Peeping What?!?

I have always been afraid of the dark. Ever since I was a little kid. I can remember having a night light, but even then I thought that when I stepped off of the bed something was going to reach out from underneath it and grab my feet. So once I got too cool for the night light, I would just jump as far as I could from the bed to the light switch so that nothing could "get me."

This hasn't changed, even in adulthood. While I no longer jump from the bed to the light switch, I still prefer to not be in a dark room by myself. In fact, Kevin knows that if he locks me in the pantry, the only room in the house without a light, I will surely freak out and start screaming. we have lived in our home for two and a half years, and it is in a great location. We live on a quiet cul-de-sac, and it's nice, private, wooded lot. For the past year and a half we have had dogs. And it wasn't until recently that I had finally become reasonably comfortable taking them outside to potty late at night in the dark. When I say dark, I mean that our outside lights were on, but everything outside the area of our lights was pitch dark. For the past week or so, I have noticed that our neighbors to either side have been keeping their lights on at night. I thought it was strange, but chalked it up to coincidence and never mentioned it to Kevin.

Imagine my surprise when yesterday Kevin came in from talking to our neighbor and had quite a story for me. Apparently there has recently been a Peeping Tom lurking around our neighborhood. He has target a 17-year-old girl down the street in particular, and has left notes in her mailbox, as well as been caught staring in her window, and once even made his way into her house! He was also seen coming out of the woods behind our next door neighbor's house! The wife was in the driveway checking the mail when she saw him and screamed. Luckily, her husband is a local sheriff, and came out with gun in hand. I don't know how the events unfolded after that, but what I do know is definitely enough to creep me out!

Today I went to take the dogs to the groomer and noticed pink flyers on all of the mailboxes in our neighborhood. They were warning of the strange man, and informing us of a neighborhood watch program that was in the process of being organized. What really startled me though, was that these instances have been going on since May, and we were just now finding out about it. So needless to say, my fear of the dark has manifested itself again full force. Granted, it's with good reason now. So if you think about it, say a little prayer for us that they catch this creep. In the meantime, at least I've got two vicious watchdogs to protect me.