Well That Really Sucked
Around 6pm on August 20th I was just getting ready to leave work. I had just finished closing the park. I was gathering everything I needed to turn in into my arms when Josh knocked on the door. He had been waiting for me because I was taking him home. I opened the door. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. I said yes.
"Good because I've been robbed."
He said it so straight faced and calm that I smiled, waiting for the rest of the joke. "Robbed of what?" I pressed.
Still straight faced he said, "My apartment, it's been robbed. Someone broke in through the window."
I finished the rest of my paperwork so fast it definitely was not correct. On my brisk walk to the car a sense of dread starting spreading through me. I had been at his apartment last night, and I had planned to go back this afternoon, so I had left my laptop there. I could picture exactly where I had left it, leaning up against the wall right by the window. The only window in the room.
When I got in the car I asked him if he knew what was taken. He didn't.
"I left my computer there." I managed to say
"It's gone." He said bluntly, "Wait, where did you leave it."
"Right by the window, it was definitely taken." I didn't have any hope.
As we drove I thought about everything I had on that computer. All of my school files, music and movies, and every single picture and video I had taken on Semester at Sea. All of my memories, gone. I broke down crying.
Josh called the police while we were in the car but they told him to call back when he was hope so they could get his location.
We got to his apartment in 12 minutes and were out of the car and up the stairs so quickly I didn't remember where we parked.
He lives in the back of the building, his window and the front door face nothing but trees. The window was smashed precisely right by the lock, glass littered the ground right underneath it.
We went in the door and my eyes immediately went for that spot on the wall. Empty. I sank to the ground, my life was gone. At least that's how I felt in that moment.
Josh was on the phone again. The police were on their way, at least that is what they said.
The room was a mess, things were strewn everywhere, all over the ground and bed. Things had been pulled out of the closet. Josh's desk was pulled out from the wall and everything was unplugged but his desktop was still there, a miracle.
Zach came inside off of the porch where he had been on the phone. He had been hit pretty hard, they took his Xbox including all of its accessories and his laptop. As far as Josh could tell, nothing of his was missing.
The 911 operator has told us not to touch anything so we found ourselves outside on the landing of the stairs. Zach was distressed, Josh was mad, and I was just in my head thinking about all the different things on my computer.
I called my mom and told her. I called my dad but he didn't answer. He's the one I wanted to talk to most, he always knew what to do.
At some point, while standing on that landing, it came to me that I had a time machine. No, not the futuristic device used to travel through time but the apple product used to back up your computer. It sits in my apartment, always running, always storing the data on my computer. It hit me all at once. I was saved. Sure, my computer was gone, but my data lived. My pictures and videos that are so dear to me are backed up in a tiny white box. All I needed was a new laptop and I would be able to restore it all.
I felt a lot calmer. Yes, it sucked that our stuff was taken but in the long run it was just stuff, and no one was hurt. I could only imagine what would have happened if someone had been in the apartment when the person broke in.
We stood out on that landing for a long time. It was hot and uncomfortable but there wasn't many other places for us to go. Josh went and got some ice cream out of his freezer and we sat there passing around a spoon. The cake batter deliciousness helped a little.
Eventually we ended up in my car, where there was AC. While we were sitting there Josh was mulling over what of his could be gone. It was me that realized it, "You're PS3, was your PS3 there?"
His eyes widened. It definitely wasn't there.
We were still sitting in my car when the officer from the sherifs office showed up. It past 8:30.
We were relieved right away. All three of us were afraid that the officer wouldn't take our little break in very seriously. That he would just ask us a few questions, take some pictures and be on his way. Especially since it took him almost two hours to get to us. But that wasn't the case at all. He took his time and was very thorough.
The first thing he did was teach us the difference between a home invasion, a robbery, and a burglary. In a home invasion the person breaks in while you are in the house and points a gun at you. A robbery is when you are approached violently on the street and they take things from you. A robbery is what happened to us, someone breaks into your residence while you are not there and takes your belongings. So at least it wasn't a home invasion.
We led him upstairs and he looked at the window. He gave Josh gloves to wear to open the door. We took him into Josh's room, all the time answering many questions: Did you touch anything? Who came home first? Who was the last person in the apartment this morning? Who actually lives here?
He settled us into the kitchen to start making a detailed list of everything that was taken while he began fingerprinting the room. He fingerprinted the desk, the door handle, and the window.
Fingerprint dust gets everywhere and is so hard to get rid of. It comes off easily but it doesn't stick to much so it just spreads around and stays on your hands and one tiny dot of it can just spread like wildfire. Not enjoyable.
When we were done with our list he had us all sign something. Then Josh's actually roommates came home into the chaos and there were people running everywhere and talking about what happened and playing detective. The officer left and knocked on some doors and then came back and then left again and then came back so that the boys could talk to him about the window and then actually left for real.
Then Josh called the emergency maintenance for his apartment complex so that they could come fix the window but they didn't have the piece of glass handy so the guy came and just taped some cardboard over it. While this was happening I tried to clean up the fingerprint dust all over the desk and failed miserably, getting it all over my face in the process.
I was also hangry by that point. If you have never heard of hangry that is because it is a made up word meaning you are angry because you are so hungry. It is a real thing and I had not eaten since the middle of the afternoon except for two spoonfuls of cake batter ice cream.
So we went and got Wendy's at 11 o'clock at night. It was the first time I had eaten fast food in a long while and it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. Well, not really but you know… it was.
You know what the worst part of this whole night was? We were supposed to go to game night at Tori's house and we were supposed to bring Zach with us so that he could experience it and we could have fun together. But some creep decided to ruin it by breaking in and now I get the heebie jeebies thinking about the fact that some stranger was all up in Josh's room.
