Yours

December 10th

Dear Sophia,

I love you.

I’m starting to think I can’t trust anyone but you.

I keep hearing little bangs from outside and worrying it’s a knock at the door. A knock at the door is never good news.

I got woken up again today by someone at the door. It was the police again. They asked me if I was ok and I told them I was fine. They told me one of my neighbours had reported a break in at this address. I told them I don’t know my neighbours and they must be making it up. I was really angry that someone had made all this up just to get me out of bed. They asked to look around the house and I decided it was probably for the best as if I said no it might look suspicious.

I tried to go back up to bed hoping they’d just let themselves out when they didn’t find anything. I was at the bottom of the stairs when they called me into the kitchen. They showed me the broken glass in the back door where the burglars had got in. They told me I shouldn’t leave my back door key in the door like that where people could see it. I told them someone could only see it if they were already in the back garden and the only person who would be in the back garden was a burglar so it didn’t make any difference. They said it would affect any insurance claims and I told them I wasn’t worried about that.

They told me some of the people on the street have a Neighbourhood Watch thing. They said maybe I should start taking these things a bit more seriously. One of them said I didn’t seem too upset which I thought was unfair. They’d known about it longer than me. Of course I hadn’t processed it yet. It doesn’t matter though. I’m not going to be part of some Neighbourhood Watch. I don’t know anyone around me and I don’t want them keeping an eye on my house. Just because they live near me doesn’t mean I can trust them. Burglars have to live somewhere.

The police asked me if anything was missing and I told them I wasn’t really sure. Maybe some stuff from the kitchen’s gone but I told them I’d cleaned it all out recently so I couldn’t remember exactly what was there before. I told them I’d put all the stuff in the shed and they pointed out to the shed in the garden. The door was open. The lock on it was really old and I wasn’t even sure I’d locked it properly anyway. I told them everything in there was just stuff I was throwing out anyway so it wasn’t a big problem. They didn’t seem to understand. They said theft was theft.

They asked me if I lived on my own. I told them I lived with you and you were my wife. I told them you were away at your mum’s house. They told me that was lucky. They said there’s no reason to be scared because none of the burglaries have been violent. I wasn’t worried about anything getting stolen but I was worried about what might’ve happened if you’d moved in by now. They said even though none of the other burglaries had been violent they were a bit nervous when I took a while to open the door. They thought something might have happened to me. I told them I wasn’t some frail old lady. I told them I looked after my family. They said I should call them if I remember anything that might be useful to them.

I was pleased when they left. The house wasn’t a mess or anything. To be honest I only feel like there have been intruders in the house because the police invited themselves in this morning.

Once I came and saw you I felt much better. I was just pleased you were safe and calm. That’s all that matters to me. Nothing in the house matters. Most of the things in the house aren’t really mine anyway. If I lost you that’s the one thing I couldn’t take.

I love you.

Yours,

Andrew