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5 NEW HOUSE_APARTMENT HORROR STORIES ANIMATED · Martin Animations

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Speaker 1: In 2010, me and my wife were starting our new
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Speaker 1: life in Raleigh, North Carolina. We both recently graduated with
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Speaker 1: our masters, I got a job teaching at NC State,
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Speaker 1: and my wife secured a job at a local hospital.
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Speaker 1: After thousands of dollars of student debt, all the hard
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Speaker 1: work seemed to pay off finally. That student debt is
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Speaker 1: a whole other horror story for another day, though. In
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Speaker 1: the late summer months, we started our move from our
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Speaker 1: old home in Philadelphia to North Carolina. We had most
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Speaker 1: of our belongings already sent over to our new home
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Speaker 1: except for one truckload that we were going to drive
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Speaker 1: down ourselves. We rented one of those moving trucks and
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Speaker 1: decided we were going to take that truckload in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the night. I am not the most confident
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Speaker 1: driver in a truck so we figured making this trip
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Speaker 1: in the middle of the night would be most ideal
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Speaker 1: because traffic would be less intense. For the most part
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Speaker 1: this was an accurate plan. Traffic was light and the
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Speaker 1: several hour drive went splendidly for the first big chunk
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Speaker 1: of the trip. With about two hours left on our drive,
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Speaker 1: I ended up running something over and basically exploding the tire.
1:06
Speaker 1: I was able to pull over safely because there was
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Speaker 1: virtually no traffic where we were.
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Speaker 2: The tire was.
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Speaker 1: Already instantly flat. Whatever I ran over in the road
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Speaker 1: wasn't just a nail or something. My tire seemed like
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Speaker 1: it was annihilated. We remained calm and cool for a
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Speaker 1: moment as we devised a plan. We didn't know if
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Speaker 1: we had to call the moving truck company first or
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Speaker 1: our insurance or someone else. We looked in the folder
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Speaker 1: that the rental truck employee gave us, and they had
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Speaker 1: a special number to call in case of any traffic emergency.
1:36
Speaker 1: We deemed it an emergency and called the number. After
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Speaker 1: a couple of hoops, we got someone to come out
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Speaker 1: and help us fix the tire, but it was going
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Speaker 1: to be a little while before they showed up. A
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Speaker 1: major inconvenience, but we figured that we could just sit
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Speaker 1: tight for a while and watch YouTube or something on
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Speaker 1: our phones. In hindsight, we forgot about the most important role.
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Speaker 1: In any type of accident, you should alert the authorities.
2:01
Speaker 1: This would be a mistake on our part that almost
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Speaker 1: had a definite disastrous outcome. Only a few minutes after
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Speaker 1: getting off the phone with the rental company, my wife
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Speaker 1: nudged me and said, Hey, there's someone behind the truck.
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Speaker 1: I can see them in the mirror. I looked in
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Speaker 1: the mirror and sure enough, with the red lights of
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Speaker 1: the truck reflecting off his black sweatshirt, was a person.
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Speaker 1: I kept my eye on him for a second, making
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Speaker 1: sure he wasn't going to move. Again, not sure why
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Speaker 1: I didn't just call the police, but the understanding and
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Speaker 1: empathetic person that I am, my mind didn't jump to
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Speaker 1: the police right away. And while I was staring at
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Speaker 1: him in the mirror, she nudged me again, and now
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Speaker 1: with nervousness and fear in her voice, she said, Oh
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Speaker 1: my God, look. I looked up from the mirror, and
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Speaker 1: another person was in front of the truck.
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Speaker 2: I looked around.
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Speaker 1: And there were no other cars. These people had to
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Speaker 1: have come from the trees on the side of the
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Speaker 1: desolate road we were on. Within seconds, two more individuals
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Speaker 1: emerged from behind the truck. It was a young woman
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Speaker 1: and a man, probably in their early twenties or something,
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Speaker 1: and the woman gestured for me to roll down my window.
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Speaker 1: I cracked it so I could hear her. In a
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Speaker 1: soft but friendly voice, she said, Hi there. I notice
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Speaker 1: you guys are in a bit of a jam. Not
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Speaker 1: the good kind of jam. Ha ha ha. But anyway,
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Speaker 1: would you like us to change your tire? We're all
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Speaker 1: fairly handy when it comes to cars, aren't we guys?
