This Creepy Neighbor

I'm a small female living alone in a large city. Knowing exactly what this could mean for me, I'm pretty wary of my surroundings and the people in it.

I recently moved to the back of an apartment complex, to the third floor which I was very excited about since I hate being on ground level. A few days after moving in, I met my across-the-way neighbor, Steve. Steve was tall and skinny with dark hair and the tryings of a beard. He was nice, polite in our few passings, but we never had more than an exchange of a few hello's until one Saturday night.

My friend dropped me off at my place late that night and I stumbled up the stairs, stupid drunk. I knew I was making a racket because Steve opened his door as I approached mine. I waved at him and smiled as I fumbled for my keys.

I was facing my door, trying to remember which key it was as they all looked the same, and I felt Steve come up behind me. He grabbed my hand with the keys and breathed "Let me help" and immediately found the correct key and helped me put it into the keyhole. It could have been romantic, looking back, if this guy hadn't proceeded to stick his nose into my hair and take a deep, shaky breath. The red alarms immediately started going off in my head and cut through my drunken stupor. My breath was frozen in my throat and I realized just how fucked I could possibly be.

"Thanks," I mumbled before slipping through my door and locking it behind me. I stood there for a moment going what the fuck, when I heard a soft thump on the other side of the door.

I slowly turned and looked through the peep hole, but I couldn't see anything, only blackness. Which didn't make any sense because there was a light outside which kept the staircase lit. I blinked and stepped back before checking again. This time I saw Steve backing away from the peep hole. My body felt like it was dunked in ice water. Steve went back into his apartment and I didn't hear anything else that night.

For a few weeks after that, I would hear the same soft thump and find Steve trying to peer into my apartment from the peep hole. I could hear his heavy breathing. Sometimes he would even paw at the door, but he never came out when I would come home after that first time.