Long and scary night...

I was driving home from our local grocery store with Ben after piano lessons last night; the store is about a block from our house. When I pulled into our neighborhood I noticed a matte, black car behind me. Something about the car gave me a REALLY creepy feeling -- I have no idea why but I felt like it was following me. It kept speeding up and slowing down weirdly... I drive slowly down our neighborhood so people usually tailgate me... this car was keeping a long distance.

Deciding it was better to be paranoid and safe I drove past my driveway. The road I live on comes out at both ends onto a major road but within the neighborhood is a secondary street that makes a loop. I drove down my street but at the last second I swerved the wrong way around the triangle onto the secondary loop. The car did not follow me so I felt relieved and headed back home the long way. I was even laughing at myself for being paranoid.

As I pulled back down my street towards my house I saw ahead of me that the car had turned around and was now coming back and turning onto the secondary loop! Now I felt scared. There was no reason for someone who did not live on that loop to turn onto it. And why would someone drive past it and THEN turn around? So I (again) did not pull into my driveway but followed the car. It sped up and headed towards the main road. I caught up with it just before it turned onto the main road and took down the plates. By the time I wrote down the plate number and pulled out the car was gone...

As soon as I got home I called Officer T* who patrols our neighborhood. He recommended hiding my car in the garage and said he would run the plates and patrol that night. Well... he called me back at 9pm. The plates are registered to a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT car than the one I saw -- the plates belong to a fancy sports car. So they may be stolen. This made me feel even MORE freaked out. Especially given the number of robberies in the surrounding neighborhood in the last few months.

Last night we all slept in one bed and the dog slept in the room with us. Ok... I must confess I did not sleep much. I was up most of the night watching movies on TV. With the phone in my hand. And the alarm on.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds perfectly terrifying (or you are completely paranoid).
What do you make out of it?
What was the sense for this car to follow you?
If they wanted to do the robbery on your house, they did not need your keys or approval. What is going on in your neighborhood?
Olga

Tina in CT said...

Thank goodness you had a strange feeling about the car and that you have a cop friend. It's good that you have an alarm and a dog.

Have the police figured why there have been so many robberies in the area?

I take it that it was you, the boys and dog and no Ian.

I wish I had an alarm system. I do have a dog that barks at the slightest thing.

Joe Ganci said...

Wow, that sounds really scary, Katya. Glad you had your wits about you and did the right thing. Driving past your house was a very good idea. Taking down the license plate number was a great idea too. The fact that the plates or the car or both were stolen points to the fact that someone was up to no good!

Glad you're OK.

MoscowMom said...

Oh, Katya! How horrible! WAY TO GO with your instinct and quick thinking. Did the boys realize what was going on? Was Ian home???

Anonymous said...

this is why you should buy a gun... many guns... possibly a grenade launcher and some anti-aircraft equipment... just in case.

freaky, though...


L

Anonymous said...

I doubt you want many guns, and I'm sure you don't want a grenade launcher, but you may want something more potent than an adorably snuggly dog — maybe a "youth" shotgun — if things continue to look scary.