B (13:42)

Welcome to Walgreens. What can I help you with today?

C (13:44)

Hi, I need a last minute gift for a Secret Santa. Something thoughtful, important, impressive. Not a fruitcake.

B (13:49)

We've got Ferrero chocolates, artisan coffees, even a spa kit. Any vibe you're going for Whatever says wow.

C (13:56)

This guy's great at giving gifts.

B (13:58)

How about this premium skincare gift set? Just needs a bow. Will look like you planned it weeks ago.

C (14:04)

Well, Happy holidays gifts, holiday decor and more.

A (14:07)

The holiday road is long.

C (14:08)

We're with you all the way Walgreens. So the story happened years ago. Back in 1999, I owned a small company on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado that built custom hot rods and automobiles and did tuning jobs on them. We were a small company of roughly 30 people at the time. We didn't have an HR department and as the owner I was responsible for hiring and firing people along with running the entire company. I've only had to let a few people go over the years for various reasons and most people would usually just suck it up and deal with it and move on. However, there was one person named Joe I will never forget. I never really liked Joe from the minute I hired him because he just seemed really sketchy. He was a skinny guy in his 40s that was missing some teeth and had scraggly black hair. However, he had extensive knowledge in rebuilding engines so he was a valuable asset to our team and he actually did a good. However, after two years of being with us, my brother Smokey, the force supervisor, had caught Joe smoking weed in his car on break, and we have a policy against that. So after lunch, we brought Joe into my office and then informed him we'd be letting him go. Well, Joe totally lost it and then screamed, you'll all be sorry for this, you fuckers, before flipping my desk and storming out of the building. We ended up calling the police, and when they arrived, they took our statement and I gave them Joe's address. They didn't really seem to care though, and they just left. Later that night at my house, I had started getting phone calls on my house phone. When I picked it up, it was just dead silence. Then someone started leaving messages on my answering machine and it was just breathing. This was before caller id, so I couldn't see whose number it was. The calls continued until 2am and finally I unplugged the main phone cord at the modem. The next day, I started getting calls on my cell phone, which at the time was an old Motorola that had no screen and no voicemail, so I couldn't tell who it was. Then we had started getting calls on the company phone as well, and then threatening emails sent to my computer. It was from Joe. At this point, I notified the police of the harassment and threats, but again, the cops didn't care. I also had our company lawyer mail Joe a cease and desist letter. Over the next few weeks, the calls let up slightly, but continued. One morning I came out of my house and found that my Acura cl, the car I had at the time, had been vandalized. All four tires had been slashed. There was spray paint all over it, and the mirrors had been smashed too. I knew who did it, but I couldn't prove it. This was before people really put cameras in their homes then. That night was when things got really bad. I was sitting in my living room watching TV and having a beer after my stressful day when suddenly I heard a loud crash from the kitchen at the back of the house. I grabbed the pistol I kept at the end table and headed to the kitchen cautiously to see what happened. And I turned on the light. That's when I saw him. Joe was climbing through the kitchen window and got in and stood up. He was holding a knife. He looked very disheveled and he had a crazy look in his eyes. I'll kill you, he said. And then he lunged at me. I fired three shots and he dropped to the floor. I called 911 and the cop showed up 34 minutes later. The worst part was that they actually arrested me for shooting him and the cop actually had the audacity to say I had no right to shoot anyone. Like seriously. Joe actually ended up dying from his injuries at the hospital as well as liver failure, and I ended up getting released and put on probation. A month after that incident, we ended up moving our operations into another state with a new building and better security, and I moved out of my house as well. Look, if you lose your job, it's not the end of the world. You don't need to try and kill your boss over it. And screw Denver, Colorado. My partner and I moved into our first apartment together toward the end of 2021. At that point, we hadn't been living together for very long, less than a year, but we had known each other since we were teenagers, and we'd been a couple most of that time. We were both in our early 20s, newly done with school and still figuring out adulthood. Our schedules were opposite. He worked late evenings, usually getting home close to 10 or 11 at night, while I had daytime commitments a few days a week. Because he didn't drive yet, I handled