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Speaker 1: I looked at my wife and noticed she had texted 911,
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Speaker 1: something I didn't even know you could do. I looked
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Speaker 1: back at the girl outside and I said, thanks ma'am,
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Speaker 1: that's sweet of you guys. The truck company is going
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Speaker 1: to be here any minute though and they're going to
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Speaker 1: be fixing it for us. The woman, who never broke
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Speaker 1: this hypnotic stare and over-the-top smile, looked around and thought
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Speaker 1: for a second. Still smiling and chipper as ever, she responded,
4:00
Speaker 1: I see. Well, that's too bad. Hey, sir, it's cold
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Speaker 1: out here. Do you think maybe we could get in
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Speaker 1: the back of the truck until your repair guy shows up?
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Speaker 1: I was completely torn up. In any ordinary situation... I'm
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Speaker 1: the guy who would pick up these kids, give them
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Speaker 1: a ride, feed them, or anything. I also preached that
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Speaker 1: even though there are horrible people in the world, most
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Speaker 1: people are inherently good, but the situation just felt bad.
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Speaker 1: The woman was smiling, but the man behind her was
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Speaker 1: a big burly man and stoic as can be. He
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Speaker 1: didn't break a smile or even blink, I feel like.
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Speaker 1: The person in the front of the truck was still
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Speaker 1: standing there, and the person behind the truck was now
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Speaker 1: out of sight. I tried to keep that nugget of
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Speaker 1: information in the back of my mind, though. Getting out
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Speaker 1: and running was also out of the question. Inside the
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Speaker 1: back of the truck wasn't just furniture, but all our antiques, valuables,
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Speaker 1: family heirlooms, and our personal information. It was not stuff
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Speaker 1: that I just wanted to abandon. At this point, I
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Speaker 1: was just hoping that they would either leave, the 911
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Speaker 1: texts would work faster, or the rental truck company would
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Speaker 1: just show up, but at this point, It didn't seem
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Speaker 1: like any of that was happening soon. I responded to
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Speaker 1: her question with sorrow in my voice. Sorry, ma'am. We're
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Speaker 1: just going to wait alone. There was a rest stop
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Speaker 1: a few miles back that way. You can go get
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Speaker 1: your friends some food and stay warm. The empath in
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Speaker 1: me thought to kill them with kindness. I suggested that
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Speaker 1: and then dropped a $ 50 bill out of the crack.
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Speaker 2: Of the window.
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Speaker 1: The money fell onto the ground and Neither one of
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Speaker 1: the two even moved an inch. And this is when
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Speaker 1: I knew we were in trouble. The person in the
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Speaker 1: front of the truck started to approach the side where
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Speaker 1: the other two were standing. The one from the back
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Speaker 1: who disappeared was now on the passenger side right on
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Speaker 1: top of the door. I looked back at the young woman,
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Speaker 1: who was still smiling, and she said, You know, I
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Speaker 1: think we'll just take the keys, sir.
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Speaker 2: How about it, guys?
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Speaker 1: Let's get these keys. and the big burly fella moved
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Speaker 1: in front of the woman and started to ferociously try
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Speaker 1: and open my door. At the time, the other man
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Speaker 1: was trying to open my wife's door. In a full
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Speaker 1: panic at this point, I tried to dial 911 again,
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Speaker 1: and while speaking to the dispatch, the lights from the
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Speaker 1: cop car my wife texted could be seen.
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Speaker 2: Over the horizon.
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Speaker 1: I told the dispatch woman everything that was happening. The
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Speaker 1: cop pulled up, got out of his car, and shouted
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Speaker 1: something at the group of people surrounding the truck. The
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Speaker 1: woman turned and faced the cop but didn't move from
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Speaker 1: the side of the truck and she shouted back, Hey officer,
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Speaker 1: these two stole our truck. We're just trying to get
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Speaker 1: our keys. Could you pretty please help us? From the
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Speaker 1: mirror I saw the cop talk on his radio and
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Speaker 1: moments later he told everyone around the van to back
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Speaker 1: away and get on the ground. The three men obliged
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Speaker 1: in moving back but didn't get on the ground. The
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Speaker 1: woman looked at me then back at the cop and said,
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Speaker 1: You guys are silly. In an instant, all four of
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Speaker 1: the potential robbers fled into the tree line. The cop
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Speaker 1: yelled and attempted to chase after them, but only made
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Speaker 1: it to the tree line and then started to radio
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Speaker 1: for help instead. In just a minute or two, several
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Speaker 1: more cops appeared from over the horizon. The first relief
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Speaker 1: I felt since this whole ordeal started. When the cops came,
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Speaker 1: I told the cops everything that I laid out here.
