Strange Place to Bury a Bone

Story Sent in by Anthony:

Lisa and I met in college and had already had one successful date. I asked her out again, and I took her out to a play and then dinner. From my point of view, everything was going well and nothing at all was amiss.

At the time, I lived off-campus in a house with two friends. Lisa hadn't ever been there, but at the end of our second date, I asked her if she'd want to go on a hike for that coming weekend. She said she was up for it, and so I told her my address so that we could meet there and depart together for the trail. We said our good-nights, and I looked forward to our third time out together.

That night, when I came back into the house, both of my housemates were already home, inside their rooms in the otherwise dark house. After staying up a little while longer, I went to bed.

I was close to sleep when I sat up with a start. Someone had just opened the front door of the house. My roommates and I were home, so my first thoughts were, "Whats the landlord doing here at this time of night, and without calling any of us first?"

I opened the door to my bedroom and looked out in the dark hall. No one was there, but I crept my way into the living room, where I heard someone stepping around, slowly, in the dark. On my way through the kitchen, I picked up a wine bottle to use as a weapon, just in case. To be honest, though, I was shaking.

I peeped into the living room. Someone stood with their back to me, right in the middle of the room, with their hands on their hips. Someone with long hair.

I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. The figure made for the door in a hurry, and on her way there, she barked, like a dog. "Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!" with every step she took. When the door opened, I saw, without a doubt, that it was Lisa.

I followed her out and stopped her before she was out of our front yard.

"Lisa!" I called, and tapped her on the shoulder.

She stopped, spun to me, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I should ask you that. What were you doing in my house? How did you get in?"

She started, "I just… okay, I'm sorry. I think we should just be friends."

Without missing a beat, I said, "Agreed. Answer my questions."

"Goodbye," she said, and hurried down the street fast enough to imply that she didn't want to be followed. I took a few steps after her, called for her to stop, and gave up, realizing that it wasn't worth it at all.

The next day, I told my roommates, and we invested in new locks. We had only ever used the doorknob lock, which was stupid. After that, we didn't have any further break-ins, and I never encountered Lisa again.