This is a story from when I was a twenty three year old female going to college so I was more focused on getting my life together than dating. Valentine’s day was fast approaching and of course I didn’t have a “special someone” in my life to go with. So a co-worker of mine thought it want be a good idea to hook me up with a single guy she knows named Jack. Jack and I talked on the phone for a few days before meeting in person. When we eventually met Jack brought flowers and candy and immediately told me how attracted he was to me, even saying that I was “his girl” now. I knew it was a weird thing to say when some people first met but I just let it off because I thought he was attractive. He was 6’1”, I was 5’3”. He had a cute smile and he seemed really sweet so I just brushed the oddness off. We hung out for a few weeks and during that time he started acting very strange and funny. He also started being very quiet, and would always ask questions about me and told me a lot about his personal life. He never spoke to any of my family or friends that came to visit often, he always wanted to occupy my time and always wanted to know what I was doing. He would also get angry if I was busy or had other plans. He wasn’t physically abusive but he was very possessive, he even told me he loved me a month after knowing him. I kind of laughed it off thinking he was joking around, one night he actually got on his knees to propose to me. I told him we had only been dating for a few months and we should wait until we are both ready and besides he didn’t even have a ring. He said he was ready to get married as soon as possible. He even told me that we could go to the court house now and I can buy you a ring later. “No thank you” I said. If it is meant to be we will get married when the time comes. The very next week he gets back on his knees and proposed to me again, still no ring. Pressuring me saying he was ready now. At this point I started to freak out a little bit. Not only was he very clingy but he was moving way too fast for me. I mean we had only been dating for a couple of months and I was still focused on work and school. So I decided it would be best if we took a break from hanging out for a while. He got this really weird look on his face and got really quiet, but eventually he started smiling and agreed with me that we should take a break. After a few days from not hearing from him I came home to find him sitting on my doorsteps. “what are you doing there” I say. He replies with “I am waiting for you”. After an awkward moment of silence. I told him he had to go home. He got up and left but then he started stopping by at my place. If. I was ever there I would pretend not to be. He would keep pounding the door for thirty minutes as the door screamed in pain. Sometimes he would leave for a couple minutes then come back. He started waiting on my doorsteps waiting for me so much. I had to hide at my neighbor’s apartment down the street to wait until he eventually left. He even called my cell phone nonstop and I just ignored him. After a couple of months of this he just stopped all of a sudden. I was relieved that he might of finally gotten the point. After about three peaceful months of not hearing from him, I get a call from an unfamiliar number. I answered and it was Jack! He wanted to know how I was doing which immediately hit a giant panic button to me, then he said he wanted to see me! He even told me he told his mother about me and she wanted to meet me too. I got super creeped out and a little upset and I told him no. To lose my number and to stop calling me. I guess he heard the opposite because he started knocking on my door again. He knocked on my door a couple of times and each time I had a friend or family member tell him to leave and not come back. Each time he creepily smiled and said he understood. The third time he came over was the last straw for me I had my best friend tell him I wasn’t there. I was but I was in hiding. He even asked her if he could wait in my apartment  for me until I got back. She told him no and then he tried to force his way in. My friend yelled my name and told me to help her shut the door. Heart racing I told him I was going to call the police if he didn’t leave and to never come back. I heard him mumble something through the door and then him walking down the stairs. I ended up not calling the police that night. But I regret that decision to this day. Jump forward five or six months later. It was a bright sunny Saturday afternoon. Two of my younger sisters 13 and 17 were visiting. I was laying in my bed because I had a major migraine. Since I lived alone I have gotten used to leaving my bedroom door open so I could hear everything. I could hear them talking about Vanilla Sky, the tom cruise movie. I could also hear them laughing and playing outside. Nothing weird what so ever. I took more aspirin, then dozed off again, but I was shortly awakened by a loud bam! At first I had thought a kid bounced a ball or something off my door, then I heard it again and my sisters started yelling. I yelled at myself “what the heck was that”! About to get up to see what was going on. All I heard was screaming. And then a man saying “get the hell up”. I started to panic. So this part might sound kind of messed up, but sense I had no idea what was going on or who were the persons were. I slowly closed my door and locked it with the dresser, sat on the floor in front of it and called 911. In my state of mind I thought It would be better to get the police over asap, instead of risking my life even further by running in to an unknown situation. Maybe the intruder didn’t know there was a third person there. Anyway I told the operator that someone had broken into my apartment and sounded like he was threatening my sisters, that the police needed to come fast. The operator asked me a lot of questions like how many, or what the intruders looked like. But of course I couldn’t say because I was still laying in my bed when It happened. While im speaking with the 911 operator I could hear the mans voice asking “where is your sister? She doesn’t know what I had to do for her, I love her”. I heard more screams and then I heard “shes in the room”. At that point my heart started beating triple the speed. I don’t know why they told this person where I was. Maybe just out of pure terror or maybe just to get me back for not getting out of my room to check the situation. But next thing I know my bedroom door is being kicked hard, so hard I thought I actually started sliding along the floor. The intruder stops kicking at my door and yells “if you don’t open the door right now, I’ll kill everybody”. I was so scared literally crying and begging, asking the 911 operator where the police were at. The whole ideal was only about 5 min but in a situation like this time slows way down and it seemed like it went on for hours. I guess the intruder heard me talking to 911 because all of a sudden he stopped and started running out of the apartment. I was still on the phone crying with the door shut. One of my sisters knocked and said I was ok to come out because he was gone. I opened the door and asked who “he” was. They said it was Jack, I couldn’t believe it. In broad daylight Jack kicked in my door with a sawed- off shotgun and threatened to kill my sisters and myself. The police ended up catching him a week or so later. During this time I found out through the police report that there was a previous incident that occurred with Jack a couple of weeks before mine, and the police were called because someone was shooting a shotgun in the air. When the police arrived they found Jack playing with a gun. They asked why and Jack said because someone had broken into his apartment stolen his weed and cut off the tip of his tongue, the police just gave him a ticket. I actually helped catch him by giving the police one of his family members numbers addresses I found in the phone book and they got him on his way to his house. He confessed right there, but after he was arrested he plead not-guilty. He ended up taking a plead deal and only ended up serving 5 years. I moved to a different state after that I heard a scarier part, that when he got released, he moved into a half-way house literally across the street from my old apartment where he kicked my door in. 11 years have passed and I still don’t feel completely safe. I feel that at any moment I could run into him randomly. I moved constantly, changed my number every year. I carry pepper spray and tazers everywhere I go now, and never go to bed without making sure the doors and windows are locked tight. I even put a chair under the door knob before I go to sleep at night.