Neighbour Diaries: It’s a hard life

I have been trying to figure out the events that have led me to my current situation, and honestly I didn’t see this coming. That just a few months ago, I was living in an upscale residential estate, and now, am living in a neighbourhood where I fear to go to sleep. Yes, I moved again. I just could no longer stay in that neighbourhood, and even if I still had about four months left on my rent, I had to move. You see, one night during a heavy rain downpour, some fellows came and relieved me of my television. Can you believe it? The guys took my television, my 46 inch flat screen plasma. I heard a knock on my door at about 10.30pm on Thursday night, and I ignored it. First, it was really late for visitors, and it was raining like mad! So, I ignored the knocker, went on watching my movie. The knock came again. And again, I ignored it. The third time, it wasn’t a knock, it was a bang. I got alarmed. Something wasn’t right. Then another bang, and then something really hard and huge hit the door, and the hinges gave in. Then I knew that I was in serious trouble. Those people, whoever they were, were certainly not joking. Through the broken door, three big guys came in. They looked strangely familiar, as if I had seen them before. But that was hardly the place to make acquaintances, and I doubt they were going to remind me where I had seen them. And clearly, this visit wasn’t friendly; otherwise they wouldn’t have needed that big rock to let themselves into the house. All this time, I still sat on my sofa, my cup of coffee still in my hand, halfway up to my mouth. Maybe I was having delayed reaction, but I hadn’t stood up, or panicked or done anything to show that I realised the danger I was in. I even had time to notice that those guys had stepped on my carpet with their dirty muddy shoes. But I didn’t have time to get real angry. One of the guys pointed at me and shouted “hey you”. I continued my silence. I didn’t know what to answer. The other guy walked towards the TV and switched it off. Then he started unplugging it from the socket! And I knew these guys wanted my TV! I wanted it too, but these were three big guys, and they seemed to be highly excited, like they were under the influence of some kind of weed. So, I kept quiet and watched. The third guy looked around the room, and probably disappointed that there was nothing else valuable besides the TV, he suddenly came towards me and hit me! Now, I wondered why he was hitting me; I hadn’t moved or made a sound. The guy hit me again and in pain I shouted; “stop hitting me, for God’s sake!” Surprisingly, he stopped. Pushing my luck a little further, I told the man unplugging my TV, “leave that TV alone”. But, this one seemed to have a hearing problem because he carried on as if he hadn’t heard me. I shouted again, but then the third man hit me again and told me to shut up. Then came the icing on the cake; they told me to carry the TV outside to the waiting car! That was like betraying myself; for the love I had for the TV, it was too much. These guys were stealing my TV, and they were making me carry it to their car! That was theft and bullying. I was tortured mentally and psychologically! They drove off, leaving me with my steaming cup of coffee! One moment, I had been watching a movie in peace and comfort, the next, I had no TV, my door was broken, and the rain and cold were encroaching. I didn’t sleep that night. The next morning, I realised why I had found the guys familiar. About two houses away was a car garage, and two of the thieves were mechanics there. Something told me that reporting to the police would not only fail to have my TV brought back, but it would make everything worse! So, I decided to move out and that very day, which I did. But, from the look of things, I had moved from a frying pan into the fire itself: the very first night in my new house, I didn’t sleep. My neighbours were moving in and out the whole time, causing commotion. The next day, I realised there were eight guys living in that one room. And they all “worked” at night! I didn’t need any one to explain it to me that living right next to those guys wasn’t a wise idea! Ends