My husband works a night shift as a dispatcher, so 7 out of 14 nights he isn't home at night but I am. He is purposely quite loud when he enters our apartment in the morning, talking on the phone or getting something to eat. I also usually wake up when his key hits the lock, before he ever sets foot inside.
Last night I got off work very late and my head hit the pillow around 3:30 a.m. I was out almost immediately. When I woke up, it seemed very dark -- I figured I hadn't slept very long and wondered what woke me. Then I heard the shuffling of feet and sound of some bags I had left in the living room being moved around. I bristled and grabbed my revolver. I was thinking, "I haven't even gotten a chance to shoot the thing at the range and I'm about to have to use it." I was angry that someone was in my apartment who shouldn't be, and I prepared to shoot anyone who came through the bedroom door.
I quietly slid out of bed and moved beside the dresser to give myself cover. I cocked the hammer and kept the barrel pointing upwards just in case I was startled and accidentally shot the gun. The feet continued shuffling around the living room and down the hallway. Then I heard a door open. Muffled noises issued forth from the laundry room while my still-groggy brain struggled to make sense of this. I argued that it couldn't be my husband because it was too dark, too early for him to be home and the intruder seemed to be making it a priority to keep quiet. But what would an intruder want in the laundry room? I wanted to check the time just to get a bearing on if anyone should even be in the apartment, but my phone was across the room and I didn't want to risk losing a safe position just to check the time when I figured I'd know very soon who was in the apartment. The footsteps left the laundry room and began moving quite quickly towards the bedroom.
Imagine at this point a buck naked woman crouched beside a dresser, holding a revolver, ready to blow the the heck out of the person about to walk through the door. On the other side of the door, a freshly-disrobed husband eager to join his wife in bed is tottering like a child towards the door, ready to leap into bed the moment he opens the door.
Poor guy. He threw open the door, saw movement out of his right eye, then jumped back and yelped as he recognized the movement as his wife holding a gun.
Lucky for him, I was waiting to aim the gun until I had assessed the threat. As he entered the room and I recognized the "threat" as my husband, I left out a huge sigh of relief and stood up as I decocked my revolver.
After my brain processed the fact that there was no real threat I suddenly realized how awake I was, how hard my heart was pounding, and how hard it was to breathe. Nausea came quickly after. That adrenaline rush was like nothing I've ever felt, but I'm glad the first time it happened was a false alarm.
Since I have never been in a position of defending my home and life, I didn't know what to expect from myself in regards of my thoughts and actions. My husband and I were both pleased to learn that I became angry in the face of a threat and was more than prepared to eliminate the threat to protect myself. Granted, we didn't learn that in the most ideal manner...but it was a lot better to learn it now than in a time of real danger.
Hubby promises to be louder when he comes home in the morning.
In retrospect, if I ever have a doubt about if the person outside the bedroom is my husband or an intruder I'll probably grab and cock my shotgun. Anything other than a tentative, "...honey?" probably means trouble. ;)
