BG: DH and I used to live in a flat. It was a Victorian house that had been seperated into individual units. There were 3 flats on both sides of the house. DH and I lived in flat 4. In Flat 1 lived "Rachael". We didn't know anyone else in any of the other flats - Rachael introduced herself to us the day she moved in. She seemed like a nice enough person, maybe closer to 40 (we were just about 30 at the time). We had no kids, we were just BF and GF living together.
Anyway. As time went on, it seemed Rachael had issues with noise. Even though she lived in the flat at the opposite side to us and above us, she apparently heard everything we did. We asked others in the other flats if we were noisy and we were told no, other than we could be heard shutting the heavy front door (communal) at night. Rachael's noise complaints to us got more and more bizarre...she'd post notes under our flat door (and other people's!), telling us she could hear us come in at all hours of the night (on occasions when we hadn't even gone out at all) and she could hear every time we shut the bathroom door. She would put notes on the front door telling everyone to please shut the front door properly and not allow it to slam (it was a heavy, old door that was prone to slamming, even if you held it until it was shut).
Rachael was also constantly harassing the landlord as to things that "needed doing" in the flat, some of them were his problem and some of them honestly weren't. For example, she wanted her flat (and hers only) soundproofed so she wouldn't have to put up with hearing so much noise.
After a year living with this woman, we started to realise she may not be "all there". Some of her complaints were just getting ridiculous. We had a year old kitten that she apparently heard yowling all niight (no she didn't, the kitten slept in our bedroom, at the end of our bed, and didn't wake until the morning to be fed!). We tried appealing to the better side of her nature, we tried explaining things to her, we tried literally everything. But no dice with her. In the end, we decided we had to move house (we were sick of that horrid one bedroomed flat anyway and really needed a proper house).
Anyway. A house came up for rent and we were successful, so we moved. We didn't part on great terms with Rachael, but we weren't all that bothered, reasoning we would probably never see her again. Given that the last time we saw her before we moved, she called us both some vile names (including raving alcoholics, completely inconsiderate layabouts and a disgrace for smoking (we never smoked in the house, just outside)...all things that really had nothing to do with her whatsoever). After almost 10 minutes of being sworn at and spoken to that way, we'd had enough and told her so.
Fast forward 4 (Yes, four!) years. DH and I are about to get married at this point and we have DS (at the time approx 10 mths old). I am enjoying myself at a local bar on a Sunday afternoon for some karaoke and some time away for a little while. Who do I see when I turn around? Rachael. She had a laptop and was sitting alone tapping away on her laptop. I didn't go over to say hi to her (why would I, we didn't get on!). Instead, I lit up my cigarette and continued reading my phone. I overheard her conversation to another person in which she said she worked alongside Social Services and worked mainly with families at risk of harming their kids. She then pointed me out and said something quiet to the person she was talking to. I ignored her.
When Rachael went home (apparently the noise of the karaoke that afternoon was "too much" for her to concentrate - why take a laptop to a pub on a karaoke afternoon if you want quiet anyway - it was advertised as karaoke on a Sunday!), the lady she was talking to confided that she had told her that DH and I were raging alcoholics and she was trying to get our DS taken from us. She also told me Rachael had said that DH and are going to AA meetings (a falsehood), that we have had SS involvement in the past (a falsehood) and that the Police are constantly being called to our house due to DV (a falsehood). I left quite quickly after that.
I saw her once after that in the same pub. She said hi to me, I ignored her. The place is big enough for me to be able to move well away from her and go and sit quietly by myself, to wait for my friends). She then began shouting in my face that I need to "watch my back". Oh-kay, this woman has lost it. She was asked to leave the pub and I finished my drink and left shortly thereafter. too shaken up to want to stay any longer.
Now we are 2 years (almost) down the line, or at least a good 18 months. DS is 2 years old now.
On New Years Eve, I received a missed call from a mobile number I don't know. A voicemail followed. I didn't pick up the VM till the following day. It was a 3 minute long rambling message from Rachael. This was the gist of the message:
"Hello Hollanda. I know we haven't seen each other for a long time, but I need your help. As you know, I am being stalked and the Police are involved (I had no idea of this - when was she supposed to have told me this?) I really really need your help, we need to meet up in a mutually agreed secret location." It carried on in that vein until the end, when she said she's leaving the city and would appreciate me calling her back urgently.
Now there was more than a hint of desperation to that message. I really started off feeling sorry for her. But the more I think about it, the weirder it all seems. A mutually agreed secret location? Why would I want to meet her anywhere? What could I possibly do to help her? Why me and why now? More to the point she could only have my mobile number one way - through Facebook, right at the beginning before I had chance to change profile settings to private and remove my phone number. I know I never gave it to her. Why would I, we didn't get on!
I am beginning to feel a little uneasy about this, given her previous veiled threats to try and remove DS from our family (I think it's tosh and she no more works for Social Services than I am the Queen of Sheba), but nevertheless, the threat was made. She shouted at me in my face for no reason at all, something a sane, reasonable adult wouldn't do. And then calls me 2 years after that incident as though everything's rosy and we parted on the best of terms??! DH thinks it is most peculiar. I am ignoring the calls (I have had another missed call since on that mobile number but no VM this time) but I am taking a log of when she is calling me (I saved her number so I know when she calls).
Am I right to feel very uneasy about this woman and what she has the potential to do? The timings just feel wrong to me. :(
Can you tell me if I am being overly dramatic or whether I could have handled anything differently (sorry about the essay)?
Thanks!