most of the transportation, which meant a lot of the time alone at the apartment. I didn't mind it much. The place was quiet, surrounded by trees, and felt worlds away from the rough neighborhood we both grew up in. The building itself was enclosed, with all of the apartment doors lining along interior hallway. You needed one key just to get inside the building and another for the unit. The detail always made me feel safe. Too safe in hindsight. Most nights when he got home late, we stayed up just talking or watching TV shows. Occasionally we'd drink, laugh too much, and then fall asleep long after midnight. But one night we had decided to turn in early. No drinks, no noise, just movies. In bed, he fell asleep quickly, one earbud in like usual, listening quietly to something in the background. I stayed half awake, drifting in and out of sleep. Just after 3am I woke up suddenly. At first I thought I was dreaming. Then I heard it again. Someone pounding on our door. A woman's voice, shaky and desperate, calling out for help. She kept saying that she needed someone to let her in. My heart was racing, but my body felt frozen. Every warning story I'd ever heard ran through my mind. I'd hoped she'd move on to another door. She didn't. The knocking continued, loud and frantic, long enough to feel unbearable. My partner wasn't waking up. So I shook him hard and whispered that someone was at the door. He sat up instantly. We checked the time. It was just after 3am we then exchanged a look without saying a word. Neither of us went near that door. Suddenly, the crying stopped. Not gradually. Instantly, I heard a sharp sound in the hallway, followed by glass breaking. Seconds later, the fire alarm began blaring through the building. That's when I grabbed my phone and called 911. My hands were shaking as I explained what was happening. While I was still on the line, the dispatcher told me that help was on the way. I put our dog on her leash, unsure if we'd need to evacuate. The alarm was deafening, echoing all throughout the halls. A few minutes later, police arrived and knocked on our door, asking us to step outside. The hallway was littered with broken glass from a smash fire extinguisher case. Our dog was panicking, trying to pull away from the noise, and I ended up carrying her out to keep her from stepping on anything sharp. Outside, the entire complex was lit up with flashing lights, firefighters, police cars, neighbors standing around half asleep and confused. Someone mentioned water flooding near another building. Another person said trash had been dumped all over the street. When an officer finally spoke to me, he asked if I'd seen the woman. I hadn't. Our door decoration blocked the peephole, making it impossible to see anyone outside anyway. He suggested that it might have just been a prank, maybe kids messing around. I knew, though, that that didn't feel right. Nothing about it felt random to me. We weren't allowed back inside for nearly an hour while everything was being checked. By the time we returned to our apartment, neither of us slept. We sat there, just replaying it over and over. Why our door, how she got inside the building, what would have happened if we'd opened it. Even now, I still think about that night. Since then, being alone after dark makes me uneasy in a way that it never did before. It's really frustrating how just one moment, one knock, can change how a safe place feels forever. Hi everyone. This happened several years ago, and for a long time I stopped talking about it altogether. Not because it didn't matter anymore, because people tend to respond with hindsight instead of empathy. They ask what you should have done without understanding how fear rewires your brain in the moment. But I think people hearing this will understand. So here it is. At the time, I was living in a second floor apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was a quiet area, the kind of place where neighbors waved politely but kept to themselves. I worked as a medical assistant in a small clinic, and my schedule usually had me home by early evening. That afternoon, I came home just after 5pm I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and let it close behind me with a dull click. I tossed my purse on the counter, set my phone beside it, and kicked off my shoes. I didn't bother locking the door, something I'd done countless times before without a second thought. My partner was supposed to be home within the hour away. That habit ended that day. I walked down the hallway toward the bedroom, sorting laundry and half listening to the hum of the traffic outside. I was in the middle of hanging up clothes when I had heard the front door open. I smiled instinctively and called out, hey, I'm back here. There was no response. That uneasy feeling, the one you can't quite explain, settled in immediately. I stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room. Someone was standing near the kitchen counter. He wasn't masked. He wasn't holding anything. He was just there. A man that I'd never seen before, older than