Night Crawlers

by Ron L. Carter

Justin soon went back to the dark nights of peeping and after a few weeks of empty searching, he found what he thought was his perfect target. There was a young married couple that lived with their son in the middle of Red Mountain. The husband drove an eighteen wheeler all night long and was gone about five to six nights a week. Their son was a toddler, but he slept alone in his own room. When Justin first starting spying on them he thought the woman was pretty and sexy, but it wasn’t as much about her looks to him as it was the thrill and thought of being up close to her without getting caught that turned him on. That overwhelming desire was driving him like a drug that he couldn’t get enough of. The anticipation and excitement of what he was up to just kept building stronger and stronger each day.

  It had been about a month since his last encounter with his “girlfriend” and he was feeling anxious and restless to go out again. He made up his mind, he was going to make his move on the young mother. He started watching her while she was alone at nights for a few days and couldn’t take the waiting any longer. Once he was ready to break into her house, he checked everything to make sure he was prepared. He dressed just like he and Jed always had done and he left the property. He slowly and methodically made his way to her house.

  He was anxious as he waited for her husband to leave for work as he watched him drive away. He crept up to her house and started spying on her from her bedroom window. He watched as she put her son to bed and went back into her bedroom and took off her makeup. She slipped off her clothes and jumped into bed. She had no idea that she had just exposed her entire body to Justin as he watched from outside his hiding place. A peeping tom was the last thing she was worried about in Red Mountain. She’d heard about the “Night Crawlers” and was more afraid of them breaking in while she was all alone than a peeping tom. She wasn’t real worried about either of them because she had a gun she kept hidden under her pillow just in case they did.

  It was around midnight and she had been asleep for over an hour when Justin crept around to all the doors and windows to see if any of them had been left unlocked. Just as he had expected, everything was buttoned up tight as a drum. He took off the ski mask, wrapped a small rock around it as he broke out a little corner of the window. It was just enough to get his hand and arm in so he could reach the lock in the middle of the window. He then took a second and shook the ski mask out and put it back on his head. He looked around to make sure no one heard the breaking glass or saw him do it. Once he unlocked the window he quietly slid the window up an inch or two at a time until it was completely open.

  Once it was open, he quickly crept back to her bedroom window to see if she’d heard the breaking of the window. It appeared that she heard something and woke up for a brief moment as she sat up in bed and looked around the room. Not seeing or hearing anything, she laid back down after a few minutes and pulled the covers back up to her neck once again.

  Justin watched and waited until he knew she was in a dead sleep once again as he made his way, ever so quietly, through the open window and into the house. Creeping slowly as he tiptoed toward her bedroom, he felt like he could hear his own heart beating loudly as he made his way from room to room. He thought, my heart sounds like a drum, pounding in my chest. I hope she can’t hear it. He finally made it to her room after several minutes and waited at the doorway. He cautiously peered around the door frame to make sure she was still sleeping. Seeing that she was, he moved very slowly as he tiptoed to the edge of her bed. He waited there a few minutes and just watched as she slept.

  When he was able to get up enough nerve, he then lifted the side of the cover just enough so he could crawl into the bed with her. She was laying on her side facing the wall in a curled up fetal position. She had her legs drawn up toward her breast and her arms around a pillow. Justin waited a few minutes to warm his body as he edged himself carefully up against her. He kept edging next to her until he was in a full spooning position with her. Once there, he waited a few more minutes and then slowly ran his hand and arm over her body. Not getting any kind of response from her, he then reached up and cupped one of her breasts with his hand. The entire process took a several minutes, but it seemed like hours to Justin. He had a huge smile on his face because he was loving every minute of it. He thought, this is the ultimate moment for me! Nothing will ever compare to this moment right here!

  When she first felt the warm touch of his hand on her breast she started to wake up. She was still half awake and half asleep when she rolled toward Justin and said, “Hey honey, what are you doing home so early? I thought you weren’t going to be home until later in the day?” Justin didn’t say anything to her, he just lay there frozen in that position. When he didn’t answer her she opened her eyes and faced him. By that time she was fully awake. She suddenly realized it was someone else and not her husband lying next to her. She immediately started kicking and screaming at Justin, all at the same time. Justin was giggling to himself as he jumped up and out of her bed and quickly headed for the doorway. He stopped and took a quick glance back at her and saw that she was reaching for something under her pillow. He had just made it to the kitchen window when she started firing her pistol. He was already out of her room, but she didn’t care. She wanted was to let him know she had a gun and would kill him if he came back in her room again. He was out of the house by the time she fired her fourth shot and she was screaming the entire time she was pulling the trigger. Justin was lucky she was such a bad shot because none of bullets found their mark.

