Interrupted

My Life Thus Far
2009-03-23 08:35:43 (UTC)

What Lurks In The Darkness

I've never been so scared to be alone in my own home. It's
the worst feeling in the world. I've got the worst
headache ever. My stomach is in triple knots and even
though I'm drop-dead exhausted I don't think sleep will
come easily (if at all) tonight. I can't let my fear get
the better of me. I want to cry, but losing control isn't
going to help anyone. I was on edge last night, but
tonight I'm down-right frightened and there isn't much I
can do about it. All the doors and windows are locked,
every light is on. But the black stillness of outdoors
might as well be in my living room. I look out every
window and I wonder what lurks in the darkness. I don't
think I'll feel safe again until he's found.

My entire day has been driven by the desire to find out
who he is, where he came from and what I can do to get him
away from my children and every other child in this
neighborhood. After doing some investigative work, I found
out his real name, his address and his reputation around
the neighborhood - it isn't good. I called my baby
sitter's guardian because he told Annie that he was a
friend of Amy's. That wasn't the truth. Amy knows of him,
but it's because he's caused trouble in their family, too.
When I told Kim (Amy's aunt) that I wanted to go talk to
his parents, she didn't think it was a good idea and
suggested that I call the police and have them do it,
because his whole family is suspicious. He's not the kid I
thought he was. He's 17 years old and damn sure should
know better.

I called base police, but they told me they couldn't
handle it. It wasn't their jurisdiction. I needed to call
Bremerton police because it was a case of possible child
luring. I did just that and to their credit, they had an
officer to my door in less than 15 minutes. I told the
officer everything I knew and while we were talking my
neighbor came home and gave her account too. The officer
agreed that the situation was extremely inappropriate and
that they needed to talk to him. I gave him all the
information I knew, but at that moment things took a
bazaar turn for the worst. Just as we were finishing up
with the city police officer Cassie (my neighbor) saw the
boy walking up the street. He saw the police car in front
of my house and turned around back the way he came. The
Bremerton police officer saw him walking away and just as
he was about to get in his car after him, a base police
officer drove by. The officer flagged him down and sent
him after the guy, but when he saw the base police officer
coming after him he ducked in between two units that's
when the search was on. They had cars canvasing the
neighborhood for hours. It was the witch hunt I'd wanted
to avoid, but I guess he brought it on himself.

The officer came back and told me that he went to the
address I gave him and talked to the family, but they
denied even knowing anyone by that name. I called to
double-check the address with Kim and told her all the
officer had told me (who he'd spoken to and what they
looked like). She said that was most-certainly his address
and the people the officer talked to were his family.
She'd talked with them in the past. They're covering for
him. Why they'd want to do that I don't know, but no one
is talking. After over two hours of searching for him they
found nothing. He's hiding out somewhere, but short of
going door to door and searching people's houses they were
out of options. The officer said they aren't going to let
it go. The fact that he's running from them implies guilt
and they want to talk to him even more now. I realize
there's only so much they can do, but I have to live here
and I have to feel safe. I'm going to call him Tuesday
morning if I haven't heard anything from him tomorrow. He
gave me the case number and his direct line. He will be
sick of me by the end of the week.

After we were done talking with police, Cassie and I went
to talk to the other little girls' mother. At first she
seemed a little defensive, because she didn't know who we
were and we weren't exactly the bearers of good tidings at
that moment. I didn't see what happened to her daughter,
but Cassie did and as she was describing it to her, the
little girl's mother started crying. I understood how she
felt. If I were a hugger I would have given her a big one,
because she was obviously devastated. She went back inside
to talk with her daughter and Cassie and I came back over
to our street. A few minutes later (I can't remember the
lady's name) she came back out and told us what her
daughter told her. We were able to piece together enough
information to figure out what he said to the girls' to
make them trust him.

The guy told her little girl that he was Annie's uncle.
Annie has one uncle who's 14 years old and lives in San
Diego with my dad. That was good enough to make the little
girl feel comfortable. Like telling Annie he was friends
with Amy. Somehow he knew Amy was her baby sitter and that
that would make her comfortable with him. Today when he
high-tailed it away from the cops, I saw that he was
walking with a little white dog. I've seen him around
before. He stands with the dog in the grass next to the
mini-mart, across the street from my house. He walks the
dog past my house pretty much every day. Sometimes I see
him standing on the corner when I come home from work at
night. I hadn't realized he was the same guy, because I'd
never given him much though. He's been watching us for
awhile. That's frightening. I think that's how he found
out Amy's Annie's sitter. On nice days she plays with the
kids in the front yard or takes them to the park.

I'm not going to speculate about it. It will only upset me
more. I've done what I can do for now. I just need to try
to put it out of my mind for awhile and get on with
living. Needless to say, this has taught Annie a valuable
lesson, too. All the precautions I'm always taking and all
the cautionary tales I tell her, aren't because I like the
sound of my own voice. She won't be going outside for
awhile, but when she does I'm sure she won't be late for
check-in. Ciao.




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