I have been at my house, alone, for 1 year. It's an odd feeling being alone, all the time, nothing to do, no plans for each day, month, or year. The only thing I really look forward to are the changes in weather.
I live in a very cold state, the winters are brutal, but the spring gets warm and the summers even warmer. I enjoy the outdoors, growing a garden, working on cars, building things, and keeping to myself.
My name is Clark. I'm 23 years old, I'm physically disabled, and I have PTSD.
I was the youngest police officer to ever be hired at my department. Everyone loved me, praised me, and the day I turned 21 I got the job. 5 months of training and I hit the road for more training with a mentor.
The 7th day we went to a call about a suspicious person in a high school. The teacher called it in. My mentor and I went in, we had little information, and we were ambushed. By the teacher. Turns out he shot me 7 times. My mentor shot him and wounded him. He was later tried and convicted.
Turns out, he had mental health problems, the school knew about it, they covered it up as best as they could, and I sued them. 4th largest settlement in the states history. I was in the hospital for 6 months, then rehab for another 8 months, learning to walk, eat, and live with my new disability. The nightmares were the worst part about the whole thing. I was so irritable I could not work in police work, or really anywhere. I would snap at people, scream, and go irate for the smallest thing. I had anxiety, panic attacks, and issues.
So, the state called me disabled.
After getting out of the hospital I lived in an apartment. I could not stand it, and neither could any of my neighbors. I didn't mean to be the way I was. Everything pissed me off. I was mean, really mean, and I had no way of stopping it. I made up my mind to build a house, be a hermit, and live alone. I had a huge settlement, I had state disability checks every two weeks for life, and the police department gave me a pension. Equal to 33 years of service at a sergeant's pay. Nice chunk of change.
A large fire had destroyed 8 houses in a new housing development. I knew the developer since a friend worked for them. Their insurance company hung them out to dry. They would not pay to rebuild them. Each house sat on 1.5 acres. The surrounding houses weren't nice, but very close to the local university. So, they had 5 and 6 bedrooms and were likely going to be rentals for college kids.
I made an offer to buy all 8 pieces of land but also wanted the developer to build my house for me. They jumped at the chance, needing money. In the end I had a 16,000 square foot house, huge garage, extra shop and a very large piece of land. All pretty much centered in a huge 600 house development. My property stood out, large yard, lots of open space, and I could have built a baseball field in my backyard if I wanted to.
The thing was I knew the area. How cold it would get in winter, and how blazing hot in summer it would be. I built the main area of my backyard to be a giant C-shape. Almost 1 acre just off the back porch. The house was two stories, massive living areas, kitchen, upstairs, and a giant open basement. The house was built with cold weather in mind. Extra thick walls, extra insulation, and sealed extra tight. I had solar panels, 4 wood stoves, back up diesel generators, and floor heating in the basement and main floor. The stoves were just for extra back-up and sometimes it was nice to sit in front of a roaring fire on cold days. I had become a "prepper". Food, water, clothes, tools, guns, bullets, and every dang tool YouTube could sell me. I felt like I could bolt the doors and windows closed and live alone for 40 years without needing an item.
I had custom trucks, snow mobiles, cars, motorcycles, and every toy. I loved working on them and tinkering. I was always alone so I had to keep myself busy doing something. The local delivery guy would often joke that he would be the first to know if I had died. No more packages. We both laughed when he made his joke. Kinda morbid. But it was true.
After the 1st year the neighborhood was full. College kids and starter families. Mostly young marriages and I had never seen a single kid in the place.
I had a medium sized hot tub and plenty of room on the concrete patio for barbeques and grills. But also, lots of room for a volleyball net, cricket set, or other outdoor games. Not that I had any friends or company to play around with.
It was the beginning of the second year I lived in my house. Fully stocked and ready for the apocalypse. Several deliveries of pallets with firewood, presto logs, food, snacks, and other things I wasted my weekly paychecks on.
November hit cold. Lots of wind, lots of rain, and by the middle of the month we had two feet of snow. But that was the beginning. It snowed an extra 2 feet by Thanksgiving. Then the cold weather hit. 0 degrees was the high for a few days and then -15 degrees was predicted from the end of November through December. And maybe longer. I had triple pane windows, with extra thick see through lexane to cover my windows. Both for protection from flying debris and extra insulation. The sliding doors were breezy and let in cold air. But once the lexane covered them, no cold drafts.
