I grew up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood growing up and when I was around 13 my parents left me with my older cousins to go on a date night. My parents didn’t trust the neighborhood we lived in enough to leave me alone for a few hours at night.
We had been binge watching a few shows when we hear a knock on the door. We hadn’t ordered anything and none of my cousins had invited anyone. Even though it was strange it wasn’t unusual because unfortunately my cousins were affiliated with the gangs in my area.
My older cousin Ricardo grabs his gun before answering the door. He walks up and opens it up. All I hear is silence for a moment before Ricardo walks back. I couldn’t see what or who was at the door from where I was sitting but all I saw was a blank face on my cousins face. He was a white as a ghost.
I ask him who it was and it looks like he just snapped back to reality. He says “it’s nothing worry bout it man” I take his word. And go back to watching tv. A few moments later we hear a knock again. But a bit more aggressive. My other cousin Carlos gets up this time but Ricardo looks at him and just slowly nods his head no. Carlos sits back down. When I realize that Ricardo has been clenching his gun this entire time.
I start to worry because Ricardo doesn’t have this type of personality where he clenches his gun in fear . He thinks he can take on everything and everyone, but this time it’s different he looks like he saw the worst thing ever. And then again more knocking even more aggressive than before. Carlos gets up and says “I’m just going to check it out dog” when Ricardo screams “NO! don’t. You can’t..”
Carlos asks “why?” Ricardo seems like he can’t think of a way to explain it. When this time instead of knocking we hear a door open when a deep voice says “it’s fine I can just invite myself in” my cousin Ricardo Grabs me and tells to my other cousin “WE GOTTA GO!” That’s when we start to run. I have no idea where we are going but they are running as fast as the wind. Until eventually we get to my cousins Carlos’s car, my cousins Carlos starts up the car while Ricardo puts me in the backseat. And jumps into the passengers seat. And Carlos hits the gas. For a second I catch what seems like a tall disfigured man in a blue suit.
My cousin just keeps driving. Until we get pulled over by a cop. We seen him step out the vehicle. He comes up to the window. My cousin rolls the windows down. My cousin explains the whole situation. The cop offered to bring us back to the station. When I look out the back window I see the same tall man running at full speed with a knife. I scream out “LOOK” the cop turns around and sees the man. Pulls out his gun and shoots him in the leg. I see the man collapse. The cop takes the knife out of the man’s hand then searched him. He found one picture. It was a picture of me playing with my friends at the park with it written on the back saying “one day they will all be mine” my friends had also talked about some of the local gang members seeing a tall man lurking around the block. Some of them going up to the guy telling him this ain’t where he lives so he should leave. They said he would hiss like a cat and then run away.
They tested his finger prints to see who he was but all the tests would come back as an error. Either way they locked him up for attemptive murder. But strangely one day his cell was just empty. No signs of escaping either.
I am 25 now but I still always keep my, my head on a swivel because I know that thing is out there somewhere . Looking for me planning his next move. I don’t think I can ever truly feel safe anymore…..