me, watching me silently, like I had surprised him. For a brief, foolish moment, I wondered if he had the wrong apartment. That thought vanished when he didn't apologize or move. I raised my voice, and I told him immediately that he needed to leave. I tried to sound confident, tried to make myself bigger than I felt. He didn't react. Instead, he reached down and picked up my phone, then my wallet, then my keys, one by one, calmly, like he had all the time in the world. That was when panic really took over. The only other way I could contact anyone was my laptop, sitting on the desk by the window. I rushed toward it, grabbed it, and ran past him toward the bathroom. I slammed the door shut and locked it just as I heard footsteps behind me. Within seconds, the handle rattled. I ran into the closet, locked that door, too, and dropped to the floor. My hands were shaking so badly I almost couldn't open the laptop. I logged into the first messaging app I could think of and sent frantic messages to my partner, begging him to call the police. He replied quickly. He said help was on the way. He said that he was leaving work also. I sat there, knees pulled into my chest, listening. The bathroom door opened. Footsteps moved closer. The closet door shook violently, then stopped. I didn't scream. I didn't cry out. I didn't fight. I was frozen. Completely, utterly frozen, convinced that if the door gave way, that would be the end. Now, usually when people hear this part, they often ask why I didn't do more. I don't have a satisfying answer. Fear doesn't always look like action. Sometimes it looks like stillness. The noises moved away. I heard things breaking. Cabinets opening, glass shattering. Time stretched and warped until I had no idea how long I'd been there. I messaged my mother. She lives states away. I told her I loved her. I asked her to keep replying, even if I couldn't respond right away. I didn't want to be alone. Eventually, the front door opened again, this time followed by shouting. I recognized my partner's voice. Moments later, everything blurred. I remember the intruder being restrained. I remember sitting on the floor, shaking uncontrollably. I remember the police lights through the windows. The officers arrived way later than I expected, though I know fear distorts time. They took the man away and I got my belongings back. I answered questions mechanically. As one officer was leaving, he told me that I should always lock my door. At the time it felt like blame. Later I just understood it was experience speaking. The incident itself lasted less than an hour. The aftermath lasted years. Even after we moved to a quieter town, to a safer building, to a place with only one entrance, I couldn't sleep. Every sound felt threatening. Every night felt like I was waiting for something terrible to just happen again. Eventually I realized that the fear wasn't about where I lived. It was about how helpless I still felt. So I did something uncomfortable. I walked into a self defense studio and signed up. At first I stayed quiet. I stood in the back. I avoided attention. But over time, slowly and deliberately, I rebuilt something I thought I'd lost forever. My confidence. Control. Trust in myself. I've trained for years now. The person I was in that closet still exists. But she no longer defines me. I don't judge her anymore. She survived the only way she knew how. And now I know more. If you've experienced something like this and you still feel haunted by it, I want you to know you're not weak and you're not broken. Healing doesn't look the same for everyone. And there's no timeline for it. Thank you all for listening. If sharing this helps even one person feel less alone, then it was worth it. Stay safe. This is still the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. What haunts me isn't just what occurred, but how narrowly I avoided something far worse. Sometimes I replay it in my head and realize that a single different choice, a single second longer, and I might not be here to tell this story at all. This happened about four years ago. It was when I was in my early 20s and still in university. On paper, my life was stable. I Lived in a quiet neighborhood most people considered safe. Tree lined streets, families out walking in the evenings. Nothing that ever made the news. I shared a modest apartment with my younger cousin, and we had an aging, spoiled cat who believed the entire building belonged to him. Growing up, I'd always loved combat sports. I wasn't exceptional, but I was committed. I trained in whatever was available. Boxing, jiu jitsu, a bit of karate. Anything that taught me discipline and awareness. Training gave me confidence in my body and my reactions. But when I moved to the city for school, reality took over. Long commutes, endless coursework, late nights. Slowly, training slipped out of my routine until it became something I told myself I'd get back to someday. Our apartment just sat above ground level. The back of the building faced a neglected strip of greenery, A tangled mess of trees and brush that separated our