Real Encounters

*The PuppyCam*

I had to move back in with my parents for a few months after college. They had just gotten a purebred, Border Collie puppy who they coddled endlessly and basically let him do whatever he pleased. However, since he was having trouble being housebroken, they had to crate him when they weren't in the house.

Since they treated him like a human baby, they bought a high-tech NannyCam and had it set up in the kitchen, aimed at his crate. That way, they could watch him when they were out of the house and make sure he wasn't using it as a toilet or barking to disturb the neighbors. It had full range of motion and could see most of the rooms downstairs. The kitchen, the dining room, and the living room.

My parents had to go take care of my grandmother for a month while I was living there, and they left me in charge of the house and the dog. He didn't need his crate much since I was usually home to help out, so I figured they wouldn't be using the camera. Every day, though, I noticed it had always moved a little from its original position, aimed at the crate. Instead it would be aimed at the couch in the living room, or even at the ceiling. Initially, I figured it was just them checking up on me. I was a little annoyed, but I figured they were just having fun and missed me.

One day, though, I heard it whirring. I looked and saw it pointed right at me, where I was sitting and watching TV. I got up and took a few steps, and the camera continued to follow my every move.

I got creeped out. I called my mom and asked why she was looking at the camera, and she said, "Honey, I haven't used it since we left!"

"Then someone's watching me! This is crazy! I need to unplug it!" I said.

"Don't you dare! It's probably nothing. Just leave it like it is."

She told me not to even cover it, (I'm not sure why? What was her fear, anyway? How was a camera she wasn't using more important than her daughter being safe?), but I still put a cloth napkin over it. Since she said she wasn't using the camera, I figured she wouldn't mind. The second I walked off, though, the camera started moving back and forth so quickly it knocked off the napkin.

I propped up a piece of paper in front of it that read "Enjoying my boring life, you piece of shit?" but whoever was watching me simply turned the lens away from the paper. I thought about just unplugging it and hoping she wouldn't notice, but I knew that, for whatever reason, this camera was SUPER important to my mom, so I decided to try a different tactic.

I waited until the camera went on another one of its following sprees again where it tracked my movements. Then, I grabbed a knife and pointed into the camera. I shouted, "I WILL kill you, you freak! And then hit/shook the camera. (By this point, it had been going on for 2 weeks.)

The camera didn't move again until after I moved out, when my mom told me she saw it watching them watch TV one night. They unplugged it.