Woman Hears Front Door Open & Thinks Boyfriend Came Home Earlier, Realizes It’s a Stranger

In the “Let’s Not Meet” thread on Reddit, a user described working from home alone and hearing the front door open and close. At first, she thought her partner was home. Her worst dread didn’t come true until she peeked through her bedroom door, which was only slightly ajar.

The boyfriend of the original poster (OP) was a teacher in the town, and as it was a Tuesday, she knew that his final lesson ended at approximately one in the afternoon. By 2:30 p.m., OP expected to be home, and he couldn’t be happier to make up for their recent argument.

Though OP insisted she couldn’t remember what triggered their altercation, it was nonetheless one of those exchanges that prevented them from communicating via phone or text. She heard the front door slam shut while she was working in bed.

The woman found it strange because she anticipated her companion arriving somewhat later than expected. Still, she deduced that he must have missed his last class, which he did from time to time. OP waited for her lover to enter the room and change into a new outfit, choosing not to bother any longer.

She was working on her laptop while lying on the bed with her earphones partially in. She heard heavy footsteps outside, but the bedroom door was closed. She found it odd that her partner was moving around their flat in that manner.

The tiptap of the awkward footsteps carried an air of suspicion. It was eerie, but OP ignored it because she was still engrossed in their mid-fight drama and laid there, waiting for her companion to arrive. She heard the creak of their bedroom door a few moments later.

OP turned back with a sardonic smirk on her face, clearly happy. The door was only slightly ajar, as she could see. Terrified, she peered through the bed and saw a woman’s hand gripping the doorknob, her nails painted red.

She stood there frozen in place as the person outside her bedroom closed the door without going inside. OP was frightened and asked a series of questionable things while shaking her head for a little while.

She wondered, “Could that have been his mom?” “His sibling? The landlady, please?” OP came to the strange conclusion that it might be her guy’s mother or sister.

She bolted from the bedroom and stared around the vacant living room, which was strongly scented with women’s perfume. She then realized that her boyfriend’s mother and sister had never had their house keys or paid them a visit before. Furthermore, she had no doubt that their landlady would never enter their home without permission.

She hurried to her bedroom and closed the door as fear took her. He responded no when she asked him whether his mother or sister had dropped by unexpectedly when she was calling her guy from the balcony. After giving her the all-clear to stay still, he promptly dialed 911.

After a short while, OP heard the doorbell ring. She ran from the rainy balcony to the main door and let the police in, knowing they would be there. They looked all over the home, but nobody was there. OP experienced discomfort.

She looked around to make sure nothing was missing, but everything was there, even the money jar by the door. OP believed that after observing her in the bedroom, the intruder may have left.

Furthermore, she was certain that only the landlady could have unlocked the front door with a key, and she generally thought that someone would have done so.

OP and her boyfriend felt their landlady was cheating on them since she never answered her phone and was out of town.

OP insisted on changing the front door’s locks when the woman came back. She informed OP and her partner about strange scratches on the keyhole just before the landlady arrived to take care of it. She informed them that their apartment had been broken into by someone using sharp objects.

A few days later, OP’s boyfriend informed her, “I have something to tell you…but don’t freak out,” and she had hardly recovered from her fear.

When he disclosed that their orange kitchen scissors were gone, OP froze in terror. Even after searching their home for the scissors for six months, she was unable to locate them. The whole experience of someone breaking into their home for a pair of scissors and no obvious assets unnerved OP.

Several individuals thought her situation was scary after reading her narrative, especially after she detailed the hand with the red-painted nails. “I don’t know why, but the hand with the red nails bit really creeps me out too,” said a Redditor. “The whole seeing the red nails on the doorknob line was really creepy,” another said.

“It’s strange, but whenever I sit in the living room watching TV, I leave the door slightly open for the dog to come in and out,” a different user commented.

Occasionally during the night, I have the strong belief that I will witness a hand encircling the door’s edge. I’m not sure why, but I find the idea incredibly unsettling.”
“Use deadbolts if you’re a girl living alone at home.

One Redditor suggested, “Tell your boyfriend to text or knock on your door when he gets home so you can open it.” “My advice may be controversial and all, but buy some landmines,” a different person wrote.

OP wrote that after meeting her landlady in person, she didn’t suspect her, even though she was still terrified remembering the nightmare. “She’s somewhere around 70 years old, and the hands I saw were definitely not elderly,” she said.

A Reddit user proposed that her boyfriend might have given her the house key and that the hands might have belonged to the woman he was meant to meet. “Maybe someone thought they’d surprise him, saw you instead, and took off,” stated the individual.

In response to the comment, OP stated that she had thought about the possibilities. She was certain, though, that the intruder used a tool to open the door rather than a key in order to gain entry. “My SO is the most private person in the world and won’t even give a key to his own family members,” said the OP.

Furthermore, if her partner had another girlfriend, he would have been more cautious because the OP worked from home. “There’s no way he would hide secret rendezvous by utilizing their own home when she’s always home,” a comment read.

It was perceived by another Redditor as an attempted robbery. The woman may have had a companion waiting outside, but she made the decision to escape as soon as she spotted OP, grabbing the scissors in case the man stood up and assaulted her.

Regarding the intruder, OP stated that she hoped to never encounter her again and that she never saw her again.
If OP had chosen to leave the room as soon as she heard the front door slam shut, do you think she would have been able to catch the intruder?

When OP heard the front door close at a time when she didn’t think her boyfriend was home yet, she assumed he was home earlier than usual and decided to wait for him in the room. She would have probably caught the intruder if she had chosen to leave the room. How do you feel?

If you discovered that someone had broken into your home, how would you respond?

OP quickly notified her partner, who then notified the police, that someone had broken into her home. Despite her fear, she overcame the situation with the help of the police and her partner. If you were the OP, how would you approach this situation?