  Once Justin was outside her house he took off running as fast as he could run and was laughing the entire way. He ran until he was several blocks away and he finally stopped to catch his breath. He looked back and could see the lights of several houses starting to go on. By then the adrenaline had started to subside and he took a deep breath and chuckled to himself, I did it, I was lying right next to her and had my hand on her boob. At that moment, he was feeling invincible and he had a great deal of pride and satisfaction in himself because he’d accomplished exactly what he’d planned. The most important thing to him was that he’d gotten away with being up close to a girl once again. He believed that if he did everything right, he could keep breaking into the women’s houses and getting away with it as long as he wanted. When he got home and had time to think about it, the fear of being shot and not willing to take the chance of getting caught made him decide to wait for a while before he went out again.

  Justin soon forgot about the woman and the gun when he once again became bored with staying home. It was a lonely night while Jed was visiting Chelsea that he decided he would dress up in his normal gear with his ski mask and dark clothing and go to “The Joint” to look for Jed. He wasn’t going to let Jed know that he was there, he was just going to spy on him and Chelsea and see what they were up to. He figured it would give him something to do and he would feel a lot better than just staying home and doing nothing.

  When he got to Randsburg he found the familiar hiding place across the street from “The Joint,” and waited to see what was going on. There were a few cars parked outside, along with a nice looking Harley motorcycle. Once he felt comfortable that no one had seen him, he snuck up to the building and peeked inside. Much to his surprise, Jed and Chelsea weren’t there, but he did see a young woman sitting with a huge burly biker guy at one of the tables. He couldn’t help but notice, the guy had large over developed tattooed muscles that dwarfed the tank top he was wearing. He had long, bushy brown hair and a full face beard. Justin thought, man that is a mean looking dude. I wouldn’t want to make him mad. He looks like he could rip a person apart with his hands, limb by limb. The girl was wearing a light colored top that clung to her body and Justin could see that she had a nice set of fake breasts. As he stood there and just spied on her, Justin couldn’t keep his eyes off her round breasts. He watched the couple as long as he could without being seen. Justin had noticed they were arguing about something becaus
e she looked upset, angry and they shouted at each other. They were so busy arguing back and forth that they didn’t notice Justin was watching their every move. After a few minutes, Justin decided to go back to the hiding place and wait and see if Jed and Chelsea would show up.

  Justin waited about an hour and Jed was still nowhere to be seen so he made up his mind that he was going to leave. It was at just about the same time when he saw the girl who had been fighting with her biker boyfriend, come stumbling out of the bar. She was yelling obscenities at her boyfriend and Justin heard her say, “I’m through with you! I’m getting out of this place and I’m going to walk home!” She slammed the door behind her and started walking down the darkened street by herself.

  Justin waited a few minutes to see if her biker boyfriend was going to chase her down, but nothing happened. She was now all alone and Justin knew she would soon be lost. With the thought of her large breast still lingering in his head, Justin decided he would follow along behind her and see where she ended up. He watched as she stumbled along down the road for about two blocks when reality finally hit her and she must have realized walking home was not an option. She then made a turn off the main street and went down and behind some of the old buildings that bordered the street. Justin could tell she was pretty drunk as she found a place to sit down with her back against one of the buildings. Her knees were up and her head hanging down between her legs.

  It was really dark behind the buildings and Justin thought to himself, this would be the perfect opportunity to get up close to her and see if I can touch her boobs. By that time, all reasoning had left him and he wasn’t thinking about the biker and if he might come looking for her. While she sat there against the building with her legs bent and her elbows on her thighs she had her head cupped in both hands crying. Justin slowly crept over to her and sat down right next to her. She was too drunk to know or care that it wasn’t her boyfriend. As he wiggled up thigh to thigh with her, Justin quietly asked, “Are you okay? Not looking up to see who had asked her that question, she murmured, “Yes, but I hate that S.O.B.” Justin sat there for a minute just to see what she would say or do if he were to put his arm around her. At that point she was sobbing and saying that she hated her boyfriend and other things Justin couldn’t understand. He had his arm around her for a few minutes before he decided to bend over and try to kiss her. At that same moment, he reached down with his hand and had it on one of her boobs. That’s when she suddenly, somewhat sobered up, and realized what was going on. She tried with both hands to push Justin away. Justin then pushed her on to the ground and crawled on top of her. He was rubbing her breasts from under her top as she started to squirm and scream at the same time. This just turned him on more as he ground his pelvis into hers. She continued to scream so he covered her mouth with one hand. She immediately bit deep and hard into his hand and tasted blood. He instantly pulled his hand away from her face and, as if in shock, momentarily looked at the blood that was now starting to drip down his hand.

