Man, yesterday was dull. I awoke around 13:00 hrs. Aching from muscle strain and the collision of a high pressure system and the low it’s pushing into the Atlantic, followed by another low from the south, I felt like I just shouldn’t move.

But then I remembered that often if I push myself, I loosen up, get the blood pumping and feel better. I walked to the store, and by the time I got home, felt better. But I was back to sleeping by day and haunting the sidewalk out front between movies at night. I have to go outside to smoke.

Monday, 15 August

02:19 hrs

Rain. Very cool. I’m supposed to go up the steps, 15 feet from the building to light up. But the rain compelled me to stay under the porch.

Picture if you will a private parking lot. It’s dark but I wear my prescription sunglasses because light hurts. Doesn’t make me blind, though. I saw on the second row of cars from the building a shadow occlude the reflection on the side of a car. Okay, someone’s up there. People come and go at all hours here, but this felt wrong.

Then I heard a car door shutting and my alarm inside my head goes off.

This is not right.

I went up the steps to ground level. I saw a slow-moving hulky shadow move between cars. It came over to the west end of the parking lot and I could see someone going from car to car, checking doors. By the time he got to a black Outlander and actually sat in the driver’s seat I was approaching him. He will never know how close he was to death. I asked, “What are you doing?”

I was not scared, did not show emotion and had to repeat the question face to face because they always act like you’re talking to someone else. And there’s never anyone else there.

I repeated the question with authority but only enough, no drama. It scared him. He said, “I’m getting the Lysol for my wife,” and he walked unsteadily off into the darkness and the street. I couldn’t stop him for petty theft, and pulling a blade on a sleazy guy who was just after console coins is not cool. Yet, all he had to do when he was at his CPA with me was make a wrong move. 16 ways. That’s the number of ways he could have been killed if I detected danger. A few more if he’d made certain moves, because of body parts that would have been exposed to attack. None of them would be easy ways to die. He’d have been in pain until he bled out. Except I couldn’t do that. I’d have patched him up if I had time.

But he was just a desperate guy looking for cigarette or drug money. He thought about fighting. I could tell. His answer was belligerent. But he was short of breath. Scared.

02:22 hrs

I called 911 because I knew he was on foot. Two officers showed up by 02:28. I described the guy as best I could. Didn’t get a look at his face because we vampires hate light. Prescription sunglasses don’t allow for prime night vision. He was 5’10”, 250, black, wearing a green hoodie. A labored walk. Too bulky.

The officers did good work. They took it seriously and looked for him until about 03:30, then I didn’t see them anymore. I don’t know if they got him or not. I waited until 07:00 and talked to a few people whose cars I’d seen him in. Sure enough a can of Lysol was missing.

Times are getting truly bad. Desperate people do desperate things and it gets worse with each day. Wherever you live, please be careful. Don’t leave for a weekend if you ordered from Amazon and the driver’s late. Lock your cars, set the alarm. Have an alarm system installed in your home. Don’t let your children out of your sight.

Let the police do their jobs.

Be ever alert; be safe. Ground floor windows should be locked at night. Always avoid strangers on foot. Carry pepper spray and a personal weapon.

Be careful out there.