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Speaker 1: All of this transpired within just a couple of minutes.
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Speaker 1: The repair truck came soon after and got us all
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Speaker 1: situated and we.
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Speaker 2: Were on our way.
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Speaker 1: What was most unfortunate was that this was most definitely
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Speaker 1: a setup. The cops informed me that they found a
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Speaker 1: thin strip that was covered in dozens of nails. That
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Speaker 1: was what I didn't see and I ran over. The
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Speaker 1: nail strip was an intentionally made item to rob or
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Speaker 1: harm an unexpected victim who traveled that desolate road in
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Speaker 1: the middle of the night. I didn't pursue this with
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Speaker 1: the law anymore. even though I probably should have. Some
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Speaker 1: people just get dealt a bad hand and make horrible mistakes.
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Speaker 1: I just hope these young folks find their way in
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Speaker 1: life and don't have the chance to hurt anyone else.
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Speaker 1: In 2016, I decided I was going to move out
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Speaker 1: of my hometown and make it all by myself across
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Speaker 1: the country. My entire extended family all lived in my
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Speaker 1: hometown and none of my cousins or any other family
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Speaker 1: members had any desire to leave. I wanted to be
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Speaker 1: the one who changed that for my family. Of course
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Speaker 1: they were upset being that my family is extremely close
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Speaker 1: but it was time to experience this world outside of
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Speaker 1: my own backyard. I moved from a small town in
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Speaker 1: Idaho to a somewhat small town in Maine. I was
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Speaker 1: so excited to start my life in Maine. I was
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Speaker 1: told that the town that I was moving to had
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Speaker 1: a small summer tourist boom but Most of the time
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Speaker 1: it was quiet and scenic, which is exactly what I wanted.
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Speaker 1: I visited a few months before the move and met
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Speaker 1: a lot of locals who all seemed so lovely. The
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Speaker 1: community was so friendly and it appeared as if though
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Speaker 1: everyone there.
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Speaker 2: Just watched each other's backs.
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Speaker 1: The time finally came and I moved with my fiancé Ricky.
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Speaker 1: The move was mostly harmless, a few lost tempers, but
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Speaker 1: ultimately it went smoothly and by 6pm we were inside
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Speaker 1: our new home. Unfortunately, the blissful enjoyment of our new
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Speaker 1: home didn't last very long. At some point in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the night, I didn't see the time. We
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Speaker 1: were awoken by a strange sound. It almost sounded like
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Speaker 1: a door slamming. Ricky got out of bed and went
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Speaker 1: to go see. When he returned to the bedroom several
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Speaker 1: minutes later... later, he said nothing seemed strange or out
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Speaker 1: of place. However, the time it took for him to
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Speaker 1: check and come back seemed way too long. When I
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Speaker 1: asked him what took so long, he told me that
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Speaker 1: the front door was unlocked, which isn't like us, but
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Speaker 1: he said that it was possible with all the excitement
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Speaker 1: from the day that he may have left it unlocked. So,
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Speaker 1: he spent a few minutes looking around the house just
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Speaker 1: in case whatever we heard was an intruder. Thankfully, no intruders,
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Speaker 1: whatever the sound was, was gone now. He proceeds to
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Speaker 1: kiss me goodnight and told me not to worry about
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Speaker 1: it and we go to bed. That night was rough.
10:37
Speaker 1: I couldn't sleep at all. Call it women's intuition or
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Speaker 1: call it whatever you want, but something deep down just
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Speaker 1: didn't feel right. That morning we had our coffee and
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Speaker 1: continued to decorate and set up our new home. It
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Speaker 1: wasn't until about 1pm that we finally got ready to
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Speaker 1: leave the house and on the front steps was a
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Speaker 1: package with a note. And the note just said, Welcome.
