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should be here. After a few seconds, the footsteps sounded

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again walking away from the house. I went up and checked,

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seeing almost an identical scene to what I saw the

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previous night. After that, I forced myself to stay up. Later.

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I kept my eyes open until probably around ten before

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or I guess I fell asleep on the couch. I

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remember getting really tired and trying to stay up, but

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I didn't plan on falling asleep out there. When I

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woke up, the TV was still on and flashing light

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throughout the dark room. I sat up and paused it,

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then got up to go to my bedroom. As I

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walked down the hallway, though, my eyes instantly locked on

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my bedroom door. It was open, but I knew I

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always kept it closed. I walked over and pushed it

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open wider, then flicked on the light. Wet shoeprints were

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scattered around the floor going to and from the window.

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In a complete state of shock, I spun around and

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turned on the hallway light, now seeing more shoe prints

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going down toward the living room. I followed them, but

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they stopped right outside the living room, looking like they

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turned and went back right after seeing me on the couch.

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The shoe prints were nowhere else in the house. Police

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did what they could, but if I'm being honest, they

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weren't of much help. The current theory is that the

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man had come by the previous two nights to see

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if I was home after not answering the door, though

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he likely thought I was away for the holidays. I

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know it's likely that he only broke into my house

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to rob me, but still it's extremely disturbing, especially since

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I was at home sleeping when it all happened. Whoever

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it was, though they never came back. Last December, I

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traveled across the country to meet my parents and siblings

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for Christmas. My parents had a decent sized house, so

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we would usually just all stay there and sleep on

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the couch or in the spare bedrooms. That being said,

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I didn't rent any hotels, even for the drive. It

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was ten hours long, but I just didn't see a

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need in stopping halfway there and wasting a whole night.

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I left early on the twenty third, planning it out

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to get to the house around dinner time. As I

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started the drive, snow was lightly coming down, nothing crazy,

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but enough to cause a bit of traffic. This went

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on for a few hours until it suddenly started pouring down.

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It happened over just thirty minutes, going from a very

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light downfall to an extremely heavy storm. Along with the winds,

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it was nearly impossible to see anything in front of me.

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Most other cars started to pull off to the side

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of the road, but I really wanted to keep going.

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I drove in these horrible conditions for the better part

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of an hour, having a few close calls, before deciding

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enough was enough. I pulled into a motel and sat

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in the parking lot waiting for the snow to clear up.

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There were a lot of other cars in the parking lot,

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but I think most were probably trying to wait it

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out like I was. But as the sun started to set,

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there was no chance of that happening anytime soon. I

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reluctantly went in and got a room. I went to

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my room and lay down on the bed. It was

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around eight o'clock at this point, and I'd figured I'd

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just sleep now and see if it was clear in

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a few hours. I set an alarm on my phone

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for eleven then passed out. But when I woke up,

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I immediately knew something was wrong. I turned and looked

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at my phone. Seeing it was just before two AM,

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my alarm didn't go off. Quickly got out of bed

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and ran up to the window. The parking lot was

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almost empty now, but it was still snowing pretty bad.

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I sat back on the bed, and after some thinking,

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I decided to take the loss and just spend the

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rest of the night there and hope for the best

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in the morning. I laid down, closing my eyes. But

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now that I was more calm, something caught my attention,

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a cold breeze blowing through the room and the clear

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sound of wind. I sat up, seeing the window at

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the end of the bed was cracked open. I got

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up and shut it, but I was almost positive it

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was closed when I went to bed. It's something I

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definitely would have noticed, being that there was a whole

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storm outside. A rush of adrenaline went through me as

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I started to worry. I faced the rest of the room,

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now looking into the dark and standing still, listening for anything.

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Then I slowly walked around, checking for anything missing or

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any signs that someone had been inside. I didn't see

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or find anything until I went to check out the peopole.

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That's when I noticed that both locks on the door

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were now open. Someone had unlocked it from the inside.

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Blood rushed from my face as I locked the door

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and backed away, thinking through every possible horrifying scenario that

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I could be caught in right now. I started putting

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my things back into my bag and getting ready to leave,

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But then there was a sudden shake of the door handle.

