Monster in the attic
Woke up Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. to the sounds of a lot of thumping and banging around in the apartment above ours. Then I heard screaming. Or at least I thought I heard screaming... I wasn't sure, as I had just woken up and the bedroom TV had been left on all night. So I got up and turned the TV off, listening intently for fifteen or twenty secons. I could still hear thumping, and maybe muffled voices... but maybe the screaming had been in my imagination. We live in an old house that's been split into apartments, and it's surprisingly sound proof... usually a good thing. But, I sort of wandered through the different rooms, trying to see if I could get a better listen. The thumping and crashing continued, and I was pretty sure I could make out people yelling at each other.
At any rate, it was obvious I wasn't getting any more sleep that morning, so I decided to go outside on the front porch and have a smoke.
Once outside, from the upstairs window that faces the front of the house, I heard a woman sobbing, the kind of sobbing you hear from a person who has been traumatized. Then I heard more crashing, and things took a distincly nasty turn when I heard what sounded like a person choking... or more accurately a person being choked. I finally decided something was terribly amiss upstairs, and leaning out over the rail so I could see the window above, I yelled "what the hell is going on up there?"
A girl's face appeared in the window. She locked eyes with me an screamed: "Please help me -- he won't leave me alone!"
A shiver ran down my spine. Last year the girl who lived below us woke up to find a strange man standing over her bed. She had screamed at the guy and he fled... but what if he was back? I shouted back "I'm calling the cops!"
Ran inside and dialed 911, and as I was talking to the dispatcher I looked out the back window and saw some guy running like a jackrabbit down the alley behind the house. After completing the call to 911, I ran back out and yelled up to see if she was okay. Asked if the guy was still there, she said no. Asked if she knew who the guy was, she said yes. Told her the police were on the way. She thanked me profusely. It was easy to tell she was terrified.
Cops show up, and I tell them what I heard etc. They asked me to write a statement, which of course I did, mentioning that I had asked if she knew the guy. When the officer was looking over my statement, he looked at me and asked "did she really say she knew the guy?" I said yes, and he shook his head. "She told us she was being robbed and didn't know the guy... we had a feeling she was lying. We think it's her boyfriend... and we're pretty sure we know who the guy is."
Later that afternoon, I came home from work and there was a message on the phone from a detective. I called her back, and she said they had caught the guy, then asked if I'd be able to identify him. Unfortunately, I never did get a look at his face, and had no idea of whether I'd seen him before or not, so I had to tell her no. I've seen enough Law and Order to know what a bad identification can do to a case. Anyway, she tells me that it was this girls boyfriend and that it's the third time they've arrested him for battering her. She thanked me for calling 911, saying that it's rare for a neighbor to get involved. I don't know about you, but when somebody is screaming for help, it seems inconceivable that it would be ignored, but I guess it happens.
Now, I have a friend who works for a radio station here in town. This morning he was putting together his a.m. news items, and found this guy on the blotter. According to the news report, the girl had a restraining order against this dude, and he had broken into her apartment and assaulted her. Once the police had caught up with him, he attacked an officer and bit the officer on the leg! Apparently he put up a pretty good fight, and they had to use mace to subdue him. He's been charged with breaking and entering, felony assault, failing to comply with a legal restraining order, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer and probably a few other counts as well. His bail bond was set at $120,000.
$120,000! They obviously want to keep this guy behind bars! It creeps me out to think he was basicly in our house! I know it's a different apartment, but let's face it... it's one big house with a common back stairwell, and this guy was only feet from our back door. Very spooky! It's like discovering that some ancient evil has been lurking over your sleeping body.
Not all monsters are myth and fiction. Some are very real. I don't know what might have happend if I hadn't gotten involved, but I have a sneaky feeling that this girl might have wound up dead. Don't let these preditors get away with their crimes. Don't hesitate to get involved if you sense someone is in trouble... it's worth being wrong and irritating someone by trying to help than ignoring the possibility and allowing someone to get hurt.
