My mom works early in the morning; from when the store closes until 5 am. Sometimes she has to wait outside for shoppers and employees to finish up and leave so she can start the cleaning. Because the store is downtown, I worry. It’s not the safest environments and I’m scared something could happen to her.

When she’s gone, things aren’t much safer at home. Just last night I had to sleep in the living room because someone was yelling outside my bedroom window and shaking the front door like they were trying to get in. I slept or tried to sleep on the couch until mom got home. Things had gone quiet for a bit until around 3 am when I heard someone at the door again, fumbling with the lock, trying to get in. I hid under the covers with my eyes closed until I realized it was mom. She was home early and looked about as scared as I felt. She sat down next to me, got under the covers and told me what had happened.

Her manager had to her to meet him at the store, When she got there the parking lot was full, but the doors were locked, and it looked like no one was in the store. She parked a couple of blocks away. It was cold and foggy so when she got out of the car, she put her hood on and headed immediately to the store. Homeless people lined the streets covered in their tattered blankets just trying to stay warm and she had to walk around them carefully. She wasn’t scared, just worried about stepping on someone. She was paying so much attention to where her feet were landing that she didn’t notice the tall man standing at the end of the block. When she finally saw his shadowy figure in the fog, she noticed he was holding what looked like a knife. She turned around to walk back to her car.

When she got back to her car she sat on the hood for a second and waited, hoping she would see another employee show up. She didn’t realize it but the tall man with the knife had followed her. She saw him approach the car and was frozen with fear. She tried not to look at him, to avoid eye contact, hoping he would not pay attention to her and walk past. He didn’t. He walked right up to her, leaned in close and whispered, “What are you doing out here at this hour.” When she didn’t respond or even acknowledge his presence, he pulled her hood down and spoke directly into her ear, “You’re lucky I don’t feel like killing anyone tonight.” He pulled her hood back on and walked away.

My mom jumped inside her car, fumbled with the keys because her hands were shaking, finally got the car started and drove straight home. We stayed under the blankets until the sun rose.