The Box Cutter Man

This happened to me about 2 years ago, and I still think about it whenever I wake up in the middle of the night. At the time, I was living alone in an apartment, and nothing about that night seemed unusual. I went to bed like normal, expecting to wake up the next morning and go through my usual routine.

Sometime during the night, I suddenly woke up with the feeling that someone was in my room. At first, I thought I was still dreaming, but when I opened my eyes, I saw a man standing beside my bed, looking down at me. He wasn't moving, wasn't saying anything, he was just standing there watching me.

My first thought was sleep paralysis. I had heard about people seeing terrifying things while being unable to move, so I tried to convince myself that's what was happening. I tried moving my arms, tried speaking, but nothing worked. I stayed completely still, hoping that if I didn't react, whatever I was seeing would eventually disappear.

After what felt like several minutes, the man finally stepped away from the bed. I heard footsteps moving through the apartment, then the sound of the front door opening and closing. The second I realized he was gone, I jumped up and checked every room, but there was nobody there.

The next morning, I was still trying to convince myself it had been some kind of nightmare. Then I walked into the kitchen and noticed something sitting on the table that I knew wasn't mine, a box cutter. I immediately felt sick because it meant someone had actually been inside my apartment.

After reporting what happened, I found out it was a former maintenance worker who had been fired but still had a key to the building. Somehow, he was able to enter my apartment while I was sleeping. I still don't know exactly what he intended to do, and honestly, that's the part that scares me the most. I was completely vulnerable, and someone had been standing right next to me without me knowing.