“Who is this?” I cried out with a loud hysterical voice that I didn’t know existed in me. The whole ground was shaking with terror. I stumbled quickly from my bed; I grabbed the edge of my settee with all power and pushed it hard on to my bedroom door. I danced around in terror not knowing what to do, and then I saw my mobile phone lying on the edge of the window sill. I clutched it and quickly dialled 999. “Hello. “Do you want the police, the …” “The police please,” I said as I cut out the operator’s voice. “How can I help?” said the female operator. “An intruder has entered my house,” I said as my voice trembled with fear. “Give me your name and your address,” she asked. I called out all my personal details. “Did you see the person and where were you? I saw him and I was sleeping in my bedroom. “Is the intruder still there and could you describe how he looks? said the operator with a probing tone. It was then when I realised that I was shouting on top of my voice. Instantly, I reminded myself to lower my voice in fear that the intruder would come back if he heard that I was reporting him to the police. Recognising the danger I faced, I started to sob uncontrollably while I was hanging on the phone. “Calm down, the police are on the way to help you.” I heard her voice but my mind was in a whirlwind. Every ticking second was like a year. I wanted to fly and go far away where I will be nursed and feel secure. I wanted to be near my loved ones, where I will be told everything is fine. The more I thought about it the more my tears were streaming like a river. “Why had he targeted me?” I asked myself several times as I struggled with my conscience.
It started like a normal day and a night before I had slept at my friend’s house whom I shall name Liz. We went to bed very late at exactly 3 am. At 6.30 am, I got out of the bed and after having a shower Liz dropped me at my house as she was on her way to North Manchester Hospital where she worked as a mid-wife. “Thanks.” I murmured as she skidded off. I was now alone in my own house. I checked my diary and I noticed that I was going to meet my new mentors and other voluntary community reporters for the first time. The venue was the Broughton Trust. The scheduled meeting time was 10.00 am till 1.00pm. I was filled with enthusiasm and desire to learn more new skills as a community reporter. I glanced at my watch and I realised that I still had two and a half more hours of preparation and the rendezvous was just five minutes travel by bus from my house. I was taught that the first impressions are important especially in interviews when meeting other professional people. With this in mind, I went to my wardrobe and I pulled out my most prestigious dress which I wore with pride. I pampered my face with lovely make up. I looked at myself in the dressing mirror. Satisfied, I clutched my handbag and left the house.
In a couple of minutes I was on the bus and not long after the bus had dropped me off. I found myself knocking on the door. “Come in.” I heard a sweet melody voice beckon me inside. I showed up and in a second glance I saw everybody in the room was smiling at me. “You are Euna, I am sure,” said the slim, medium, and blond smashing girl whom I had already suspected as one of our mentors. “Yes,” I nodded in agreement. “Take a seat!” “Thank you, I said as I placed my hand bag safely on the table. In a few minutes, I became familiar with everyone and we were on first name terms. The atmosphere was buzzing. Our mentors did not take long in briefing us about the project and how we were going to flow into the system through their help and guidance. We were all happy to learn blog, audio story telling and film making. Our mentors asked us to write down a list of places which we may want to visit and have some interviews. “Prison!” I said loudly. “Why?” asked Tee who is one of our mentors. “Mainly, I want to know why there is a high crime rate with many young offenders. What can be done to minimize the situation or to help young people not to waste their time in bad things but to invest it wisely in things that benefit themselves and the community.” Our meeting ended in a good note. Finally we dispersed.
I was back in my house and fully relaxed on my lovely comfy sofa. I was about to get myself a cold drink when I heard the clicking sound on my front door. I stood and watched two men holding a lot of goods as they entered my house. I recognised one of them, he was a boyfriend of Aimee, whom I was about to start sharing my house with. I greeted them. “How is this area? We have heard that it has got a bad reputation of crime,” enquired Aimee’s boyfriend. “Umm, it’s ok I have been here for six months but nothing bad has happened”, I added. “That sounds good,” they chorused. They quickly loaded Aimee’s room with the luggage. At that time Aimee was in North Manchester Hospital expecting to deliver a healthy baby boy. My mind was soon filled with the joy that I was going to hold that new baby when he was brought home. Unconsciously I started to sing this song: How sweet to hold a new born baby and to feel the pride and enjoys it gives. Then I saw Aimee’s boyfriend leaving followed by his friend. I heard the screeching and then the sound faded as they drove far away.
I was alone again and then I thought of writing some short stories. I fetched my laptop and begin to work on my writing. After a while I became exhausted and felt drowsy at the same time, so I stopped writing and I put my laptop away. I headed to my bedroom which is on the first floor and left my laptop and my printer in the living room. I stripped off my prestigious dress and then I put on my night dress. Outside it was not yet dark but according to my clock it was 4.00 pm. It did not take long before I fell asleep.