High winds caused white out blizzards, power outages, and the college had let out early two weeks for end of the quarter. I doubted all the college kids got out due to the weather.
Well, that's where my story really started.
A loud banging on my front door. I had a winterized front door, an extra room attached to the front of the house, to stop the cold air from coming in, but also to stow my boots, coat, and other stuff. I think they call it an arctic entryway.
It took me a minute to get to the door. But as I got nearer, the banging or knocking was not normal sounding. It was thunderous.
Opening the door, I found a huge man in all black snow gear. The wind was blowing, snow blew in my house, and he stepped inside. I closed the door behind him due to the extreme wind and snow.
I waited while he removed a facemask, two hats, a hooded coat, and finally a hooded fleece coat. It was a police officer. Not one I had remembered. But he was smiling wide, thanking me for letting him in.
What had I done?
"Sorry to bother. But you seem to be the only house with lights on. I saw smoke from your chimney." Officer White advised.
"Yeah. Is that illegal? Did I miss an evacuation order?" I replied, sternly and grumpier than was needed.
Officer White's smiling face did not change, he was not looking around, but looking right at me. "No. No. It's just that the college let out early, trying to get students home before the nasty weather hit. 6 are stranded. Hotels, motels, and all other places are closed. Broken water pipes. No electricity. No heat. Terrible problems."
"Oh. Okay. Well have a nice day." I stated while I walked to the door to open it.
Afterall, how was any of this my business, my problem, and what was he doing here.
"Oh. I mean. That's why I stopped by." Officer White continued and smiled.
"Sorry. Leave." I stated. My frustration for no reason had risen to the surface.
"Well 6 students are stranded. Their house is without power, heat, and they need help." Officer White stated. Still smiling and staring at me.
"Well, it's a good thing they have the police and a local fire department. Leaving yet?" I more sternly replied.
"No. I'm not making myself clear." Officer White finally seemed frazzled.
"I am being clear. Leave." I stated. Nothing was lost with my tone or words.
"6 neighbors need your help. They need food, warmth, water, and a place to stay." Officer White blurted out. Since I was walking for the door, ready to open it with the elements about to burst in.
"Did you see Motel Clark outside? Did it read Vacancy? How is this my problem? You are a community servant. I am the community that wants to be left alone." I firmly stated as I reached for the doorknob.
"You do not understand." Officer White nearly shouted.
"No. I do. You have not asked. You have barged in here, smiling to try to be polite, but you are not asking anything. You are demanding I help my neighbors. I am set, I have my things, this weather or emergency was prepared for. And now I must help those who chose not to prepare or help themselves. I am supposed to open my door to 6 strangers. You have not asked for my help. You came here expecting it." I yelled back. Not that he deserved it.
We stood staring at one another. I was not healed, and likely I would never be healed to a point where I was back to normal. I had a bad limp on my left side, my left arm was very weak, and my ribs would likely always cause me pain. I was very skinny, and tired easily. Standing, yelling, and for this amount of time was making me tired.
"Sir. Will you take in 6 strangers? Please. They need a place to stay, to wait out this blizzard. I know they will be very grateful." Officer White stated.
"Stay here." I commanded and walked away to my kitchen.
I leaned on the kitchen counter, took my anxiety medications, and wrote out a list.
No loud music.
No loud talking, singing, whistling, or yelling.
No toys, games, or things that beep, screech, or make annoying sounds.
You will do housework.
You will clean up after yourself.
A chore list will be made, and you will be required to complete them.
You will be required to go outside, to shovel snow, to do chores.
You will be required to do as I say. No exceptions.
This is not a democracy. I am king. I am president.
Not obeying these rules will get you kicked out. Immediately.
I walked back to Officer White. I shoved the handwritten list into his gloved hands. He read it slowly.
"I'm sorry. I have anxiety, PTSD, I'm disabled, I get angry for no reason, I am explosive, I have a temper. I am all around not a pleasant person to be around. That is why I am alone. I chose it but it has also chosen me." I tried to explain while I felt my medications helping.
