Violated

Last night I woke up in the early hours to hear someone making noise in the stairway of my apartment building. They were on my floor - which is the top floor - and I assumed they were trying to make a very unfortunately scheduled visit to one of my neighbors, who, regardless of the ringing of the doorbell and banging on the mail slot refused to open the door. The noise subsided and I fell asleep after a while.

Just after 6 am I woke up again, this time to a strange thudding sound outside my door. At first I didn't remember the nightly intruder and thought he was long gone - I thought the cleaning lady had started a bit early and that she was carelessly swinging with her broom so that it hit my door slightly. Then the banging began. I shoot up off my bed and ran to the living room - my door to the stairway is adjacent to my living room, and even though the door itself is somewhat sturdy, there's hardly any insulation and the noise was pretty loud - not to mention scary. This person was literally banging my door with his fists and probably adding a few kicks in as well -- I thought for sure he would come through the door any minute.

I didn't know what else to do so I called the police (oh and I also grabbed a huge kitchen knife) My hands were shaking pretty badly when I was handling my cell phone, I'll tell ya that much ! The operator was trying to calm me down, telling me nobody could come through the door unless they actually had an axe (gee, thanks for that image) - and they said the patrol was on its way.

The cops took their sweet time to arrive, and when they did, the dude was gone. The officers said someone had passed them on their way to my building, so it could have been just the guy - or alternatively he finally got in to one of the other apartments because I heard a door open and close before the police arrived. My door was fine and there were no damages in the stairway....other than a puddle of pee in the elevator. Nice.

It is strange how violated one can feel after something like this. I wasn't really in any danger - they person was probably just drunk off his head or high on drugs, but I doubt he could've broken through my door.... However, when you are alone in your apartment and the noise is so loud, and you know there's someone inches away from you behaving violently...you can't help but wonder if something really bad is going to happen. My day was ruined and I now feel completely jumpy, even wondering if he'll come back tonight. We do have our main door locked at all hours downstairs, and you can get in only if you know the access code - so I'm hoping he was just some passer by who got in with the mailman and not with the actual code.

Phew.

***

Kutsumattomia vieraita rappukäytävässä yöaikaan - mikä pelottava tunne se onkaan, kun joku hakkaa ja potkii oveasi, ja uskot puolitosissasi hänen tulevan karmit kaulassa sisään kotiisi. Soitto poliisille, ja ikuisuudelta tuntuva odotus...jonka päätteeksi tyyppi rappukäytävästä on hävinnyt ja jälkeen on jäänyt vain virtsalammikko hissiin, yäk !

Olen muutenkin sellainen arkajalka, että vaikkapa jossain kesämökillä en millään uskaltaisi olla yksin yötä. Kerrostaloasuminen on sentään aina tuntunut suhteellisen turvalliselta, ja talossani on kyllä jatkuvasti lukossa oleva alaovi ja asukkaille ovikoodi....mutta olisiko tämä kaveri päässyt aamulehteä jakavan postinkantajan kyljessä sisään - toinen vaihtoehto se, että hän oli pyrkimässä naapuriin ja tiesi ovikoodin joltain aikaisemmalta vierailultaan.

Saa nähdä miten tänä yönä tulee uni silmään. Vähän on uupelo olo, ja varmastikin jokainen kolahdus rappukäytävästä saa pulssin nousemaan. Pahuksen häiriköijät !

Stay away !!