After my shower yesterday, I headed to my closet to pick an outfit. It fell to the ground. I was astonished to discover a random phone on a lower shelf shooting for more than 18 minutes when I bent down to pick it up. I pushed past my fear and chose to view the video again.
At first, it was just me. I strolled in and out of the room, humming, covered in a towel, and talking to myself like I always do. But after eleven minutes, the screen went black and I couldn’t quite make out what the voice was saying. I made the sound louder.
“You think no one can see you…” But I do.
My heart fell. It was a low, raspy, and calm voice, yet it wasn’t familiar. It didn’t seem like a joke. It sounded like a menace. I put the phone on the edge of the bed like it was dangerous, then moved back and tightened my towel. There were a lot of questions in my mind. Who put it there? How long had it been recording? And how the hell did that get in my closet?
I live alone. I live by myself with my cat, Tofu. I don’t live with anyone else or have a boyfriend. My flat is on the third level of an old building with creaky flooring and a peculiar layout. I always lock my doors, even though it’s not a very safe place. Always.
I grabbed the phone with a tissue and turned it off, my heart thumping. I wasn’t sure if I should call the police, the building manager, or my cousin Zaria, who lived only 15 minutes away and was skilled at dealing with chaos. I choose Zaria.
She arrived in less than twenty minutes, still in her work scrubs, and her frizzy hair looked more like a nest than a style. “Okay,” she said softly, entering inside and slamming the door behind her. “Begin at the beginning.”
I showed her the video again. Her face grew tight as we heard the voice.
“Do you know that voice?” she said.
“No.” I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.
Zaria took the phone apart. “There’s no password, no lock screen, and only the camera app.” It looks like it has been reset. “This is either really bad or done on purpose.”
We decided not to call the police yet. They didn’t have much to work with: no signs of forced entry, no known suspect, and only a distressing film. Instead, we looked at every part of my flat. Under the bed, behind the couch, in the kitchen cabinets and in every closet. Everything else is where it should be.
But something was off. My jewellery box moved a little bit. Not open, and nothing is missing. Just relocated. Like someone had touched it.
That night, I didn’t sleep much. Every noise sounded like a step. It looked like every shadow was hiding a person.
The next morning, I took the phone to a nearby repair shop. The tech guy, a kid named Sohrab, plugged it in and started digging. “There’s just that one video on here.” But this model is an inexpensive one. You can buy them in groups. Without a SIM, there is no Wi-Fi. Someone put this here on purpose so that it wouldn’t be found.
After that, he stopped. “Wait a second. The system logs show an unusual file.
He turned the screen so I could see it. A few folders with dates on them. There were a few days between each one, and they went back almost a month.
“But you said there was only one video,” I said.
He answered, “There is only one file that has been saved.” “These folders make it look like something else was here before. rig Things were taken away.
I said, “Can you get them back?”
He smiled like I had just told him to do something. “Two days, please.”
Those were the longest two days of my life. I stayed with Zaria. She lived with someone else, had three pets, and had security cameras that beeped as you walked by. I felt safer, but I was also ashamed. I kept asking myself, “Did I ask for this?” Did I not pay attention?
Sohrab called on the second night. “I got something.” You have to come in.
When I arrived back to his shop, he showed me three movies that had been fixed. One from my kitchen, one from my bedroom and one from the bathroom mirror. All of them were taken weeks apart. They were all shot from odd angles, like someone put the phone down, let it record, and then took it with them.
I felt horrible. This wasn’t the first time this happened. Someone had been watching me. Keeping track of my daily tasks. And I had no idea.
But then something happened that I never thought would happen.
At one point, Sohrab halted the video of him cooking. “Do you know this man?”
In the corner, a shadow crossed the frame. Just for a second. But it was enough. The hair, the profile, and the hoodie.
I knew him.
Lachlan.
We were together for two years. It was a short-lived, mostly casual thing until it turned strange. He didn’t deal with the breakup very well. Came to my job once. For weeks, they put roses on my windscreen. He eventually disappeared, blocked me on everything, and I haven’t heard from him since.
We went straight to the police with Zaria. This time we had more than just a weird phone. There was a person who might have been following us. We gave them Lachlan’s name, the videos, and whatever other information we could think of.
Two days later, an officer called. “We had a conversation with Mr. Lachlan Farrow. He says he hasn’t seen you in over a year and denies everything. He didn’t have a record of breaking and entering, and he gave us a reason for why he wasn’t there last week. If you don’t have any proof, it’s your word against his.
I couldn’t believe it. Wasn’t the shadow in the video enough proof?
Zaria, who was always a hurricane, didn’t want it. “Then we get real proof,” she said. “We’ll catch him on our own.”
We built up a small camera system that was hidden, only switched on when it saw activity, and saved in the cloud. One is in my closet, one is in the living room and one is by the door. After that, I moved back in. Yes, I’m nervous, but I’m going to do it.
Three nights later, at 3:14 a.m., I got a message.
Closet Camera: Motion Detected
I opened the app with shaking hands. The video shows the door to my wardrobe slowly opening. Someone in a cloak came in with a torch. He got down on one knee, put another phone on the shelf, turned around, and departed.
The angle finally gave us what we needed: a perspective from the side.
It was definitely Lachlan.
We provided the police the video right away. There was no way to deny it this time. That afternoon, they arrested him. They found a lot of old phones, a notebook and a plan of my building in his flat. There were a lot of notes in there about when I went to work, when I had showers, and what I wore.
But here’s the twist that I didn’t see coming.
Lachlan wasn’t by himself.
The younger brother of my cousin worked in my building. A maintenance intern. Moises, the boy, was friendly and always said hello when we passed in the hall. He had keys. He had been letting Lachlan in for weeks in exchange for money and gifts, not knowing that Lachlan was in love with me and writing about me.
Moises claimed he thought it was just about “getting things going again.” Lachlan missed me and wanted to know how I was doing. He cried when the police asked him questions. He replied he didn’t know things had gotten that bad.
I believed in him.
He definitely lost his job. But he also wrote me a three-page letter to say he was sorry. Being accountable for what he did. He swore he would never be able to forgive himself.
And for some reason, I wasn’t mad. I felt bad. That someone may be utilised in that way. That someone else could use melancholy as a weapon.
Lachlan is being charged with a crime and has a restraining order against him. He probably won’t go to jail, but he will need help. I hope so.
What about me?
I got a lock that is stronger. I made my alarm better. I put Tofu in a small harness and started taking him for walks. I was attempting to get my space back little by little.
What happened to me was quite frightening. It made me feel insecure in every way. But it also showed me who was really there for me. Zaria is just as mean as ever. In the end, Sohrab didn’t even charge me. And even Moises, in a bizarre, twisted way, because he did reveal the truth in the end.
What did you find out?
Follow your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. And always check the shelves in your wardrobe.
I appreciate you reading all the way through. And sure, please let other people know about this post. You never know who might need a reminder to look at their location again.