  Justin was so preoccupied with his attack on the girl that he didn’t realize her biker boyfriend had come out of the bar and was looking for her. The bartender had persuaded him, that in her condition, he needed to go look for her, because it may not be safe for her in Randsburg that time of night. He hadn’t gotten far from the bar when he heard her screams from down the hill. He ran in that direction and it wasn’t long before he came tearing around the corner of the building and saw Justin lying on top of her. She was still screaming as the biker grabbed Justin by the arm, picked him straight up and started beating on him. Justin was too small and helpless to fight back so he just tried desperately to get away. The biker had a strong grip on him as he held him with one hand and continued to pound him with the other. He hit Justin in the face, over and over again, and kicked him in the chest a few times in between the beating. It was a good thing for Justin that the biker was also a little drunk or he probably would’ve killed him. While he was beating on Justin, the biker lost his footing on the side of the hill and slipped. He almost fell to the ground and he temporarily let go of Justin to brace himself so he wouldn’t fall. That’s when Justin took the opportunity to run.

  The biker tried to chase Justin for about fifty yards until he realized he was no match for Justin in a foot race. He immediately ran back to his girlfriend and she was sitting up crying, hysterically. He picked her up in his arms and carried her back to the bar to clean her up. She had dirt and grass ground into the back of her top, from Justin being on top of her. Once the biker realized she was okay, he jumped on his motorcycle and started searching all over town for Justin. He spent the next forty five minutes looking in anything that looked like it may be place Justin could hide. Not being able to find him, the biker finally gave up the search and went back to the bar. By then, the Deputy Sheriff was at “The Joint” and asking the girl questions about her attacker.

  Bleeding from his busted lips, battered eyes and teeth marks on his hand, Justin retreated to the safety of his hiding place as he tried to regain his senses. He waited until the biker went back to the bar before he started to head back down to Red Mountain and home. He had never expected the biker to come around the corner, grab him and beat him up as bad as he did. He was angry that he had let his desire take over to the point he didn’t even think about the consequences of attacking the girl. He thought, all I wanted to do was to get up close to her and feel her boobs. That was all he was thinking about at the time and that’s what had been driving him to the point of the attack. He didn’t really understand why his compulsion had taken so much control of both, his body and his mind.

  He was finally able to drag his beaten and battered body back home to nurse his wounds.

  Jed had come home a little earlier that night, after being with Chelsea, and had been home about an hour when Justin came limping in. Jed was already angry with Justin for leaving the property when he wasn’t supposed too. When he saw that Justin had been beaten up, still dressed in black and wearing the black ski mask he knew that he had been up to something. He knew it was something that wasn’t good. He could tell Justin had gotten into some kind of trouble.

  Jed had a hard time controlling his anger as he confronted Justin and he asked, “What the heck happened to you? Did someone beat you up?” Just lied and said, “No, I just fell down a small hill and hurt myself.” Jed had a feeling he was lying about it as he said, “Come on, Justin tell me the truth. I know that didn’t happen, so tell me what really happened. You don’t get beat up that bad from falling down a little hill. What about the marks on your hand, those look like teeth marks?” Justin continued his lie as he said, “I was looking for our next house to break into and when I wasn’t watching where I was going, I tripped and fell down a hill.” Jed was furious with Justin as he said, “You’re lying about everything you’re telling me Justin because you know that’s not your job to look for the houses to break into.” Justin tried to defuse Jed as he started heading for bedroom and said, “I know, Jed, you’re right. It’s not my job. That’s your job.”

