I know you all have probably thought that I was straight LOSING IT when I posted on here that I'm armed. But if you were in my position you might understand why I feel the need to do that occasionally. It's true that Shaun has made my life much easier, but I have worked hard for 16 years operating largely as a single parent to have what little bit we do have. Being that me and Shaun live separately it is just me, the kid, and the ani-pals here. My neighborhood is going to shit and there is nothing I can do about it for a few more years.
A previous neighbor moved back into their empty house in July. She used my water hose to shower once and eventually put it through her window and refused to give it back. This went on until October. I only let it slide for so long because she was giving me money and kept promising to have her water turned on soon. When my water bill reached $200 in one month I ordered a lock from Amazon and put an end to that.
Off and on during all of this time I've been suspicious that she and her drug-addict friends have been on my property, but I've had no way to prove it or stop it.
Ok, so fast-forward to Monday (the day that school started), and I'd just gotten out of Physics class. I was in Gadsden and pretty stressed already. Then Shadow called me. He usually texts me when he's home - he only calls when he's excited or something is wrong. He goes "I need to read you something" and then proceeds to read a 3-page long letter that was anonymously left in our mailbox. Among other things it told me all of the drugs that the neighbor was using / selling (weed, heroin, meth), that she had, in fact, been trying to find a way into my house and garage, and also that she had illegally hooked up power from the back of my garage. It described the location of the hookup and told me that it was very unsafe.
Obviously that sent me into panic mode, but I had another class and desperately did not want to miss on the first day. I called my mother and thankfully, she went to my house to check it out and be there with Shadow. She easily found the wires and took photos. I called the cops immediately, but it took 3 calls to finally get someone out there. The guy they sent said that one of the wires wasn't hooked up so that it wasn't working and even if it was, they would be stealing from Alabama Power and not me. I was told that I had to contact them.
So, we called Alabama Power and they sent someone out on Tuesday. They called this morning to inform me that I WAS the one being stolen from, not them. SO... I called the cops AGAIN this morning. The cop who came out seemed reluctant to deal with the situation at first due to an officer coming out Monday and doing nothing, but she followed through, thankfully. I told her what the power company said and showed her the wire and she tugged on it. I told her to be careful - that a note told me it was going into the neighbor's house. She asked to read it so I let her. She said "Well, I'm no electrician, but I can follow this cord." AND SHE WENT OVER THERE.
There were lights on in the house where the note described. The neighbor said that they were being run by a generator and there was one out back, but it wasn't running. SO I was finally ABLE to file a report on her for something after all of these months. When it is ready I will be pressing charges. I also asked the officer if there was anything to be done about her trespassing and the officer witnessed me issue a no-trespassing statement to her so now if I catch her over here again I can press charges for that, as well.
My mom and brother came over this afternoon. My brother (who learned electrical stuff in the Army) unhooked her setup. He said that when he touched the box it popped and sparked. He's pretty sure my little power supply is fucked, but I'll live. He also said that it looked like a fire waiting to happen. We have the power to the garage cut for now at the breaker so hopefully this will not come up again anytime soon.
Currently there is a U-Haul next door and I don't know if the neighbor is moving out or moving someone in. People come and go over there all the time so I don't even know if it has anything to do with the fact that I cut her off today. Hell, she could be planning to clean me out tonight and run for all I know.
I feel sorry for her because it's going to get cold, but at this point in my life I'm working so hard to get us into a better place and she does nothing but fight with people, bring junkies into the neighborhood, and stress me out. If this gets rid of her somehow - then great. She did have a job and a vehicle, but she has lost both and she does nothing to help herself. If she did I would probably have more sympathy for her, but I just don't have any left. I have no idea how long she's been stealing from me, but worse than that she put us in danger of losing our home to a fire with that crap.
So I finally feel somewhat relieved now that it's unhooked and I've filed a report. I feel better now that it's documented and she knows I know what she's doing, and, perhaps most important of all - that I'm not going to just roll over and take it.
So, this has been my week so far. How has yours gone?
Edited to add: If you want to see the letter then message me, but I'm not posting it publicly.
Edited again to add: I was never able to press charges because the police department needed to know the value of the electricity stolen. I had no way to know when this started, how much she'd used, or anything like that so she got away with it.
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