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I stared at it with wide eyes, seeing the handle

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move back and forth like they were trying to force

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it open. Then it went silent. I waited for a

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long couple minutes before I slowly and quietly crept toward

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the door to check if it was safe to make

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a run for my car. I looked out the peep hole,

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seeing a man leaning against a door like he was listening.

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I was frozen, but he must have heard something, because

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only a few seconds later he rushed away from the door.

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I spent no time waiting, leaving the room soon after

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and getting in my car, pulling out and leaving the motel.

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I got lucky as nobody else was on the roads

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and they seemed to have just been plowed. I drove

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through the storm until I got to my parents' house,

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taking much longer than it should have. What that man

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was trying to do. I can't even begin to think of.

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They had obviously been in the room while I was

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sleeping and unlocked the door, but what they wanted and

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why they had to come back to my room, I

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just don't know. But if I hadn't woken up when

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I did and stayed asleep for just a minute longer,

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I might have never made it to my parents' house.

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Two years ago, I spent Christmas with my roommate. We

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were both in college and were splitting rent on a

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small home in the suburbs outside of the campus. Neither

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of our families apparently were really big on Christmas, and

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we were also kind of broke, so we stayed home

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for winter break. We still did a bit of decorating,

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and I'd gotten each other some cheap little gifts so

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we could have our own small Christmas, but other than that,

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we mostly planned on watching movies and maybe going to

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a party at night. On Christmas Day, we opened up

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our gifts and hung out and around. My roommate wanted

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to go to a party by the campus. I'd planned

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on going too, but for some reason, I was just

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tired and not really in the mood to go out.

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I encouraged him to go if he wanted to, and

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he took up on the offer. Heading out by six,

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I sat back and ate some junk food, watching TV,

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and just relaxing, I guess. But then around eight I

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just felt like getting up and doing something. With no

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places open, I grabbed my jacket and decided to go

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for a walk around to look at the houses with

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Christmas lights. It was cold out, but not insanely freezing.

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I walked around the neighborhood and through one of the

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nearby parks. But while I was walking through a portion

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of the path, I passed by a man sitting on

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a bench. Now, this part of the path was covered

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in trees and not by any houses, and the man

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was just sitting there alone. It was actually kind of sad,

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But when I passed by, he looked up at me

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and just gave me this really cold look. It was

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very strange and made me even more curious why he

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was out here. I walked quicker, reaching the end of

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the path and turning back to go home. The rest

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of the walk, all I was thinking about was the

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man and what he was up to. Something about his

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look just gave me a bad feeling. I got to

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the house and opened the front door, closing it behind

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me and taking my shoes off. But before I even

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started walking away, I heard a thump right outside the door.

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It startled me, having come so quickly after I'd gotten inside.

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I leaned over and looked through the peep hole. It

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was the man from the path, standing on the porch

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and staring at the door. His face was completely blank,

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no smile or frown, just empty. I cracked open the door.

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Are you okay? The man looked at me with his

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emotionless eyes and didn't say a word. I asked again

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if he was okay or if he needed anything, but

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he didn't speak. Getting weirded out, I closed the door

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and went back to looking out the peep hole. The

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man stayed there for at least a whole minute, then

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walked off to the side of the door until he

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was out of my view. I looked over, seeing the

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window curtains were open, giving the man a view into

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my house. For some reason, now I didn't want the

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man to see me, so I was afraid to go

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close the curtains. All he could probably view though, was

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the Christmas tree and the couch, but it was still

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really unnerving knowing he was looking into my home. As

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I stood in place trying to think of what to

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do next, a dull thud came from outside the window.

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I quickly stepped back and looked, seeing the man slam

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a large rock against the glass. His eyes were still

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glazed over with no emotion, making it look even more terrifying.

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I ran and locked myself in a room while I

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dialed nine one one, hearing the man continue to repeatedly

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hit the window. After a few hits, there was a pause,

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then it began again, but it sounded like he may

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have moved to hitting the front door. This went on

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for what felt like several minutes before finally it went quiet.

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When police pulled in, the man was nowhere around outside,

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though there were multiple cracks in the window and the

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door had entire chunks of woods smashed out and laying

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on the ground. The police seemed to think that it

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was just an entire oxicated person based on the information

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I told them, and he likely had no real reason

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to target me specifically. Whatever the case, the way he

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was acting was just insane, and if he had gotten in,

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there's no saying what he would have done.