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Speaker 1: Enjoy the house. Ricky grabbed the package and opened it
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Speaker 1: up inside and it was a drinking glass. Just a
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Speaker 1: regular drinking glass. It looked old but there was nothing
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Speaker 1: special about it. He laughed and made some jokes about
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Speaker 1: people in Maine being just weird or something and I laughed,
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Speaker 1: but mostly felt this certain sense of uneasiness. I just
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Speaker 1: knew that something was wrong about this. After the drinking
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Speaker 1: glass package, we went to the store and ran all
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Speaker 1: our necessary errands. Moving is really exhausting. Sometimes you don't
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Speaker 1: realize all the stuff you need and forget until you're
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Speaker 1: all settled in. That night we had dinner, got the
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Speaker 1: internet set up, and watched a movie together. I felt
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Speaker 1: off and anxious the entire evening. We got into bed
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Speaker 1: at around midnight, and shortly after midnight we heard three
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Speaker 1: loud bangs. Neither one of us was asleep yet, as
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Speaker 1: we had just got into bed a little while ago.
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Speaker 1: Ricky made his way to the door slowly, and before
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Speaker 1: he could answer the door, bang, bang, bang. Three loud
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Speaker 1: bangs reverberated through the house again. Ricky shouted from our
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Speaker 1: side of the door, Who is it? And what I
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Speaker 1: heard next surprised me. A very old woman shakily shouted, Please,
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Speaker 1: I need help. There's an intruder out here and I'm
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Speaker 1: not safe. My fiancé responded, Okay, just hang tight. I'm
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Speaker 1: calling the police. The woman shrieked almost instantly, No, please,
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Speaker 1: let me in. They're coming. I stood in the doorway,
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Speaker 1: clenching my sweater. Ricky turned to me, looking for my input,
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Speaker 1: and I just couldn't speak.
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Speaker 2: I just shrugged.
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Speaker 1: If this woman truly was in danger, we were just
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Speaker 1: leaving her for whatever may be out there. Ricky motioned
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Speaker 1: for me to get into the closet that was right
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Speaker 1: outside our bedroom and to call the police. I got
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Speaker 1: into the closet right away and called the authorities. Once
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Speaker 1: he heard me whispering to the dispatch, Ricky opened the
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Speaker 1: door and some very old frail woman came barreling inside.
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Speaker 1: She started to yell at Ricky. the door right away.
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Speaker 1: I saw them out there.
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Speaker 2: Ricky didn't say anything.
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Speaker 1: Much like me. He was trying to process what was
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Speaker 1: even happening. The old woman said again, Who else is
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Speaker 1: in the house? Ricky looked at her and said, It's
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Speaker 1: just me in the house. Now, here, sit down. Take
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Speaker 1: a deep breath.
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Speaker 2: Relax.
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Speaker 1: I can call the police. The woman became frantic again
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Speaker 1: and started to pace around the living room and said,
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Speaker 1: My husband is out there. Please, Please, you need to
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Speaker 1: help him. You need to let him hide in here
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Speaker 1: or they'll get him. Ricky looked sympathetic, but told the
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Speaker 1: old woman, Listen, I'm sorry, ma'am. If it's not safe
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Speaker 1: out there, I'm going to call the police now.
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Speaker 2: They'll be able to help.
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Speaker 1: With the flip of a switch, the old woman stopped
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Speaker 1: with the erratic behavior, and in a much deeper and
14:00
Speaker 1: almost sinister-sounding voice, she said, Open the door now, or
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Speaker 1: I'll drain the life out of you. Ricky was not amused.
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Speaker 1: He looked at the old woman, pointed at the door,
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Speaker 1: and said, What? You get out right now. The old
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Speaker 1: woman skipped to the door like a freaking child, and
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Speaker 1: when she opened the door, two much younger and much
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Speaker 1: larger men ran in and began to tackle my fiancé
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Speaker 1: to the ground. I stayed hidden the best I could
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Speaker 1: in the closet and watched the struggle from the crack
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Speaker 1: in the door. I held my breath that the police
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Speaker 1: would be there any second. I could see the men
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Speaker 1: kicking Ricky and I could hear Ricky coughing and struggling
14:44
Speaker 1: all while the old woman cheered and cackled. I don't
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Speaker 1: know exactly how long it was. It was probably only moments,
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Speaker 1: but the police lights could be seen through the windows.