While sleeping, I had a strange fun dream but regrettably I could not remember any details. Whatever the dream was it forced me to wake up. I picked up my mobile just to check the time and I was shocked that I had only slept for three and half hours when I thought it was already midnight. I was about to phone Liz to narrate the events of the day when I heard a tapping knock. I ignored it and thought that it could be someone knocking on my neighbour’s door since we lived in terraced houses. After all I was not expecting anyone to visit me at that particular hour. So, I concluded that if they are my friend(s) he or she could ring me. With that in mind I closed the chapter. The whole house was dead silent and even outdoors I could barely hear any squeaking sounds that I normally hear when children or people walking on the street. Probably it was one of the winter evenings where everybody was forced to be indoors earlier than they had expected.
I had just turned my head and faced my bedroom door and then I watched my door being opened slowly. Instantly my mind began to race and my heart was pounding and sent shock waves to my adrenaline system. Who could be in the house? How did the person manage to enter the house without making any sound? Is he one of the managers from Happy Homes? The house I lived in was run by one the housing agents and sometimes they did have access to our houses whenever they want but the normal procedure is that they had to contact the resident(s) first to confirm their visit. I continued to race with my thoughts again. What does the person want and why is the person opening the door stealthily like a thief?
At that moment, the door was widely opened and there I was facing a very slim, tall and bald headed white man. He was wearing blue jeans, blue t-shirt and black leather jacket. A small black brief case was clutched tightly under his left armpit probably to disguise his intentions. We squarely faced into each other’s eyes regardless of the distance. The moment he saw me, he quickly fled as if a bullet had been shot into his eyes.
I was terrified and felt insecure. It even triggered the twitches that I had once suffered from after experiencing post traumatic stress disorder. I began to think through the events of the day and I feared for my laptop and regretted for leaving it downstairs which I had never done it before and even my sleeping pattern was unusual. I would usually sleep just after midnight and only in the very late hours of morning. The inadequate sleep that I had the night before had inevitably invited the intruder. Darkness in the house had also paved a way for the burglar because when I went to sleep I never bothered to switch on the lights and hence I fooled myself that it was too early to use the power. Probably another factor that could have attracted him was that he might have seen Aimee’s boyfriend bringing the goods inside the house.
I thought it was ironic that I had talked of visiting the prisoners and also Aimee’s boyfriend having asked me about crime within the area. In less than six hours an intruder managed to destroy the trust that I had for the area. In fact he had convinced me that everything I thought about the area in period of six months was nullified.
It was a while when the police arrived. It took twenty minutes from the time I phoned and I was apprehensive by the lack of their urgency in such dreadful situation when I knew the nearest police station was just five minutes away from house by using any means of transport.
When they arrived I was still shaking like a reed but still speaking to the female online. She asked me to go and open the door for the police but I declined fearing that the burglar may be still around or within the premises. I climbed up higher the window and managed to communicate with the police outside. I signalled them to come in. In a minute, I was surrounded. “Is my laptop there?” I said fearfully. “We don’t know. May you come down, please,” said one of the officers. I went down and one the female officers was holding my left hand and she did her best to make sure that I was calm enough before I was loaded with their probing questions.
As I got down, I could not believe what I was seeing. My laptop was still there lying on the same place where I left about four hours ago. It was a big relief and in actual fact, everything was intact. The robber had failed to come out with anything and I thanked God for sending confusion ideas in his mind and let him go empty handed. I’m sure if this burglar was to be asked how many people he saw in the bedroom. I am definitely sure that his response would be two. I knew God was on my side. Even in the bible it says if God is on my side who can be against me? I felt my prayers being answered. Every night before I go to bed I would always ask for God’s protection over my house and everything in it and even my own protection. The burglar could have attacked me and do something dreadful over my life but instead he fled away instantly.
The trick bit is that the criminal had cunningly worked his way in by using the kitchen back door. He had used a sharp saw to gain his entrance. The door frame was jig sawed. I could not believe that I failed to detect any faintest strange noise that was being done on my door whilst I was in the house. I was even shocked that he even climbed up successful on the stairs to my room without making any shrieking sound. I concluded that he was a master class thief.
The police did all sorts of probing and the forensic test but it came to nothing. The saddest part is that the police were inactive after the incident. I even told them that I see the intruder who broke into my house almost every day and apparently he lives just few inches from my house. It has been four months after the incident and the intruder is living happily with his family while my life is in a shambles. I hope the police won’t regret this and have to say sorry to the public when he strikes again. It is the police that let down the public when the snake is at large. I felt my case had been handled unprofessional way and the police tried to cover up for the bad egg.
