Rude Awakening

The other night I was awakened by a man yelling. It took me a minute to fumble for my glasses and process what was going on. “I want my money mf-er!” Startled, I froze as I attempted to figure out where the shouts were coming from. “Man, I’m not playing with you, give me my shit"

I looked out my bedroom window to see that the noise was coming from the apartment across the way from mine. As the guy continued to yell, he grew more upset, his tone getting louder and his body language shifting. Immediately, I decided to call the police because I didn’t want the situation to escalate any further. It sounded as though thunder was in the sky as he pounded on the door.

The 911 operator asked me a million questions, including my name and phone number. What happened to the days of anonymity? I wondered. As I answered the numerous questions the operator threw out, the man pulled the screen off the window of the apartment. I sat there wondering what was next and how many more questions I’d have to answer in order to have the police dispatched. She asked my cross streets and if my apartment had a gate code. I told her that it did and she asked me the code. How should I know, I wondered to myself, I have a gate pass, I never use it… I had the code in my cell phone so I went to the password keeper on my phone.

I had my eyes glued on the guy and that apartment the entire time and I had finally got my passwords to give the dispatcher the gate code when the man kicked in the front window and ran in the apartment. At that point, all I heard was a woman screaming at the top of her lungs. I panicked at that point and told the operator to hurry because I had no idea what he was doing to her. She asked me if he had a weapon and I said not that I could tell.
Next, he came out of the apartment with a cell phone and threw it over the balcony and went back inside. A couple minutes later he emerged from the apartment in an angry rage. The dispatcher asked me to describe him and as I told her what he had on, I noticed that he was barefoot. After the commotion was over another young guy runs from the apartment, continuously looking over his shoulder.

The operator was finally finished with the inquisition and said that officers would be there shortly. Next, I called Teddy talking a million miles a minute waking him from his sleep, telling him what had been going on. As always he made me feel better, my heart had been racing the entire time. Of course by the time that the police arrived, the guy was gone. The police spoke to the woman who lived in the apartments and picked up fragments from the busted phone on the sidewalk.
The girl’s family members eventually arrived and I tried to do my best to get some rest since I had to work in the morning. Saying that I can’t wait to move is a huge understatement.