*shudder*
"Good because I've been robbed."
He said it so straight faced and calm that I smiled, waiting for the rest of the joke. "Robbed of what?" I pressed.
Still straight faced he said, "My apartment, it's been robbed. Someone broke in through the window."
I finished the rest of my paperwork so fast it definitely was not correct. On my brisk walk to the car a sense of dread starting spreading through me. I had been at his apartment last night, and I had planned to go back this afternoon, so I had left my laptop there. I could picture exactly where I had left it, leaning up against the wall right by the window. The only window in the room.
When I got in the car I asked him if he knew what was taken. He didn't.
"I left my computer there." I managed to say
"It's gone." He said bluntly, "Wait, where did you leave it."
"Right by the window, it was definitely taken." I didn't have any hope.
As we drove I thought about everything I had on that computer. All of my school files, music and movies, and every single picture and video I had taken on Semester at Sea. All of my memories, gone. I broke down crying.
Josh called the police while we were in the car but they told him to call back when he was hope so they could get his location.
We got to his apartment in 12 minutes and were out of the car and up the stairs so quickly I didn't remember where we parked.
He lives in the back of the building, his window and the front door face nothing but trees. The window was smashed precisely right by the lock, glass littered the ground right underneath it.
We went in the door and my eyes immediately went for that spot on the wall. Empty. I sank to the ground, my life was gone. At least that's how I felt in that moment.
Josh was on the phone again. The police were on their way, at least that is what they said.
The room was a mess, things were strewn everywhere, all over the ground and bed. Things had been pulled out of the closet. Josh's desk was pulled out from the wall and everything was unplugged but his desktop was still there, a miracle.
Zach came inside off of the porch where he had been on the phone. He had been hit pretty hard, they took his Xbox including all of its accessories and his laptop. As far as Josh could tell, nothing of his was missing.
The 911 operator has told us not to touch anything so we found ourselves outside on the landing of the stairs. Zach was distressed, Josh was mad, and I was just in my head thinking about all the different things on my computer.
I called my mom and told her. I called my dad but he didn't answer. He's the one I wanted to talk to most, he always knew what to do.
At some point, while standing on that landing, it came to me that I had a time machine. No, not the futuristic device used to travel through time but the apple product used to back up your computer. It sits in my apartment, always running, always storing the data on my computer. It hit me all at once. I was saved. Sure, my computer was gone, but my data lived. My pictures and videos that are so dear to me are backed up in a tiny white box. All I needed was a new laptop and I would be able to restore it all.
I felt a lot calmer. Yes, it sucked that our stuff was taken but in the long run it was just stuff, and no one was hurt. I could only imagine what would have happened if someone had been in the apartment when the person broke in.
We stood out on that landing for a long time. It was hot and uncomfortable but there wasn't many other places for us to go. Josh went and got some ice cream out of his freezer and we sat there passing around a spoon. The cake batter deliciousness helped a little.
Eventually we ended up in my car, where there was AC. While we were sitting there Josh was mulling over what of his could be gone. It was me that realized it, "You're PS3, was your PS3 there?"
His eyes widened. It definitely wasn't there.
We were still sitting in my car when the officer from the sherifs office showed up. It past 8:30.
We were relieved right away. All three of us were afraid that the officer wouldn't take our little break in very seriously. That he would just ask us a few questions, take some pictures and be on his way. Especially since it took him almost two hours to get to us. But that wasn't the case at all. He took his time and was very thorough.
The first thing he did was teach us the difference between a home invasion, a robbery, and a burglary. In a home invasion the person breaks in while you are in the house and points a gun at you. A robbery is when you are approached violently on the street and they take things from you. A robbery is what happened to us, someone breaks into your residence while you are not there and takes your belongings. So at least it wasn't a home invasion.
We led him upstairs and he looked at the window. He gave Josh gloves to wear to open the door. We took him into Josh's room, all the time answering many questions: Did you touch anything? Who came home first? Who was the last person in the apartment this morning? Who actually lives here?
He settled us into the kitchen to start making a detailed list of everything that was taken while he began fingerprinting the room. He fingerprinted the desk, the door handle, and the window.
Fingerprint dust gets everywhere and is so hard to get rid of. It comes off easily but it doesn't stick to much so it just spreads around and stays on your hands and one tiny dot of it can just spread like wildfire. Not enjoyable.
When we were done with our list he had us all sign something. Then Josh's actually roommates came home into the chaos and there were people running everywhere and talking about what happened and playing detective. The officer left and knocked on some doors and then came back and then left again and then came back so that the boys could talk to him about the window and then actually left for real.
Then Josh called the emergency maintenance for his apartment complex so that they could come fix the window but they didn't have the piece of glass handy so the guy came and just taped some cardboard over it. While this was happening I tried to clean up the fingerprint dust all over the desk and failed miserably, getting it all over my face in the process.
I was also hangry by that point. If you have never heard of hangry that is because it is a made up word meaning you are angry because you are so hungry. It is a real thing and I had not eaten since the middle of the afternoon except for two spoonfuls of cake batter ice cream.
So we went and got Wendy's at 11 o'clock at night. It was the first time I had eaten fast food in a long while and it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. Well, not really but you know… it was.
You know what the worst part of this whole night was? We were supposed to go to game night at Tori's house and we were supposed to bring Zach with us so that he could experience it and we could have fun together. But some creep decided to ruin it by breaking in and now I get the heebie jeebies thinking about the fact that some stranger was all up in Josh's room.
*shudder*
