Rude Awakening

My dad once told me that locks only keep honest people out. If someone really wants to break in, a lock will not stop them. I know this from experience. Last night was the most recent experience.

I was sleeping over at someone else’s house. They had asked me to house sit while they were out of town. I have no problem doing this as I live with a roommate so my place would not be left alone either. I have house-sat for them before and I quite enjoy it. They have satellite radio and a home theatre system that I take full advantage of while I am over.

The only problem is that I am a bit of a light sleeper. I have been woken up by neighbourhood kids a couple of times over here. They are usually just passing by. So last night when I heard some banging noises, it woke me up but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I tried to go back to sleep. The noises continued for ten minutes and it was unusual so I decided to investigate. I looked out the bedroom window but I couldn’t see anything.

I got out of bed and could hear that the sounds were coming from the basement. I flicked on the light and I could hear movement. I opened the front door and went around the side of the house. Two teenagers were climbing out of the basement window. They ran away quickly when they saw me. I went back in the house and saw one more person scooting out the window.
It was only four o’clock in the morning and quite a rude awakening. I couldn’t get back to sleep after that. The kids were long gone and I don’t think that they will come back but it is still disturbing. I can’t even remember what they look like or what they were wearing so I can’t give a good description to the police. I am not sure if they took anything though because this is not my house and the basement is quite cluttered. There isn’t much I can do at this point.

I felt guilty for not getting up for ten minutes. What if they took a bunch of things in that time? But now, hours later, I feel relieved that I was here so that they didn’t get a lot more. There are a lot of things to tempt thieves here. It’s one of the reasons I like house-sitting for my friends.

So that was my rude awakening this morning. I don’t know if I will be able to sleep well again until my friends return and I can go sleep in my own bed again. I guess I am glad that I was here, that my friends weren’t cleaned out, but I also feel violated. It is not a good feeling at all.


2 responses to “Rude Awakening”

  1. Be happy that you didn’t surprise them in the act. That 10 minutes may have saved your life. You could be sleeping in the hospital tonight. I’m glad to hear you are ok. S