  Jed was not only angry, but confused, about what had happened and why Justin felt he had to lie about it. He didn’t believe a word Justin was saying and he couldn’t understand what was going on with him. He thought the entire lie seemed a little out of character for him. As Justin went to the bathroom to clean himself up, Jed stood looking down the hallway thinking, His explanations just aren’t adding up and they’re not making any sense to me, but there’s nothing I can say or do about it. I can’t beat the truth out of him, obviously someone already beat him up.

  After Justin went to bed and was alone, he was angry with himself for letting himself get caught in that situation with the girl and the biker. He was also angry with Jed for reprimanding him. Justin’s night of wanting to spy on Jed had ended up backfiring on him. He never planned on attacking the girl, it was just an impulsive thing he did. Now he was going to pa
y the price for his blunder while his body healed.

  A few days later, when Jed was at “The Joint,” Chelsea told him about the girl from the bar that had been attacked. She said, “The girl’s biker boyfriend had beaten the attacker up pretty bad before he got away. Some of the people in the bar told Jed they thought it might have been the same guy that was the peeping tom in Red Mountain. He fit the same description, according to the Deputy that came and investigated the attack on the girl. The Deputy told them, the peeping tom had actually been inside the houses of at least two women that they knew of, in Red Mountain and had fondled one of them while she was sleeping. The woman he fondled fired four shots at him as he fled her bedroom. She wasn’t sure if she hit him, but didn’t find any blood in the house.” Jed had heard rumors of a peeping tom in Red Mountain, but never paid any attention to them, until now.

  As soon as Chelsea told him about the peeping tom, Jed had his suspicions that it could actually be Justin that was both the attacker and the peeping tom. He didn’t say anything to Chelsea, but that evening, when he got home, he sat down with Justin to talk to him about what he’d heard. He starting asking Justin what he knew about the attack on the girl at “The Joint”, and the peeping tom. “Have you heard or seen anything when you were out looking for a house to break into?” At first Justin denied knowing anything about any of it as he said, “No, I haven’t seen or heard nothing.” The more Jed pressed him the more Justin started to break down and tell the truth. Jed told Justin, “I know you attacked the girl from “The Joint” because you had her teeth marks on your hand when you got home that night. She told the Deputy she bit her attacker on the hand. I also think you’re the peeping tom in Red Mountain. I just want to know why you’re doing these things.” After a lot of reluctance, he finally admitted that it was him, as he said, “It was me, Jed, but I didn’t try to hurt anyone.” He also admitted that he was one who had been spying on all the women in Red Mountain. He sort of chuckled as he said, “I was just doing it all for fun, I wasn’t trying to hurt no one.” When he told Jed it was him and he was doing it for fun, Jed detected a bit of smug attitude coming from him and Jed could tell he was proud of himself for terrorizing those women.

  Jed instantly became angry with Justin and started raising his voice at him. He said, “Oh God Justin! Are you even aware of the consequences of what you’ve been doing? If someone doesn’t kill you, the law will find you eventually and throw you in jail! Don’t you understand what you’re doing is against the law? If the law finds out it’s you, you’re going to be locked up for a long, long time. You’ll be in a little six foot by ten foot cell with just a toilet and a bed and that’s it! We’ll never see you again. Joshua will be taken from us and we’ll never see him again either. I’m really frustrated with you and what you’ve been doing!” Jed’s words cut into Justin like a knife. He’d never been yelled at by Jed. He’d also never done anything to disappoint Jed before and didn’t like the way it made him feel. He loved and respected Jed and he was the only one left Justin looked up to. Another reason he didn’t like the confrontation with Jed was that he felt like he was old enough to make his own decisions regarding what he should or should not be doing. He felt like he didn’t need anyone telling him what to do. The only problem with his thinking was that, in his mixed up brain, he didn’t realize that he wasn’t capable of taking care of himself or making grown up decisions on his own.

  After calming down a bit, Jed told Justin once again, “You have to promise me that you’ll stop spying on the girls in town and that you won’t ever attack another woman. It could get you locked up or even worse, killed. I don’t want either of those things happening to you.” Jed reached over and gave him a hug and said, “I love you, Justin. Please, don’t do that again.” After quite some time of talking, Justin reluctantly promised Jed that he would stop. In his heart Justin knew that he was lying as he said to himself, I don’t think I can keep that promise. I love watching the girls and I know I can’t stop. I’m not hurting no one! I’ll just make sure Jed doesn’t find out when I do it.

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  Chapter 14 - The Tweakers