CREEPY CATALOG

I Recorded Myself Sleeping Because I Thought I Had Sleep Apnea (Part 2)

My dad gulped. I could tell he was going to say something he really didn't want to say.

"I haven't been completely honest with you," he said. "There's...something I need to show you."

The video my dad pulled up on his laptop couldn't have looked more innocent at first. I was watched a trio of pre-teen boys I vaguely recognized from the neighborhood throw dunks into a swimming pool basketball hoop in a sun-drenched suburban backyard.

"Russell Miller, you know, from down the street, his dad gave me this video...a few months ago."

I was about to ask my dad why I would care about Russell Miller and his little buddies holding a pool slam dunk contest, but was interrupted by the bright scene getting interrupted by a close-up of Russell breathing hard in the dark of night.

Russell started to talk in between labored breaths.

"We're eggin' every house up and down this block. No one is safe I swear, not even that big ass guy down the block with the scary-ass German Shepherd."

The video cut to a dark shot of the front of my parents' house slightly obscured by some bushes that were next to the camera. The sound of young boys panting heavily served as the soundtrack until Russell stepped into the shot with an egg in his hand. The boys snickered.

Russell cocked back his arm to launch and I watched the first couple of eggs splatter just above my childhood bedroom window. He grabbed a couple more eggs out of the pocket of his hoodie and cocked back to launch them.

He stopped.

"What the fuck?" Russell whispered and ducked back down behind the camera.

"What happened? What happened?" the cameraman asked.

"There's someone out there," Russell whispered with his eyes glued to my parents' house.

The camera panned through the brush and focused in on my parents' white house that was shining in the pale street light. It took a second for the shot to focus, but my breath disappeared once it did. Standing off to the side of my parents' house, crouching down next to small shrubs was the unmistakable silhouette of a man.

"What the hell is he doing?" the voice of the cameraman whispered.

Scott's gaze turned towards the bushes where the boys were hiding.

"Holy shit. Holy shit." The boys' voices cried out over the final frames of the video.

I looked to my dad with tears in my eyes. He looked like a dog that had just been scolded for going through the trash.

"How did you not tell me this?" I asked with a shuddering jaw.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to make you feel even worse."

"What the fuck, dad?"

"And there's something else I found out I haven't told you about yet. I found out our home security company was owned by the same company Scott Lynn worked for. It just had a different name. I didn't know, but it might mean he could..."

"Tweak your security system," I said with disgust in my voice. "How did you let this happen?"

"There was nothing I could do."

The morning air in my parents' living room we were sitting in suddenly grew cold upon my skin. I thought I could never feel worse than I did a few days ago when we found out about Scott's move to Atlanta in that cramped little office, but I did. I couldn't believe I had been living at my parents' house for so much of the time when Scott was lurking at least outside of the house...and maybe even inside.