September 6, 2025

A family friend let us stay in their unoccupied holiday home while we were traveling abroad. I was headed out early in the morning to meet with a friend and it was still dark out. The keypad to enable their security system was on the other side of a small footpath. The passcode was supposed to be 123# but I somehow kept missing the input. I started to doubt my memory and wondered if I actually needed to enable the alarms. The area seemed safe enough anyways.

As a precaution I walked back into the house to turn on the lights and pull down the blinds in an effort to make the residence appear occupied. As I was ready to head out once more I heard, and later saw, a group of young children parading down the street on bikes and scooters.

The kids walked up the steps of the porch without much hesitation and I quickly locked the front door. I heard glass shattering and some tumbling behind me. I spotted three kids sneaking around in the darkness when I turned around and started to chase after them. They ran back into a room in the back of the house and I saw that they must’ve entered through the broken window.

A toddler had gotten ahold of my backpack that was on the floor and held onto it with an unnaturally strong grip. Left with no other choice, I bit into the little one’s fingers.