Lee (2:40)
Everybody moves back into the night, even if it takes them a. Hi, I'm Lee. I am a Floridian, born and raised in the Panhandle near Pensacola, what is affectionately known as the Redneck Riviera. We are in the very far west corner of the Panhandle in the nook of Alabama. So an hour north is Alabama state line. And our west is an Alabama state line. And just south of us are the most beautiful beaches in the world. And a mostly well kept secret. But it is obviously a big tourist attraction. And as us locals know, we don't get our beach pack until after Labor Day. And once spring break starts, we just don't go. And I'm currently a stay at home mom. I've had a lot of different jobs for all the years and I don't think I quite know what I want to be when I grow up. But as of right now, I'm just Mom. Before all this happened, I didn't really think about things in terms of being paranormal or not. Honestly, I didn't think about it all that much. I just knew that I had had experiences and I didn't put it towards a belief or not a belief. I wasn't skeptical at all. I guess you could call me open minded. I can very clearly remember seeing my grandfather after he passed away in the hallway when I was a kid. And the same thing happened with a very, very dear friend of mine who was killed in a car accident. Both times they just had this kind of peaceful, gentle smile on their face and they had like light around them. And if you had asked me before all of this, I would have been much more skeptical. Since this happened, there's nothing that's not possible. Anything's possible at this point. Because the day leading up to this event which occurred overnight, we were closing on our house here in Pensacola because my husband had gotten a job in Atlanta and we had moved up there. Our house was in a perfect neighborhood and I loved that house and I was so sorry to see it go. But I knew that the day that we closed was the last chance that I was going to have to steal back my cat from the neighbor. Peggy was her name and she was the kind of eccentric where if you had told me that she was an art teacher, I wouldn't have been surprised at all. This neighbor and I were friends when we were neighbors. And the stealing of the cat is where the falling out occurred. And we both had a system because our cats would come and go and we both used our system of the garage door, letting the other know if the cats were inside and they were like safe for the night, or if there was still a cat out somewhere on garage doors, we would leave them cracked so that they could come in and go as they pleased. So when my husband got the job, he went first ahead of the family because I needed to sell the house and I Needed to do a little remodel to get it ready to go on the market. And I stayed behind for that. The work that they were doing scared the cat enough to where he pretty much started hanging out at Peggy's. And when it was finished and I was ready to leave town, she refused to help me get him back. And I don't know if he was inside, I don't know if he was outside, but I didn't have him, and she didn't help me. And I was like, are you really doing this right now? And she was like, it's best for him to just stay here anyway. And so that's when it went from, you know, thanks, neighbor, to, are you kidding me? And I was mad. Oh, so mad. And I tried repeatedly to talk her into letting, you know, give me my cat back. And she wasn't having it, and she stood her ground. And so that's how the mission was born. Because I knew that I had no other diplomacy had failed. It was time for drastic guerrilla warfare. So I had closed that afternoon and went out to dinner with my husband and my kids. And we talked about it at dinner. I said, I've got one more chance to go get back John Malkovich. And so I need to. I gotta try. I have to try. And that's what led up to when it got weird. After I put my kids to bed, which was at my mother's house because we didn't have our house anymore, obviously. And so after the kids went to bed, I left again. And I went and sat at a bar in the proximity of my neighborhood. I knew the bartenders well enough for them to walk me to my car at the end of the night. But not that we ever spent time socially, but I did frequent it enough for them to know who I was and they knew what I was doing. I think I had three beers. And that was over a couple of hours. So it was about a drink an hour. And like I said, the people that were the bartenders that night knew me well enough and knew what I was doing. And so everybody was aware that we were on a cat nap back mission and that I was going to be going and, you know, driving and all that kind of jazz. And I was by myself. Like, they all knew that. So there wasn't any kind of, you know, I was. I wasn't, you know, on top of the bar taking shots or anything. So when they closed, which is 2am here, I finished up. I probably piddled because I'm just that kind of person. I don't always drive off right away. And it was not, not even five minutes until I was on my street. I was hoping against hope that the garage would be cracked and that my cat would be outside and that I would be able to get him back. And that was not the case. But that was what I was doing in my old neighborhood in the middle of the night and I saw the garage door was closed. And I knew that that was what I was hoping it wasn't. But I think I probably circled a couple times just trying to think of anything else, even though I'd already exhausted all other options. And I did that a few times, but I never got out of the neighborhood. Eventually, I had to give up. I left the neighborhood to head back to my mom's house. And I turned towards the main road and there is a gas station right on the corner. And it was a hop, skip and a jump away from my house for years. So I was very familiar with the people who ran that place. And they were just wonderful people. They were great. And they knew me well enough to order me a case of Peace Tea every week because I would. I would come for it every week. And so they ordered a nice case just for me. So we had that kind of relationship. And as I'm driving, I became so sleepy. I could not keep my eyes open. And I have been on road trips, I have driven overnights, I have been out late, and I've never actually had to stop before. You know, you turn the music up a little, you're sort of like, you know, take a drink, just sit up straight, you shift a little, you don't actually stop. But I had to. I absolutely had to. I was so sleepy. I was fine one minute and I was losing consciousness the next, it seemed. And I had to stop. I absolutely had to stop. I was so tired. I was. I was driving towards Olive Road from north to south, and I was coming up on the gas station. It was on my right. And it was no more than 3am it was somewhere between, say, 2:30 and 3, probably. I did. I pulled over and I do remember having the thought of trying to be considerate to the. The store owners because they were such great people. And I did know them so well. And I didn't want to detract or cause any kind of confusion if I didn't wake up and get out of there and in time for them to open. And I thought that I would be less of a nuisance if I was in the back. And I was familiar enough with their