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Speaker 1: All three intruders ran out the back door as if
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Speaker 1: they knew exactly where the door was. On the way
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Speaker 1: out the door, the old woman grabbed the package with
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Speaker 1: the glass and she yelled, Enjoy the house, Ricky! The
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Speaker 1: fact that somehow she knew his name made me cry.
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Speaker 1: Even more than I already was, and by the time
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Speaker 1: the cops got inside, the intruders were out the door
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Speaker 1: and gone. Ricky got to his knees and struggled to
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Speaker 1: get to his feet after the beating he received. We
15:26
Speaker 1: gave the police all the information we could think of.
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Speaker 1: The random package with the note, which the woman took
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Speaker 1: so we didn't even have that in our possession. We
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Speaker 1: told them that the intruders seemed to know the layout
15:36
Speaker 1: of the house well and we were able to give
15:38
Speaker 1: the cops a mostly accurate description of the intruders as
15:42
Speaker 1: they weren't wearing masks at all. The fact that I
15:45
Speaker 1: could see their faces and eyes made them so much scarier.
15:49
Speaker 1: The two men looked sort of clean cut, both young
15:52
Speaker 1: and they were bigger and muscular looking and both had
15:56
Speaker 1: a little bit of scruff but the neat kind of scruff.
15:59
Speaker 1: One dirty blondish and the other had dark hair. The
16:02
Speaker 1: one with the darker hair was balding, and the other
16:04
Speaker 1: man had his hair pulled into a bun. The older
16:07
Speaker 1: woman was extremely frail and small-looking, and she had this
16:11
Speaker 1: skin that looked as if it were almost dripping off
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Speaker 1: of her body. She had long, straight white hair, and
16:16
Speaker 1: from what I could see from my vantage point, no teeth,
16:19
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure about that last bit. The police
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Speaker 1: were unable to catch these intruders, but that didn't matter
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Speaker 1: to us. The next day, we stayed in a hotel
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Speaker 1: for a few nights and then moved back to Idaho.
16:32
Speaker 1: Being alone with no family during that ordeal nearly broke
16:35
Speaker 1: me and then more than ever I needed my family.
16:39
Speaker 1: I still live in Idaho to this day and I
16:41
Speaker 1: have no intentions of ever moving away after that nightmare.
16:45
Speaker 1: What's most frustrating is that I never did get my answers.
16:49
Speaker 1: I have no idea why we were targeted. I can
16:52
Speaker 1: see the events played out in my head as if
16:54
Speaker 1: it were yesterday and it still makes me sick. The
16:57
Speaker 1: most frustrating and downright horrifying detail of the story is
17:00
Speaker 1: the details that my fiancé told me after we had
17:03
Speaker 1: already moved home to Idaho. Information he didn't tell the
17:07
Speaker 1: cops because he said it wouldn't have mattered anyway. That
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Speaker 1: first night with the loud noise we had heard, Ricky
17:14
Speaker 1: said the door was unlocked. Well, that's true, but it
17:17
Speaker 1: was more than unlocked. The front door was wide open
17:20
Speaker 1: and so was the back door. The door the intruders
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Speaker 1: ran out of the second night. Whoever these monsters were,
17:27
Speaker 1: They were in my home the night before. I have
17:31
Speaker 1: not slept right since this ordeal and I'm not sure
17:33
Speaker 1: that I'll ever sleep right again.
