So Iām becoming increasingly sure that one of my neighbors is spying on me.
Context: I live in a ground-floor apartment. Mine and the three other apartments that span the one wall of the complex all have sliding patio doors that open up onto a shared walkway. This is ostensibly supposed to be a fire/emergency exit path, but our manager doesnāt care if we treat the area outside our doors like little patios, so long as the path remains clear for people to pass. I have a lot of plants out there, as well as my bike. The gates on either end of the path are unlocked to exit but locked to enter, making the only people with access to the path those people who live in one of the four apartments. I know all the people in those units. I donāt know their names, but we say hi to each other in passing and make small talk. When one of their cats escaped, we all helped look. When my car wouldnāt start, they gave me a jump. That kind of relationship.
At the beginning of July, my air conditioning broke. I was dealing with a bunch of health stuff and hospitalization, so I wasnāt able to do anything about asking management to fix it until the beginning of august. They still havenāt fixed it.
I live in Los Angeles. Itās the summer. Itās hot as hell. The only way Iāve been able to cope is by opening my patio doors once things cool down after dark and letting some fresh air in. But still, it is VERY hot (and I have heat intolerance due to long covid). About a week or so ago, I got so overheated that after opening the patio doors, I took my shirt off and just sat on the couch topless in front of a fan. My patio doors have curtains, and the curtains were closed, plus itās nighttime and Iām on the end of the row and so get very little traffic going past my door. Iām sitting there with a pillow across my tits using it as a rest for my phone, but otherwise just wearing shorts, but I figure it should be fine. The guy who lives next doorās tv is on. I can hear it clearly, so maybe his patio door is open too.
As Iām scrolling the internet, I swear I see some movement outside my doors, just in a crack between the curtains. I turn to look, thinking maybe one of the neighbors is walking past, but no one continues past my apartment, and I donāt see anything directly, although I could swear as I turned my head the movement ducked to the side, out of view. I am spooked, but go back to scrolling, hyper aware of any movement in my peripheral vision. I become increasingly certain that I keep seeing some sort of movement, and what looks like the edge of a garment- as if someone is outside to the side of the window peering in and occasionally crosses over too far to where I can see the edge of their clothes. Now Iām very spooked, but Iām naked and too chickenshit to go over and stick my head out the door and look. Instead I get up, trying to keep myself covered and turned away, and lock myself in my room for a few minutes and put on clothes. When I return, I shut my patio door. The neighborās tv is now off.
Over the course of the week, I start to believe that I must have been imagining things. It was probably a reflection that I was seeing. The most likely person to be creeping on me given the geography of the place would be that neighbor whoās tv was on, but heās also the neighbor who Iāve talked to the most and know the best. Heās about my age, maybe a little younger, and has lived here longer than I have. Our parking spaces are next to each other, and heās helped me out when Iāve had car trouble. One time he offered me a slice of pizza. Weāve had a hundred interactions, and heās never given me a creepy vibe, or seemed remotely attracted to me. Just friendly. So I must be imagining things.
Then yesterday evening Iām driving out of the parking lot and notice that the gate to the walkway is propped open. I had no sooner said āwhy the hell is the gate openā when I round the corner and there in the alley is that same neighbor and a handful of guys who I can only presume are his friends. Theyāre hanging out on the back of a pickup truck and talking, and then they suddenly all turn and look at me and wave and smile like they know me, or know of me. It was disconcerting and unsettling, but again, I thought I might just be paranoid.
Then tonight, I opened my patio doors once again and did my daily exercises. No sign of anyone outside. Iām wearing at least some clothes this time. I sit on the couch to do my sitting exercises, then transition to the floor preparing to do some floor training when I swear I see it again- the edge of something beige and vaguely human-shaped- this time right on the edge of the curtain line on the other side of the door screen. I look up properly and burst out āhello?ā but it disappears to the side, and once again I am too paralyzed with fear to jump up and go to the door and look outside. I sat exactly where I was on the floor for several minutes, trying to hear if there was any movement and debating if I should call the police, before finally getting up and shutting the door. I didnāt look outside, but Iām sure if there had been anyone there, they made a hasty retreat after that āhello?ā.
Iām freaked out. My brain keeps wanting to assign it to another reflection or the breeze moving something, but it was in a different place this time. If it was a plant or cable or fabric being caught by the breeze, as I had dismissed it as the first time, it wouldnāt suddenly be five feet further over now. And it wasnāt through the glass this time, but through the screen, so it couldnāt have been a reflection of something in my apartment.
Iāve order a security camera, which should show up today. Iām hoping I can hide it in my plants, and maybe find out if Iām actually being spied on. I tried to look up resources, but without proof that someone actually is watching me, or who that person is, there doesnāt seem to be a lot that can be done for me.
So yeah. Very spooked, and unsure what to do about it.
titsay
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
annaxmalina
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
blakekathryn
