Once I was walking my dog at night down the street and a stranger was following us. Heidi would look back and growl at the person. All I wanted to do was to keep on moving and get home but this person never diverged. It was like they were glued to my back. Heidi would growl and then whimper; her tail drooped. The stranger's footsteps began to match mine. Why would they do that? They knew that I knew they were behind me. My dog made it obvious. I realized I didn't want to lead this person to where I lived. I lived alone. This was bad. I got a quick glance at the person behind me but I couldn't see their face. I swung my eyes forward and began to pace faster. I looked back again and stared. I couldn't make out any features as I attempted to squint them into existence. And even though I was looking at the person while I walked, they kept on walking the same.
The stranger was unconcerned that I was looking back at them and knew that they were there. I quickly realized that it wasn't my eyes that were playing tricks on me. This stranger truly had no face. Heidi tugged on her leash and faced the stranger, causing me to stop in my tracks. She began to bark like she was angry that this person was following us. She kept barking as I tried to pull her along while averting my eyes from this person with no face. They stood there and slowly began to extend their arm out in front of them. Their finger pointed at Heidi as she barked. Then right after it was pointed at me. This person had no face and my heart began to sink. I tugged on Heidi's leash again and this time she began to run with me. We ran down the street and zipped through alleys, hoping that the stranger would lose us. All I could hear was the sound of Heidi panting. I didn't know if we were still being followed.
Eventually, Heidi and I made it home and I quickly locked the front door behind us. We were safe and Heidi took big gulps out of her water bowl. Later that night there was a knock on the door. I looked out the peephole and saw the same person standing on my front porch. I held my breath and Heidi began to bark at the door. I didn't answer. But the stranger would keep knocking. It would be quiet for a while, then the knocking would start again. I could hear walking on the front porch. Then knocking. And every time I looked through the peephole, I could see their featureless face. Even though they had no eyes, it felt like they were looking through the door right at me. But I didn't open the door. And Heidi kept on barking. I ended up falling asleep on the couch with Heidi and when I woke up the next morning, I went right to the door to look out the peephole. No one. The stranger was finally gone. I felt relief at that moment. Heidi and I could relax. I wouldn't have to endure her barking and the feeling of the stranger outside my door.
But the stranger did come back. And when I checked my security camera, the stranger never appeared on the footage. There was not a trace of this stranger knocking on my door. They came back every night, knocking on my door, waiting for me to answer. I get home every day before the sun goes down. And I always double-check that the door is locked. Heidi always lets me know when the stranger approaches the front door and we run upstairs to the bedroom and shut the door so we don't have to hear the endless knocking. It's been months now and the knocking still continues.