scary stuff

my entire family is from wichita, kansas. my parents were born and raised there and my sister and i were born there as well. we lived in wichita until i was 3, but even at such a young age, i knew of 'btk.' he was a serial killer who terrorized wichita long before i was born. no one knew who 'btk' was, but everyone knew about him. i'll let you google 'btk' and find out the gruesome details for yourself. suffice it to say, i've been terrified of him since the day i was born.

fast forward to december 1990. my family and i had just returned home from spending christmas with our family in wichita. my dad's best friend and his family drove along with us and stayed for new year's. they lived in florida at the time and decided to have a layover at our house. our families are very close. we always called jeff our other dad. my dad and jeff have been best friends since childhood and growing up, we always had the best time with him and his family. ringing in 1991 was no different. we had a ball together.

a few weeks after jeff and his family returned to florida, my dad received a phone call. it was jeff saying that his mother had been murdered. jeff always suspected his mother's boyfriend, but the boyfriend was never convicted and the real killer was never found.

i can't remember the year (maybe 2004?), but i remember when 'btk' surfaced again. he had been quiet for so long that most thought he was dead. i heard the news that he had resurfaced on 'america's most wanted.' i immediately called my mom and sister and of course they had heard the news as well. i remember having awful nightmares that btk was trying to my little family of 3. there was one night in particular when the dream seemed so real to me. i woke up terrified, grabbed little mama out of her crib, and brought her in bed to sleep with me and super jas. i needed to know that we were all together and that everyone was fine. these nightmares went on for some time and then i received a phone call from my mom one evening.

"are you sitting down?" she asked.
"i am now."
"we just heard that the police think btk killed jeff's mom."

my heart pounded. it felt like the blood was drained from me and i went cold. i couldn't move. i couldn't talk. all i kept thinking was how this monster of a man...someone who i had been terrified for my entire life...he killed the mother of a man so close to me. btk had hit so close to home.

btk was captured in 2005. and now he's rotting away somewhere, although i don't even care to know where. and even though btk hit so close to home, i'm glad it's over and i can shut that chapter in my life after 27 years.