17:46
Speaker 3: So this happened back when I first moved in with
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Speaker 3: my most recent ex-girlfriend. We had rented a small apartment
17:54
Speaker 3: in a city that was well known for crime in
17:56
Speaker 3: my country. It was cheap and it was close by
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Speaker 3: to the city center where we both went to university,
18:03
Speaker 3: so it was perfect at the time. However, as stated before,
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Speaker 3: it was also extremely dangerous and run down. For example,
18:14
Speaker 3: homeless people lived in our communal rubbish rooms downstairs out
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Speaker 3: by the car park, and you could probably find a
18:20
Speaker 3: needle or drug bag every square foot of the surrounding area,
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Speaker 3: and not to mention, the sounds of police sirens a
18:27
Speaker 3: few times a night. But as I said, it was
18:31
Speaker 3: just a place for the time being. Also, for some context,
18:35
Speaker 3: I'm gay and I'm a girl. I'm average height but
18:39
Speaker 3: quite stocky. Nothing scary, but I was definitely larger than
18:44
Speaker 3: my small but teen girlfriend at the time. We went
18:48
Speaker 3: to bed one night and all was normal. And as
18:51
Speaker 3: I'm trying to fall asleep, my ex tells me that
18:54
Speaker 3: she's hungry. and she wants a pizza. So she pulls
18:57
Speaker 3: out her phone, sits up, and is ordering herself some dominoes,
19:02
Speaker 3: and she then asks if I want anything. Being tired
19:05
Speaker 3: and it already being almost midnight, I declined, but I
19:10
Speaker 3: told her to be safe when collecting it. I let
19:13
Speaker 3: her know that if she felt unsafe, I'd be more
19:15
Speaker 3: than happy to get it with her. After a few minutes,
19:19
Speaker 3: I drifted off to sleep. The last thing I heard
19:23
Speaker 3: was her tapping on her phone, still ordering. I awoke
19:26
Speaker 3: later on to my phone ringing for some reason. My
19:29
Speaker 3: heart began to beat erratically and I shot up to
19:32
Speaker 3: grab my phone. It was my ex-girlfriend's name and she
19:37
Speaker 3: was no longer in the.
19:38
Speaker 2: Bed with me.
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Speaker 3: Now, I had only been asleep for about an hour
19:42
Speaker 3: at this point, but through my sleepy haze, I managed
19:46
Speaker 3: to quickly answer the phone and I then remembered that
19:49
Speaker 3: she must have ordered her pizza. My ex was hysterical
19:52
Speaker 3: and scared, speaking extremely fast. The pizza guy said he's
19:57
Speaker 3: not that far away, so I've come down to wait.
20:01
Speaker 3: Then there's a group of men in the car, and
20:03
Speaker 3: they're trying to get me to get inside of it.
20:05
Speaker 3: She cries on the phone to me. I race to
20:08
Speaker 3: get ready and burst out of my apartment, all while
20:11
Speaker 3: trying to calm her down. She then tells me that
20:14
Speaker 3: they had tried to force her in the car, and
20:17
Speaker 3: they then began ordering her in the vehicle with them,
20:19
Speaker 3: and that they're now laughing at her. As I mentioned before,
20:24
Speaker 3: I'm nothing scary, so I knew I wouldn't have been
20:27
Speaker 3: able to take these men on physically. So, as I'm
20:31
Speaker 3: running down to the first set of stairs, I see
20:33
Speaker 3: that the window's open. I tell my ex to come
20:36
Speaker 3: back inside, and she tells me she's in the doorway
20:39
Speaker 3: to the block, meaning I'm just above her. Knowing that
20:43
Speaker 3: she's now safe away from them, I peek out of
20:46
Speaker 3: the large window to then see a black Toyota parked
20:49
Speaker 3: in the Do Not Park area of our car park,
20:52
Speaker 3: which is right by the door. Now, not knowing what
20:55
Speaker 3: else to do, I shout down to them. I'm telling
20:58
Speaker 3: them to back the hell off, and that I'm going
21:01
Speaker 3: to get all my brothers to go down there, which
21:03
Speaker 3: was definitely a lie. The men weren't sure where I
21:07
Speaker 3: was at first, and I could see them moving their
21:09
Speaker 3: heads around to look. They had their interior light on,
21:14
Speaker 3: and they were all dressed in dark clothes. One of
21:17
Speaker 3: them caught me leaning out of the window and then
21:19
Speaker 3: cursed at me to mind my own business. I had
21:22
Speaker 3: so much adrenaline and anger that I just started to
21:25
Speaker 3: curse back at them, calling them all sorts of names.
21:29
Speaker 3: It wasn't until I just randomly started shouting, Dad, come
21:33
Speaker 3: over here! Behind me up the set of stairs, and
21:36
Speaker 3: in some random male-sounding name, did they start their car
21:39
Speaker 3: and book it from the parking lot. My girlfriend at
21:42
Speaker 3: the time met me halfway in the stairs, and I
21:45
Speaker 3: decided to wait inside by the doors with her for
21:47
Speaker 3: her food. I'm so glad that nothing else happened, and
21:51
Speaker 3: that she managed to get back to the doors in
21:53
Speaker 3: time before anything else went on. The area that my
21:57
Speaker 3: ex was and where the doors were was honestly about
21:59
Speaker 3: 15 feet. meaning she literally was just outside of her
22:03
Speaker 3: home when this happened. Luckily, the doors to that building
22:07
Speaker 3: were thick and metal, and they only required a little
22:10
Speaker 3: fob to get in, and not an actual key, which
22:13
Speaker 3: would have taken a lot longer to open. I just
22:17
Speaker 3: really hope those men never do that to anyone else again.