deliveries to know that they didn't have any kind of loading dock in the back or anything. I wouldn't be in the way there. And I did. I pulled in behind the gas station. I left the car on, and I leaned my chair back a little bit, and I went to sleep. I definitely expected to just have a little dode, as my Cajun aunt would say, which is a nap. It was. I just. I would have taken a little power nap, probably, is what I'm more likely, you know, assuming than I expected. And the next thing I know, I was asleep. And that's the last thing I remember. When I woke up, I was still kind of sleepy, but I was okay to drive. And it was around dawn. It had been a couple of hours, and the store wasn't open yet, and the sun was about to come up, and I knew I could get back before the kids woke up and not disturb my mother or my kids. And so it was kind of like the perfect nap. It was just a couple of hours. I felt fine. I knew I'd be able to get back, and nobody would, you know, have to be inconvenienced, and it was time to go home. So I did that. I drugged down Olive, and I took the normal route to my mom's house. And when I got there, and there was nothing remarkable about the drive, I just went home. I still felt tired. And when I got there and the whole house was quiet and everyone was still asleep, I just climbed into bed and I went right back to sleep. The whole house was asleep. So I just was like, okay, great. I'm going back to sleep. And the next thing that I recall was the sheet being lifted off of me and my mother standing there holding the sheet up, looking down at me, and she was sort of studying me, and I was a little groggy. And I remember kind of cracking one eye and looking up at her like, what are you doing? And she put the sheet down, and she walked out of the room. And I thought that was weird, but, okay, whatever. I don't know. And I just sort of laid there, and I was never really back asleep, but I didn't get up physically at that point. So I was just kind of laying in that, you know, comfy zone after you wake up. After a few minutes, I sort of became more aware of what was going on in the house in further and further distances. So when I first woke up, just waking up, you're still groggy. You're still sleepy. My mom was there looking at me under the sheet, which was weird. And I didn't understand it. And a few more minutes after that, I was able to recognize the sounds of the pitter patters, and the kids were playing, and that was fine, and they were okay. And after that, I noticed the multiple voices, which was unexpected. And I'm pretty sure I remember hearing something being cooked. And so that sort of checked off that list of, go feed the kids. Well, somebody's feeding the kids. All right, I'm going to, you know, take another moment to wake up a little more. And then I heard my sister. Wait, what? Why in the world is Sarah here? Is that even right? Yeah, that's Sarah. Why is Sarah here? That's weird. And then the hushed voices, multiple. Weren't so hushed anymore. And they sounded urgent. They sounded panicked, they sounded upset. And I remember thinking, what's happened? And that I was feeling somewhat of some anticipation about going out there and finding out, because something must have happened, because Sarah's here. Why would she be here if she wasn't? Sarah was my pseudo sister. Her mom and my mom were best friends, and we grew up like sisters and would call each other sisters before we realized we weren't actually sisters. And she lived in Navarre, neighboring town, but there's no reason she would have been at my mom's house. So that sort of really woke me up. There was no lounging after that. So I kind of sat up, and I was like, okay, that's something. You know, something's up. And when I walked out to the living room, I see my husband, I see my sister, I see my mother, and my babies are sort of running around wherever, all, you know, somewhere in the background, but they were there, too. And they all had this look on their face. And I knew something definitely happened. And for Sarah to be there, I thought that it was her mom, but they were all staring at me. And as soon as I walked out, everybody stopped talking. And that's. That's never good. And eventually, the awkward silence had to break, and I said, what? And I don't know if it was Sarah or my mom or all three of them at once, but the next words that hit my ears were, where have you been? And it wasn't nice, and I was confused. What? I don't. What do you mean? I was here. I was here before you got up. What are you talking about? I was only on a couple hours. It was just. I just got sleepy. I took a nap. That's a safe thing to do, right? Like, what? Are you mad? I don't get this. They looked at me like I had some kind of answer for them and I didn't, because I didn't even know what they were talking about. I didn't understand at all in that moment. And I also think I said something like, this is some kind of weird joke. And I don't get it. And what made me realize that this was not a joke was when my mother said what she said next. And she said, I have been preparing myself for the cops to come and tell me that they have found your body. And she was terrified. I. And I realized that something was very wrong and I did not know what happened. And that was, I think, when it was sort of became a cacophony of information. At that point, my mom, Sarah, Sean, all of them were just, where have you been? We've been looking everywhere for you. We went here, we went there, we called this one, we called that person, this person came here and this person put on Facebook and all of the things that had happened. And I think at some point somebody said, it's Monday. And I went, what? What? That's not possible. I took a three hour nap. And they were like, no, you've been gone for three days. And I think that they must have had the same kind of oh shit moment that I did when I realized that they weren't around when I. When they realized that I wasn't either. And to me, I just took a power nap a few hours. But apparently I had been missing for almost three days. They tried to tell me everything that they had done and they did, you know, and they had called the police, they had reported me missing and, and the first day that I wasn't there, my mom and my husband thought that I was with the other and so they didn't miss me. My husband said he tried to text me several times throughout that time and I never replied. And he figured I was just mad about the house. I said, yeah, but I wouldn't have just not answered you. Like, when have I ever not told you if I'm mad at you? I have no problem with that. I will tell you what I think. And that he had tried to call after I didn't respond and that it went straight to voicemail. That was weird. And I'm not somebody that's glued to my phone 24 7, but it's not off. Going straight to voicemail is bizarre. So when he thought that I was just mad at him, but then it was, the phone is off. And then it was, okay, well, you can be mad at me and give me the silent treatment all you want to, but you're going to talk to me about my babies. And that was when he contacted my mom. And when she told him I thought she was with you, that's when they knew they had a problem. But that wasn't until Sunday.
