I have committed a crime. One that I would immediately come to regret. I’ve been so afraid, I haven’t gone for any walks outside since.
It all started when I would frequently pass by an apartment complex and see those plastic skeletons that people would have as decorations. I love skeletons. Skeletons are amazing. I have enjoyed the aesthetic of the skeletons ever since I was a little boy and saw The Nightmare Before Christmas. There’s something about so inherently charming about them, with their flamboyant personalities and/or quirkiness and all. So when I saw that skeleton when I was walking down the street, my immediate thought was to steal it one of these days.
Day after day I would keep passing by that skeleton and looking at the area surrounding it so I could get a good feel of it and start planning in my head. On the night I actually decided to do it it was 2 AM and I finished up a game of Town of Salem on the family laptop in the living room. I got my house keys and put on a face mask and put my shoes on and went outside. I finally get to the front of the apartment and it looks like no one is there and it’s really dark out so I open the fence and walk up to the skeleton right next to one of those weird bench-like thingies in the air that are held up from the ceiling with ropes but the skeleton was covered under a huge sheet of fake spider webs that were very sturdy which made it impossible to move the skeleton quickly. Then I hear a voice from behind me.
A man across the other side of the street over 20 feet away from me was yelling at me because he saw what I did. Even though it was dark enough where I couldn’t make out his features and we were super far away from each other, I panicked. My mind could only think of one word: run.
”Why are you running!?” said the man in a tone that was a mixture of condescending and mad in a way that perfect enough to intimidate me. I don’t think I ever ran so fast in my life. Within seconds I couldn’t see him anymore, but I was so paranoid I thought he could catch up to me at any moment. I made the most loudest, fastest, breaths I ever made in my life just so I could keep running. Feeling even more paranoid I would try to find an alleyway to hide in to catch my breath but the super loud breaths wouldn’t stop. This whole thing about me feeling panicked while running from a threat and going into hiding spots reminded me of Haunting Ground, a game which I had beaten twice not too long before this.
I had finally began to lose some energy when I got closer to my home. However I kept seeing the occasional car with their headlights on pass by, which had made me afraid of the possibility of the guy getting into his car to try to chase me. I started speed walking when I began to walk over to my block and I had gotten my key chain out of my pocket and tried searching for the one that would open the front gate. The key I choose was wrong and that made me slightly more afraid and frantic. I then inserted the correct key into the front gate and entered my apartment complex where I opened my door which I kept unlocked and then I locked both locks on both of the doors which lead to the apartment before realizing how badly my legs were starting to hurt. It felt like they could explode at any minute.
I took off my shoes and my face mask and I went inside my bedroom were I put my keys away and I went to bed but I didn’t fall asleep before I heard some police cars faintly...