22:29
Speaker 2: I was 14 years old, and my mom and I
22:31
Speaker 2: had been living in a three-bedroom double-wind trailer ever since
22:35
Speaker 2: we left my dad. My mom worked a full-time job,
22:39
Speaker 2: which meant that from Monday to Friday, I would have
22:42
Speaker 2: the house for myself for about two hours. After getting
22:45
Speaker 2: home from school, and before she got home from work,
22:48
Speaker 2: I usually would spend my time on my computer or
22:51
Speaker 2: working on writing my D & D campaign. And in
22:55
Speaker 2: no time at all, my mom would be home. At least...
22:58
Speaker 2: That was when I felt comfortable in my house. That
23:02
Speaker 2: all changed, though, one day when I found myself walking
23:06
Speaker 2: in on a burglary in progress. I had just gotten
23:10
Speaker 2: home from school, and when I walked into my house,
23:13
Speaker 2: everything seemed normal. I walked inside and locked the door
23:17
Speaker 2: behind me before taking my shoes off. And as I
23:20
Speaker 2: was in the process of taking off my shoes, I
23:23
Speaker 2: could have sworn I heard something come from the room
23:25
Speaker 2: where we used to store our moving boxes in the
23:28
Speaker 2: back of the trailer. At first, I assumed it was
23:31
Speaker 2: just a box or the house settling, and I didn't
23:34
Speaker 2: pay the noise any mind. But before I could even
23:38
Speaker 2: stand up from taking my shoes off, I heard it again.
23:42
Speaker 2: This time it worried me a bit, so I decided
23:45
Speaker 2: to call out to see if my mom had come
23:47
Speaker 2: home early. But when I yelled out, there was no response. Still,
23:52
Speaker 2: something felt a bit odd to me. So I decided
23:56
Speaker 2: to check the room out real quick before getting comfortable.
23:59
Speaker 2: I poked my head through the door and looked around,
24:02
Speaker 2: but from what I could tell, nothing had changed, which
24:05
Speaker 2: reassured me that I had in fact heard the house settling.
24:09
Speaker 2: After that, I went about my normal routine. I stepped
24:12
Speaker 2: into my room and put my backpack on my bed
24:14
Speaker 2: before walking back out of the kitchen for a quick snack.
24:18
Speaker 2: I reached into the cabinet and pulled out a fruit roll-up.
24:21
Speaker 2: But before I could open it, I heard another sound
24:25
Speaker 2: coming from the back room. Only this time, it was
24:28
Speaker 2: followed by something that shook me to my core. After
24:33
Speaker 2: the sound of something thumping on the ground in the room,
24:36
Speaker 2: I heard what was undoubtedly a man let out a
24:40
Speaker 2: single cough. I dropped my snack and instinctively began running
24:44
Speaker 2: through the house and toward my bedroom. I'm not sure
24:47
Speaker 2: why I chose my room instead of the front door.
24:49
Speaker 2: Maybe it was where I felt the safest. But either way,
24:53
Speaker 2: I sprinted into my bedroom, which was two doors down
24:56
Speaker 2: from the back room, and without hesitating, I did the
25:00
Speaker 2: only thing I could think of, just like I had
25:02
Speaker 2: seen in movies. I grabbed my wooden desk chair and
25:06
Speaker 2: propped it up against my bedroom door. It was perfect timing, too,
25:10
Speaker 2: because as soon as the door was wedged shut, Whoever
25:13
Speaker 2: was in my house began banging up against my bedroom door.
25:17
Speaker 2: I fell back in fear and began looking around to
25:20
Speaker 2: think of what I could do next. And that was
25:23
Speaker 2: when I came to my senses. I looked over to
25:25
Speaker 2: my window and saw my escape. I was able to
25:28
Speaker 2: open it up and push the screen out before climbing
25:31
Speaker 2: through it. And since we lived in a trailer, the
25:33
Speaker 2: window were only about five feet off the ground. Once
25:36
Speaker 2: I was out of the house, I quickly ran through
25:39
Speaker 2: my yard and over to my neighbor's house. It only
25:41
Speaker 2: took him a few seconds before he answered the door
25:44
Speaker 2: after I began pounding on it and screaming for help.
