Yesterday, after my shower, I went to my closet to reach for a dress. It slipped and fell to the floor. Bending down to pick it up, I was shocked to see a random phone placed on a lower shelf, recording for over 18 min. Holding back my fear, I decided to play back the video.

At first, it was just me. Me walking in and out of the room, humming, wrapped in a towel, talking to myself like I always do. But at minute eleven, the screen went dark, and a voice whispered something I couldn’t quite catch. I turned the volume up.

“You think nobody sees you… but I do.”

My heart dropped. The voice wasn’t familiar—low, raspy, calm. It didn’t sound like a prank. It sounded like a warning. I set the phone down on the edge of the bed like it was poisonous, then backed away, wrapping my towel tighter. My brain was buzzing with questions. Who put it there? How long had it been recording? And how the hell did it get into my closet?

I live alone. No roommates, no live-in partner, just me and my cat Tofu. My apartment’s on the third floor of an older building with creaky floors and a quirky layout. It’s not some high-security place, but I always lock my doors. Always.

I grabbed the phone with a tissue and powered it off, heart pounding. I couldn’t decide if I should call the police, the building manager, or my cousin Zaria, who lived just 15 minutes away and had a knack for handling chaos. I chose Zaria.

She showed up within twenty, still in her work scrubs, her curly bun now more of a nest than a style. “Okay,” she said, stepping in and locking the door behind her. “Start from the beginning.”

I replayed the video for her. Her face tightened when we heard the voice.

“Do you recognize that voice?” she asked.

“No. I’ve been wracking my brain.”

Zaria took the phone apart. “No lock screen, no password, and no apps besides the camera. Looks like it’s been reset. This is either really amateur… or really intentional.”

We decided not to involve the police just yet. No forced entry, no known suspect, and just a creepy video wasn’t much for them to go on. Instead, we checked every inch of my apartment. All the closets, under the bed, behind the couch, even the kitchen cabinets. Nothing else out of place.

But something was off. My jewelry box was shifted slightly. Not open, not missing anything… just moved. Like someone had touched it.

That night, I barely slept. Every creak felt like a footstep. Every shadow looked like a person hiding.

The next morning, I took the phone to a local repair shop. The tech guy, a kid named Sohrab, plugged it in and started digging. “There’s nothing on here except that one video. But this model—cheap burner. You can buy them in packs. No SIM, no Wi-Fi used. Whoever put this here didn’t want to be traced.”

Then he paused. “Wait. There’s a weird file in the system logs.”

He turned the screen toward me. A series of folders labeled with dates. Each one a few days apart, spanning back nearly a month.

“But you said there was only one video,” I said.

“There is only one saved file,” he said. “These folders suggest something else was here before. Stuff was wiped.”

So I asked, “Can you get them back?”

He smiled like I just gave him a challenge. “Give me two days.”

Those were the longest two days of my life. I stayed at Zaria’s. She had a roommate, three dogs, and the kind of security cameras that beeped when you walked by them. I felt safer, but also ashamed. I kept asking myself: Did I invite this somehow? Had I been careless?

On the second night, Sohrab called. “I got something. You need to come in.”

Back at his shop, he showed me three restored videos. One from my kitchen, one from my bedroom, and another from the bathroom mirror. All taken weeks apart. All of them from weird angles—like someone had placed the phone, let it record, then took it with them.

I felt sick. This wasn’t a one-time thing. Someone had been watching me. Tracking my routines. And I had no idea.

But then came the twist I never expected.

Sohrab froze the frame on one video—the kitchen one. “Do you know this guy?”

In the corner, a shadow crossed the frame. Just for a second. But it was enough. The profile, the hair, the hoodie.

I did know him.

Lachlan.

We dated two years ago. Short-lived thing, mostly casual, until it turned weird. He didn’t take the breakup well. Showed up at my job once. Left roses on my windshield for weeks. Eventually, he faded out—blocked on everything, and I hadn’t heard from him since.

Zaria and I drove straight to the police. This time, we had more than a weird phone. We had a potential stalker. We handed over the videos, Lachlan’s name, and every bit of detail we could recall.

Two days later, an officer called. “We spoke with Mr. Lachlan Farrow. He denies everything and says he hasn’t seen you in over a year. No record of breaking and entering, and he gave us an alibi for last week. Without concrete proof, it’s your word against his.”

I was floored. The shadow in the video wasn’t proof enough?

Zaria, ever the hurricane, wasn’t having it. “Then we get concrete proof,” she said. “We catch him ourselves.”

We set up a small camera system—discreet, motion-activated, cloud-stored. One in my closet, one in the living room, and one by the door. Then I moved back in. Nervous, yes, but determined.

Three nights later, at 3:14 a.m., I got a notification.

Motion detected – Closet Camera

I opened the app with trembling fingers. The footage showed my closet door creaking open. A figure, hooded, entered with a flashlight. He knelt down, placed another phone on the shelf, turned, and left.

The angle finally gave us what we needed—a side profile.

It was definitely Lachlan.

We took the footage straight to the police. This time, there was no denying it. They arrested him later that afternoon. In his apartment, they found a stash of old phones, a blueprint of my building, and a notebook. Inside were detailed notes—times I left for work, when I took showers, what I wore.

But here’s the twist I didn’t see coming.

Lachlan wasn’t acting alone.

His younger cousin worked in my building. A maintenance intern. The kid, Moises, was friendly, always said hi when we passed in the hall. He had keys. He’d been letting Lachlan in for weeks in exchange for cash and gifts—completely unaware that Lachlan was obsessed and documenting me.

Moises swore he thought it was just about “rekindling things.” That Lachlan missed me and wanted to see how I was doing. He cried when the police questioned him. Said he didn’t know it had gone that far.

I believed him.

He lost his job, of course. But he also wrote me a letter—three pages, apologizing. Owning up to what he’d done. Said he’d never forgive himself.

And weirdly, I didn’t feel rage. I felt… sad. That someone could be used like that. That someone else could turn heartbreak into a weapon.

Lachlan got a restraining order and is facing charges. Probably won’t serve time, but he’ll have to get help. I hope he does.

As for me?

I got a better lock. Upgraded my alarm. Put Tofu in a little harness and started going on walks—trying to reclaim my space, little by little.

What happened to me was terrifying. It shook every sense of safety I had. But it also showed me who really had my back. Zaria, fierce as ever. Sohrab, who didn’t even charge me in the end. And even Moises, in a weird, twisted way—because at least he told the truth in the end.

The lesson?

Trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is. And always check your closet shelves.

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading. And hey—please share this post. You never know who needs the reminder to double-check their space.