Robber Threatens To Kill Me

It's about 8 pm and I'm relaxing in my room enjoying how still the house is because no one is home besides me. It's dark out this time of year and the only light in my room is from my computer screen and the moon. My window is open and the temperature is really nice. The only sound I hear outside is insects.

I start playing video games and put my headphones on because I don't have good speakers. I'm playing for about ten minutes when I see light come into my room like someone opened my door. I turn around and see a man standing in my doorway. He's acting like he came into the wrong room and shuts my door again quickly. I don't think anything suspicious right away because one of my room mates, Greg, has the room directly across from mine. I figure one of his friends came home with him and just got the wrong room by mistake. I look at the clock and realize neither of them should be home for at least an hour. Greg is out for a religious thing and my other room mate, Caleb, is at work delivering Pizzas.

So I start freaking out. I'm not sure if I should go investigate, or call the police. Maybe I am wrong about what time Greg is supposed to get home. I decide to go out and investigate. I slowly walk to the top of the stairs and lean over to look down into my living room, trying to keep out of sight. This man is downstairs trying to take Caleb's Laptop which is on our coffee table.

I'm not sure why, but my fear at that moment turns into anger. I'm furious enough that I want to run downstairs and fight this guy, although my mind is yelling at me "he could be armed, you could die". At that moment I hear him kinda loudly whisper "Don't try to come down here or I'll Kill you." This threat brings my fear back but also elevates my anger. I'm paralyzed for what seems like forever but is really just a few seconds.

I'm a nerdy white dude with no training so what I can only describe as instinct and adrenaline kick in. It's kinda dark, but with some light coming in from the kitchen I can see well enough. He has nothing in his hands except Caleb's laptop. I then look at his waste band for anything like a weapon and don't see anything. In fact his pants are almost falling off him. I know I can get down the stairs in a few seconds and since he was busy with the laptop I just rush him.

I run down the stairs full speed yelling "Get the fuck out of my house!" and he bolts for the front door. When he tries to open it he pulls on it in a panic, but it's dead bolted. He pulls on it so hard it bends the latch. At this point I'm maybe 3 feet from him. He manages to get the door unlocked before I get to him and he runs out into the night. I'm still intent on chasing him but as I get to my front steps my rational mind kicks in and tells me, "don't do it, he's gone, call the cops".

So I look through the house to make sure no one else is there. I first go into Caleb's basement room, and on my way back up I see everything sitting on the kitchen sink is knocked over. You should know at this point that the lock on the window above the sink is broken and that's how he got in. We had been telling our landlord for weeks that it needed to be fixed and they had done nothing about it. This window above the sink is only about a foot tall and 2 feet wide, and about 5 feet off the ground so he must have struggled to get in.

I don't see anyone so I finally call the cops. It only takes them about 10 minutes to get there, but by the time they do I'm shaking uncontrollably. I don't know if it is just from coming down off the adrenaline or mild shock, but I can not stop shaking. The cops seem legitimately concerned about me, asking if I am injured or anything. They are worried about my safety first before anything else. After making sure I'm OK they scan the house too. No one is there.

All he got away with was Caleb's laptop, but didn't even get the charging cable because he tried to rip it from the wall when I rushed him. The cops are here for about an hour asking questions and Greg gets home during all of this. They ask him some questions too before leaving. The landlord, when we tell him about all this, is really cool about it. He promptly fixed our window, reimbursed Caleb for his laptop and mostly just felt bad they didn't fix the window in time to prevent this.

It's been 8 years since then and nothing like that has happened to me again, even though part of me wants it to because I miss the adrenaline rush. So, guy who broke into my house, I'd almost like to meet you again, but let's not.