25:47
Speaker 2: My neighbor opened the door and I explained to him
25:50
Speaker 2: what was happening. He didn't question it at all, and
25:53
Speaker 2: as soon as he saw the panic in my face,
25:55
Speaker 2: he let me into his house and we both waited
25:57
Speaker 2: there for the police and my mom to arrive home.
26:00
Speaker 2: The police showed up about 30 minutes before my mom did,
26:03
Speaker 2: but it was still too late to catch the intruder.
26:06
Speaker 2: By the time they showed up, he had already left
26:08
Speaker 2: the house. Not before destroying it, though. All three of
26:12
Speaker 2: the rooms appeared to be ransacked, and my mother's jewelry
26:15
Speaker 2: collection was missing. For a while, I ended up staying
26:19
Speaker 2: at my neighbor's house or a friend's house after school
26:22
Speaker 2: while I waited for my mom to get home. I
26:24
Speaker 2: just wasn't comfortable being alone in my house anymore. I
26:32
Speaker 2: will never forget the first weekend. that I had the
26:35
Speaker 2: house to myself, and not for the reasons you probably think.
26:39
Speaker 2: I mean, sure I had a massive party planned, which
26:42
Speaker 2: most likely would have just turned out to be a
26:45
Speaker 2: small hangout session with my friends, but I never reached
26:48
Speaker 2: that point in the weekend. You see, the first night
26:52
Speaker 2: that I had the house to myself, I decided to
26:54
Speaker 2: take it easy, and spend most of the time cleaning
26:57
Speaker 2: for the company that I was expecting to come over
26:59
Speaker 2: the following day. I strained up the living room, and
27:03
Speaker 2: the bathroom before wiping down all the counters in the kitchen.
27:06
Speaker 2: And by the time I was finally finished, I had
27:09
Speaker 2: worked up a bit of an appetite. I decided to
27:11
Speaker 2: make myself some breakfast for dinner and began making some
27:14
Speaker 2: scrambled eggs and bacon. Then after eating, I noticed that
27:18
Speaker 2: I made a mess with the bacon grease, so once again,
27:21
Speaker 2: I wiped down the counters, which is where I made
27:24
Speaker 2: my biggest mistake. After wiping down the counter, I left
27:29
Speaker 2: the towel in the same corner that the stove was in.
27:32
Speaker 2: I didn't think anything of the situation and ended up
27:35
Speaker 2: watching a movie by myself before heading into my room
27:38
Speaker 2: and falling asleep. I don't know how long I was
27:41
Speaker 2: asleep for, but I was woken up as I began
27:44
Speaker 2: choking in my sleep. My eyes shot open and could
27:47
Speaker 2: barely see anything that was around me. My room and
27:51
Speaker 2: the rest of the house had been filled with thick,
27:53
Speaker 2: dark smoke, and by the time I had woken up,
27:56
Speaker 2: there was no telling how much I inhaled. I tried
27:59
Speaker 2: to stand but right away could tell that I was
28:02
Speaker 2: very lightheaded. After managing to sit, I quickly dropped down
28:06
Speaker 2: to my hands and knees and began crawling across the
28:09
Speaker 2: floor underneath the smoke. Crawling on all fours, I made
28:13
Speaker 2: my way out of my bedroom and through the house
28:15
Speaker 2: towards the front door. As I passed by the kitchen,
28:18
Speaker 2: I could see the flickering flames dancing in the corner
28:21
Speaker 2: near the stove. There was nothing I could do at
28:24
Speaker 2: that point. so I just continued to crawl toward the
28:27
Speaker 2: front door. Sadly, by that point, I inhaled too much smoke,
28:32
Speaker 2: and everything around me went dark as I began to
28:35
Speaker 2: pass out. I thought I was a goner, but lucky
28:38
Speaker 2: for me, my neighbor had seen the flames from his house.
28:42
Speaker 2: He apparently busted through the door and pulled me out
28:44
Speaker 2: of the house and saved my life. I didn't wake
28:48
Speaker 2: up until I was already in the ambulance and heading
28:51
Speaker 2: toward the hospital.