What was on the other side of the door?
It was about 1:30 am and I was working on my laptop in the living room. I heard some voices in the hall of what sounded like drunk people coming to or from an apartment. “Rowdy neighbors,” I thought. Suddenly, there was banging on the door. It sounded like the drunk people who were supposed to be leaving causing some trouble as they headed out (or kids being mischievous knocking on doors and running away). I dismissed it since it seemed like a poorly-chosen joke. Then a few minutes later, a couple more thuds followed by the doorknob turning. I was surprised to hear the knocking again and suddenly wondered if someone was trying to figure out if we were home so they could break in or something. When they tried to enter the apartment I got a little freaked out, but I figured the best policy was to act like I wasn’t here.
Unfortunately, I had a light on that you could probably see from the sidewalk, so the knocking continued. This time I carefully tiptoed to the door and hoped that the person wasn’t watching if the peephole got dark from my head blocking the light. There was a slightly disheveled man standing there. He started to call someone on his cell, so it seemed like he’d soon figure out he had the wrong address. I returned to my computer. Just a few minutes later… again, that loud knocking. At this point I wondered if Panda and his dad would wake up. They were already asleep inside the bedroom and didn’t seem to be bothered by this. This time the guy used our metal door knocker for a crisper sound.
Seriously?! It’s in the middle of the night and he won’t go away! Finally, I went up to the door again and looked out. He was just waiting there (and actually looked like a different guy… perhaps there other one was downstairs calling their friend?). I carefully opened the door and stuck out half my face to tell him he had the wrong address, please stop knocking. He looked rather dumbfounded as I quickly shut the door and locked it. By this time I definitely had some nervous energy and I was glad that he was gone, but I felt vulnerable since the porch door was right next to me and the shades weren’t drawn. What if someone climbed over? I’d be terrified.
Of course, much of that was an overactive imagination making ghosts in the dark. That guy didn’t mean to scare the pants off me, but if he hadn’t been drinking perhaps he would have been clearheaded enough to not keep banging on a door if he couldn’t get a hold of his friend. I warily went to sleep and told Panda all about it the next morning. It’s funny because in that moment of stress, I never even considered waking him up, but that’s exactly what he told me to do. In the future I’m sending him to investigate. We’ve also decided to add a welcome mat or door wreath or something to that extent to make our door look different from others – hopefully that will help!
What would you have done in this situation? Would you handle it yourself or wake up a loved one?