Be safe everyone... beware of monsters.
At any rate, it was obvious I wasn't getting any more sleep that morning, so I decided to go outside on the front porch and have a smoke.
Once outside, from the upstairs window that faces the front of the house, I heard a woman sobbing, the kind of sobbing you hear from a person who has been traumatized. Then I heard more crashing, and things took a distincly nasty turn when I heard what sounded like a person choking... or more accurately a person being choked. I finally decided something was terribly amiss upstairs, and leaning out over the rail so I could see the window above, I yelled "what the hell is going on up there?"
A girl's face appeared in the window. She locked eyes with me an screamed: "Please help me -- he won't leave me alone!"
A shiver ran down my spine. Last year the girl who lived below us woke up to find a strange man standing over her bed. She had screamed at the guy and he fled... but what if he was back? I shouted back "I'm calling the cops!"
Ran inside and dialed 911, and as I was talking to the dispatcher I looked out the back window and saw some guy running like a jackrabbit down the alley behind the house. After completing the call to 911, I ran back out and yelled up to see if she was okay. Asked if the guy was still there, she said no. Asked if she knew who the guy was, she said yes. Told her the police were on the way. She thanked me profusely. It was easy to tell she was terrified.
Cops show up, and I tell them what I heard etc. They asked me to write a statement, which of course I did, mentioning that I had asked if she knew the guy. When the officer was looking over my statement, he looked at me and asked "did she really say she knew the guy?" I said yes, and he shook his head. "She told us she was being robbed and didn't know the guy... we had a feeling she was lying. We think it's her boyfriend... and we're pretty sure we know who the guy is."
Later that afternoon, I came home from work and there was a message on the phone from a detective. I called her back, and she said they had caught the guy, then asked if I'd be able to identify him. Unfortunately, I never did get a look at his face, and had no idea of whether I'd seen him before or not, so I had to tell her no. I've seen enough Law and Order to know what a bad identification can do to a case. Anyway, she tells me that it was this girls boyfriend and that it's the third time they've arrested him for battering her. She thanked me for calling 911, saying that it's rare for a neighbor to get involved. I don't know about you, but when somebody is screaming for help, it seems inconceivable that it would be ignored, but I guess it happens.
Now, I have a friend who works for a radio station here in town. This morning he was putting together his a.m. news items, and found this guy on the blotter. According to the news report, the girl had a restraining order against this dude, and he had broken into her apartment and assaulted her. Once the police had caught up with him, he attacked an officer and bit the officer on the leg! Apparently he put up a pretty good fight, and they had to use mace to subdue him. He's been charged with breaking and entering, felony assault, failing to comply with a legal restraining order, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer and probably a few other counts as well. His bail bond was set at $120,000.
$120,000! They obviously want to keep this guy behind bars! It creeps me out to think he was basicly in our house! I know it's a different apartment, but let's face it... it's one big house with a common back stairwell, and this guy was only feet from our back door. Very spooky! It's like discovering that some ancient evil has been lurking over your sleeping body.
Not all monsters are myth and fiction. Some are very real. I don't know what might have happend if I hadn't gotten involved, but I have a sneaky feeling that this girl might have wound up dead. Don't let these preditors get away with their crimes. Don't hesitate to get involved if you sense someone is in trouble... it's worth being wrong and irritating someone by trying to help than ignoring the possibility and allowing someone to get hurt.
Be safe everyone... beware of monsters.
posted by ESV at 9:23 AM
4 Comments:
Dang dude. Very scary. It's all those years of scouting and thinking in emergency situation that put you on the ball, don't cha think? ;-)
Nice work.
Woof, How terrifying.
*HUG*
Eeep.
Take care if he ever makes bail. Sometimes the monsters hold grudges.
Advice much appreciated... but if the fool comes looking for trouble around this house, he'll have several feet of cold, unforgiving steel to deal with. You know us Rennies... never without a blade handy!
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