building from an old service road. There was a narrow metal staircase attached to our kitchen balcony that led straight down into the shadows. It wasn't something I liked to think about, but we always kept that door locked. Always. Except when the cat wanted out. My days were exhausting. I left home late in the morning and often didn't return until after dark. So when a friend offered to drive me home one evening, cutting my commute in half, I was relieved. I arrived much earlier than usual, just as the sky was dimming into dusk. The building felt strangely still. I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and called out my cousin's name out of habit. No answer. This wasn't unusual. He was often out and doing things. But something about the silence felt heavy, like the air itself was so tense. Only one lamp was on near the entryway. The rest of the apartment was dark. I remember pausing, my hand still on the door, listening. Nothing yet. My stomach tightened. That familiar, instinctive warning that something wasn't right. I moved slowly down the hallway toward the bedrooms. That's when I heard it. A door slammed hard enough to echo throughout the apartment. It came from my cousin's room. At first, my mind scrambled for a normal explanation. You know, maybe he'd been showering and just panicked when he heard me come in. Maybe he was playing some kind of a prank. But then I heard voices. Low, hurried whispers. Not playful, not familiar. They sounded urgent. Pressed, my heart started pounding. I became painfully aware of every sound I made. The creak on the floor, my own breathing. Before I reached his door, I glanced into my bedroom. It looked like a bomb had gone off. My drawers were pulled out, clothes scattered everywhere. Books lay face down on the floor. My desk was bare. As if someone had swept everything off of it in one violent motion. That was the moment everything clicked. Someone had been inside my home. Fear didn't freeze me. It flipped a switch. I didn't think. I didn't calculate risks. My body just moved. Before my brain could catch up, I slammed my shoulder into my cousin's bedroom door with everything I had. The door burst open. The room was empty but destroyed. Mattress askew, closet torn apart, belongings strewn everywhere. Whoever had been whispering moments ago was gone. I sprinted toward the kitchen, adrenaline roaring in my ears, and threw open the balcony door. Just in time, I saw a man scrambling down the metal staircase. He stumbled when he hit the ground, almost collapsing before regaining his balance. He looked ordinary. That's what terrified me most. No mask, no weapon. Just a regular man who had been rifling through my life moments earlier. I screamed raw, furious, wordless. And he bolted into the darkness beyond the trees. He was gone. The adrenaline drained fast, replaced by shaking panic. Then I realized what was missing. It was my laptop. I tore through the apartment in a frenzy, sobbing, pulling things apart that were already destroyed. Now that laptop wasn't just an object. It held my schoolwork, my personal files, my connection to my friends that I talked to every day. Losing it felt like I was losing my footing entirely. I collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath, my hands numb. I called my mom. I don't remember what I said, only that she kept asking me to slow down. Later, she told me that my words were all jumbled, switching languages mid sentence. Without warning, the police arrived. Eventually. They asked questions, took notes. I looked around. Their presence felt hollow, like a formality rather than protection. That's when we found it. A pillowcase stuffed with our belongings, abandoned in the chaos, Both laptops, jewelry, and old electronics, inches away from where I'd been searching unseen. Because my mind was still spiraling. Nothing ever came out of the investigation. We removed the staircase and installed motion lights. I tried to rebuild a sense of safety, but something fundamental had shifted. For months afterward, every shadow made my muscles tense. Every unfamiliar face near my bus stop sparked irrational fear and anger. I caught myself scanning crowds, replaying the scene, imagining what I would do if I ever saw that man again. Eventually, we moved, and I went back to training. Not because I believed I could overpower danger, but because I refused to live feeling helpless. Training grounded me. It gave me some kind of control over my breath, my reactions, and my fear. It reminded me that strength doesn't disappear. It just waits to be reclaimed. Sometimes I still think about that awful night, about how thin that door was. How easily my blind courage could have gotten me killed. And yet, if I'm honest, I know myself. I probably would have charged in anyway. To whoever decided my home was an easy target. You took something away from me that night. My sense of safety. But you didn't take my resolve. And if our paths ever cross again, I promise you, I won't be the same person you ran from. It.

B (37:14)

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