I think I have a stalker

I (22F) moved in with my parents after breaking up with my extremely toxic boyfriend about 4 months ago, in mid-December. The way my parents’ house is arranged means that the 2nd floor is actually the 1st floor, because that’s where the front door, the kitchen, the living room and the main bathroom are (since you have to climb stairs outside to access this door), and there is no other way to enter through the 1st floor unless you go through the side gate to go to the back. And although the garden is fenced, there is a friend’s house that could be used as a real house, so my parents rent it and there is currently a middle-aged couple living there with their son who is probably a teenager or young adult, I’m not sure because I don’t see him often. In short, I and this family use the side gate most often. I use it because I get home late and I don’t want to disturb my parents, and the family uses it because it’s the only access to the friends’ house, obviously.

Anyway, my room is at the back of the house on the ground floor. My blinds are made of wood instead of the usual plastic and the bottom blind is broken, so it only gives entitlement and will not move no matter what you do. If you were outside, you could see directly in my room. I haven’t bought curtains yet because I procrastinate. My bed is right next to my window because that’s how it was when I moved in and I haven’t had time to move it yet, once again, because of procrastination.

In short. At the end of January, a week after I moved in, I felt a strange sensation as if I were being watched from my window. My mother said it was probably because of the family living there. I was convinced of this and went on with my life.

Now it’s around Valentine’s Day, I ride my bike to work and back (I work in a restaurant where we sit, so we were very busy on Valentine’s Day for obvious reasons), but after my service, I find that one of my tires is flat, so instead of going home with my bike flat, I walk instead.

While walking, I feel eyes on me but I see absolutely no one, so I take out my taser to be safe. I get home and go through the side gate to go to the main house, locking the back door with my keys.

When I turn on the lights, I see that my door is wide open. I always close my doors because I have a very greedy dog and a supply of chocolate that he could sniff and devour in a few seconds (I learned the best), so my heart dropped.

Again, the way my parents’ house is arranged, all that matters is on the second floor, so on the 1st floor when you enter from the back, you arrive in an open space that my parents have filled with boxes and you can see the layout of the ground floor. There is a small bathroom on the right, then my room, my father’s office, then the stairs at the other end of the corridor. From where you stand when entering for the first time, the first room you would see is the one in the middle, so mine.

So I knew my door was open, it wasn’t a light effect. Despite everything in me that told me to go up, I was still inside, got dressed and collapsed a few minutes after getting into bed.

The next day, I woke up and did everything I do daily like going to work. Instead of taking my bike, I asked the couple’s husband if he could take me to work on his way because I knew we were taking the same route since I remember he told me once.

He accepted and drove me to work. On the way, I asked him if he had noticed something strange in front of my window or if he had seen someone enter from the back last night.

He said no, that’s it.

Now let’s move on to last week.

I’m in bed, enjoying my day off, watching movies and I don’t even realise that night has come until my mother comes into my room asking me to turn down the TV so she and my dad can sleep (their room is just above mine) and I accepted.

I was probably about halfway through the movie I was watching when I heard a light tapping on my window. I obviously looked and saw something running away very quickly, as if you were blinking, let’s go. I didn’t think about it, probably an animal or something like that.

Then around 1 a.m., I felt something watching me so I looked but I saw absolutely nothing. I finished my movie and turned off my TV, so my room was in total darkness. I was probably asleep for 2-3 hours before hearing tapping on my window again, but as my brain was still fogged by the alarm clock, I thought it was my dog at my door and ignored it. Until I turned around to face my window and saw the shadow of a person standing there.

I felt my body completely frozen as I watched this thing knock on my window. I probably looked with fear for 10-15 minutes before the person left and I managed to catch everything that was important (pillow, blanket, phone, phone charger, fan and dog) and run upstairs to settle down on the couch.

I only go to my room during the day now and I refuse to walk to or from work. I sleep on the sofa in the living room because I am terribly afraid of being watched while I sleep.

I think he’s a stalker, but I’m not sure. As the title suggests, I’m new to Reddit because I usually read rather than write, so I didn’t know which show to choose.