B and E

My best friend Lauren is visiting me for the rest of the month. She got in on Thursday evening and she's staying until I check out of this place. We had a pretty good first weekend but thanks in part to her jet lag and in part to our partying habits our sleeping patterns have gotten really erratic. On Sunday night we found ourselves conking out at about 10pm. After a lame attempt to stay awake for Sex and the City we gave in and turned off all of the lights.

A couple of hours later I was somehow pulled from what must have been the deepest sleep I've ever been in. I mean I was dead in the middle of a REM cycle, when for some reason I rolled over in bed. I could tell it was late although I couldn't see the clock. I looked up and saw Lauren over by the window. Suspecting that she was having trouble sleeping through the night because we went to bed so early, I asked her in a very sleepy tone "what are you doing?" She stopped dead in her tracks and didn't say anything. She was stunned into silence and she just stared at me breathing rather heavily. Then she slowly started to get down from her perch on the windowsill. Annoyed and disturbed by her lack of response I said more authoritatively "WHAT are you DOING?!" This louder attempt at getting an answer roused the REAL Lauren from her slumber in the bed next to me. She rolled over and having noticed the figure formerly suspected of being Lauren, said in a very scared voice "get out of here!" The figure turned on a flashlight, stepped onto my desk chair and ever so creepily guided itself to the front door of my apartment. Without panicking or hurrying, it unlocked the door from the inside and escorted itself out.

Totally confused and shocked by what just happened I got up and locked the door right away. After returning to my bed Lauren and I were finally able to find our voices and immediately started screaming and freaking out by what just happened. What did just happen? I live on the second floor! There's no way some stranger was just in my place! Is there?

Upon closer inspection and having replayed the incident over and over again we have come to this conclusion. A man, who may or may not have been wearing something akin to a TEVA sandal, scaled the wall of my apartment building using the one inch thick pipes that snake up the walls as foot and hand holds. The figure slid the screen to the side and pulled himself noiselessly into the window from a pipe about three and a half feet down. It is unclear what the man came for but he was seemingly prepared to look for it since he had a flashlight. It was pouring rain at the time but he left nothing more than two wet footprints. Had he been casing the neighborhood or out walking around I'm sure he would have left a puddle by the window. This leads me to believe the man is from the neighborhood and has an apartment nearby or he came in a car. It seems unlikely that if the man had spent any time in the neighborhood that he could somehow not be aware of the fact that I lived there. I mean, in a country with very little physical diversity I find it hard to believe that everyone doesn't know where the big, tall "yellow-haired" American lives in an all-Korean apartment building and neighborhood. Compounded by the fact that my locked bike was stolen from in front of my building a few weeks ago, it is hard for me not to think that I was targeted. Although it can be assumed that the man had to know someone would be home at 4am on a Monday morning, it is unclear as to whether or not he knew that I had company, nor if he knew that I live in a studio apartment and therefore am more likely to hear or feel the presence of an intruder.

I called my boss immediately after it happened. She seemed much less concerned than I and instructed me to lock my windows and try to get some sleep. Neither was an option given my state of panic and the lack of air conditioning in my overheated apartment so we opted instead to stay awake all night. The next day I went to work and demanded that something be done. Here I am two days later having had two companies come out to measure my windows for bars without any actual progress being made.