The Lingering Smell
I was standing right outside my apartment when an unknown person snuck around a corner and sprayed me with pepper spray while I was looking at my phone. I could make out a tall, thin man with a backpack walking away with his hands in his pockets before I lost the ability to keep my eyes open. There were no other people on the sidewalk in either direction.
I didn’t see his face. He didn’t say anything or try to take anything from me. He didn’t even stick around to watch me be all messed up. Just walked away. Like nothing happened. I’m very thankful that I was able to feel for my keys and get back into my building, but then I started to realize that I could have permanent damage if I didn’t get to a sink.
I couldn’t find the key to my apartment. I was starting to not be able to breathe. I pounded on every door I could feel until my neighbor, whom I had never met before this moment, opened up for me. She let me bust into her bathroom and toss water everywhere. I felt so terrible for just commandeering her bathroom and bringing in that smell to her place.
But I will be eternally grateful to this lady for helping me. The officers that showed up didn’t find the guy, and now I’m wondering whether this was a random attack or if this dude had been waiting for me for some unknown reason. At this point, I have no reason to suspect that I’ll ever learn the real reason behind this bizarre incident.