Let's Not Meet~ Reddit Horror Stories

Home Alone After My Rapist Neighbor Had Just Been Released From Jail

So this happened when I was 19 in 2004.

I was still living at home with my parents at the time and it was summer so I was home from college. I had really gotten used to the freedom of being on my own during my freshman year of college and my parents and I had been having some issues establishing ground rules for staying out late, calling to let them know what was going on and where I'd be. Probably a combo of them treating me like a child, and me being irresponsible.

Needless to say, when my parents told me they were going out of town for an upcoming weekend I was looking forward to not having any drama about where I went, when I came home, or what I did. I should add, I'm a 6 foot guy, who at the time was in decent shape (175lbs) who could defend myself. At the time I had never once felt afraid, threatened, or concerned about pretty much anything. I could take care of myself. Or so I thought.

A few days before my parents left, the police had stopped by passing out some flyer. We lived in a fairly standard lower-middle class Midwestern US suburban area, so seeing the police was a pretty rare occasion. Apparently they had to go around to all the houses in the area and provide mandatory notice of a sexual predator now living in the area after his release from prison.

I didn't think much of it after I looked at the flyer. The guy was now like 50 which to 19 y/o me might as well have been in a wheelchair. Plus he was listed at like 5'7 140lbs. TINY. Male machismo is a powerful thing when you're 19. It serves a purpose too, because delusional is powerful, but then I talked to my parents. They remembered this guy immediately and for good reason looked concerned. I was too little to have ever heard anything about it when it happened.

They told me he was always a weird guy who was in his early 30's still living with his mom at the time. He would wander outside in his family's backyard at odd times of the night, sometimes just sitting in the dark. Other things that were just off. My dad summed it up as "you know how sometimes the news will interview neighbors and they're surprised about a crime? Ya that wasn't this guy."

He went to jail for kidnapping some little girl (under like 10 y/o), tied her up, brutally raped and beat here. She survived but was found tied to a light pole or some other real weird fucked up shit. Somehow she survived. Fortunately they caught him. But he only served like 15 years. They ask me if I'm worried and I say nah, he's little, old, and I don't think I'm what he likes anyways.

Now it's important to note where this guy and his mother lived and the layout of my parents house. He lived on the street behind us, but one house to the right of us if you were looking out our back door. So while our backyard wasn't directly aligned with his, it was very close. My parents also had a deck that was pretty large and could see directly into his backyard from. Additionally, his backyard ran directly into a wooded area that ran along the side of my parents house( it's actually since been purchased, and built a new home there so it's very well lit now). But at the time, it was not a well lit area. It was effectively a mini forest that started maybe 15 feet from the edge of my parents house and went right back to this guy's house. So ya, I'm sure this creeper is just looking forward to wandering around there again. Great!

Soooo... My parents left on a Friday evening. I got home late from a friend's house Sat morning probably around 230/3 am. I pull into the driveway and while I was obviously a little concerned about this guy, I mean really it just didn't seem like he'd be a threat to me. My parents had a basketball hoop in our driveway, and we'd often play at night so we had a massive bright floodlight. So as I pull in, the light is obviously on and the driveway is well lit. No one around, everything looks normal but as I walk past our garage to the front door I noticed a still lit cigarette butt on the ground. WTF. No one in my family smokes. I don't smoke. Literally no one in our circle of friends smokes. And it's burning.

Now I'm freaking out. It starts to dawn on me that I don't have a weapon, and have no chance if this guy has a gun or knife. I make a beeline to get inside asap. My hands are kinda shaking and you never realize how hard it is to open a door until you're stressed out trying to open one.

Get inside, lock the door behind me, grab an old golf club that was inside for some reason and everything is good. Dog seems normal. Turn on every damn light on in the house and go around checking every window lock, door entry etc. Everything checks out. Phew. Golf club down next to me.

Nothing.

At this point I was ready to go to sleep, but I was still wired from the rush I just experienced. Can't remember what I started watching, probably a rerun of sportscenter but just curled up on the couch (still with every light on) with my dog on my lap. About 30 minutes go by and I start to relax and calm down. Go to finally turn off the lights and I doze off on the couch with my dog.

Then suddenly my dog is going nuts at the back door that connects to the deck. Not just the loud barking but straight snarling. Animals are so freaking smart. I immediately grab the golf club, flip on the lights and the lights to the outside for the deck.

Now we're staring at each other through the glass door. But this guy isn't little. He's about exactly my height, maybe even taller. I'm beyond scared shitless and just start screaming holding the golf club and telling him to get the fuck out of here. Idk why I thought being aggressive would work, but he just kinda dead eye stared at me. Then as my eyes adjusted more I could tell this wasn't the predator guy from the flyer. He was dressed like a homeless guy, and was probably high on drugs just wandering around or something. He turned around, walked down the deck stairs through the wooded area and off to whoever the hell knows where.

Soooo... To the random homeless guy from way back when, Let's not meet.

And the sexual predator has since died of natural causes.