I fear this more than anything else. I stare at it constantly and I don't know why. I look out the peephole a lot. It's always dead-bolted and double-locked. I have an alarm and a stick under my door-knob.

My apartment was burglarized on a Saturday afternoon at 12:30 in the afternoon in April 2005. I was in the shower the whole time this occured. I heard some noises while I was in the shower, but thought nothing of it since I live next to an elevator that is often noisy. Then while I was washing my hair, to my horror, I pulled back the shower curtain to see my bathroom door shaking back and forth as if someone was trying to come inside. I think the only thing that stopped the guy from opening the door was an uncertainty of what was behind the curtain- a man or a woman [and I am a young female]. I was scared... but then convinced myself that it was probably just a vibration from the elevator or possibly someone from up above making some noise. I finished up my shower. I opened up my bathroom door [which opens up the my bedroom] and everything looked fine. Then I stepped into my living room and saw that my door was wide open and the molding was shattered. I then noticed that my purse was missing. I immediately grabbed the phone and called 911 [I was later told that I would have been better off calling WSU police at 577-2222]. I ran into the hallway, still wearing a towel and dripping wet from my shower. I started screaming, "help me". I had no idea if the man was still in my apartment. Residents in my hall came out to see what was going on. Police came. From the description I guess it was a large black man. I never saw his face. I am so fortunate that I never got hurt in this whole ordeal. The man gained entry into my apartment by kicking the door and possibly using something like a crowbar to pry the door open. I had my door double-locked... with deadbolt... I always thought that I was safe here... until this all happened.

So now I have to live with this fear everyday. I find it hard to take a shower. I had to be prescribed Xanax [an anti-anxiety drug] in order to go about my life. I no longer know how safe the building really is. For the amount of rent I pay here [$650 for a one bedroom] I would expect to have decent security.

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