Shots Fired 3

[ ]I've been keeping up with all the gunfire that's been going on around here. It happened again and this time it was close, like right behind the building or maybe the guy downstairs. This time it was only one shot but it was from a high-caliber gun. It was damn close. Too close, needless to say. Maybe I was a dumbass but I went out back onto the deck to see if I could see anything. I hate shit like this and I want to know wtf is going on, and I'm not going to hide under the covers and hope it goes away. Plus I didn't know if I should call 911 or not. Speak of the devil there's a couple of cop cars nearby. They'll have to go it on foot to get to where the shot came from, and if they come close I'll go talk to them. [ ]Behind the building there's about 35' of grass, and behind that is a stand of trees and a drainage creek. It's really rough ground and you wouldn't want to try to cross it at night without a good flashlight or night-vision gear, but it could be done and it's not out of the question that some random nutjob with a piece set up shop and was waiting to plink people, and I'd never know. My dog would, but I wouldn't let him out. He kept barking long after the shot, as if something was still going on, but on the off-chance that it was a psycho I wasn't about to put him at risk. I'm way too skinny to make a good target anyway, so I wasn't all that worried. But as I leaned over the deck to look around I wondered what it would feel like if a bullet pierced my chest. A weird thought I know and I've never thought that before, but that shit does happen, as sadly we all know. [ ]I'd put money the shot came from the guy downstairs. Most of the time he's nice as he can be but he has some sort of "multiple-personality" thing going on. He's the guy that was trying to chop down a 40' pine tree with an ax, to "burn in his fireplace." You never know what else someone who'd do that might do. If it's him I'd have felt better hearing two shots, if you know what I mean. I hope he's okay. If I hear his door slam, which seems to be the only way he knows to close a door, I'll know he's okay, but this time I'm not going downstairs unless something else happens. I have others to look out for, and it seems like the wild fucking west around here sometimes. [ ]Since we moved in there's been three shootings at least, one fatal, about 100 breakins, a couple-dozen armed robberies and for good measure a couple of peeping toms. That was what was reported. The first week we were here I'd just gone out to walk. A guy in a white car was driving slowly by. All his windows were rolled down and he was leaning his head in his hand. I thought he was shitfaced. Two cop cars turned in behind him and I thought he was about to go down for DUI but that wasn't it. He stopped and said something to me but I couldn't understand him. I thought he was cooked. "Are you okay?" I asked. "No" he said. He went on to tell me that when he turned into the complex a guy with a gun jumped out and pointed it at him and made him stop and roll down the windows. He robbed him and put the gun to his head and said he was going to blow him away, but thank God he didn't. [ ]He wasn't drunk or anything...he was in shock. He'd called 911 and the cops got there in a hurry. I talked to the cops for a few minutes because about ten minutes earlier I'd seen two guys walk behind our unit and stop by some bushes one unit over. They were obviously hiding and were peering around the corner. It was definitely the same guys. I gave the guy and the cops a description of them and it matched perfectly. When I saw them sneaking around I didn't get a good feeling about it but I couldn't be certain they were bad guys. Turns out they were. I had the lights off and they didn't see me, but to think that they were armed and could've blown me away from pretty close range didn't make me happy. [ ]One of the previous incidents was a single gun and the other was an exchange between two guns of different caliber. That happened less than two blocks away, and the cops swarmed the place. I've seen them on foot at night several times, combing the area with kickass flashlights, looking for perps. I just went back out and it's all quiet. I wish the guy downstairs would make some noise so I'll know he's okay. He usually makes more than his share. As I mentioned he told me that he has a "shadow being" that lives with him down there, and sometimes it "takes him over" and makes him mean and makes him do bad things. Most people would laugh but that's the last thing I wanted to hear. After I saw his Paul Bunyan imitation I knew he was capable of anything. I've seen him go from calm to berserk and back, and that was no joke. He looked like Jack Nicholson in The Shining going after that poor tree, and it was a miracle I could talk him down. Something's going on. Some would say that a "shadow being" is a demon, including yours truly. [ ]The first shots were three blocks away, the second were a block and a half away and the shot tonight was within 100'. That means they're getting closer. We live in the 'hood, baby. This ain't Rock & Roll, this is genocide. I'm so happy I could bake a cake.