u/Forward_One_4905

Hello, you can call me Lizzy—that’s my nickname. I am 17 years old, though I was 16, about to turn 17, when this incident occurred. I live in a big city near the Mexico border. Downtown, we have many abandoned buildings. The people who work for our city do their best to make sure they aren’t easily accessible, although that wasn’t the case for this one building.
I had moved here about a year ago with my mom. It’s just us. My sister, who you can call J, is 20. She stayed in our previous hometown to continue working, but she visits from time to time.
One day, while walking downtown, we were searching for buildings we could possibly get on top of. We wanted a thrill and hoped to see the beautiful city lights from above. We stumbled across a building that seemed possible to climb. As we walked through the alley to scope it out more, we heard wheels rolling behind us.
At first, we got scared, thinking it might be a worker and that we were going to get into trouble for being back there. But we quickly realized it was just two boys on skateboards heading the same way for the same reason. Once we saw they were harmless, we felt relieved.
We started talking to them and asked if they knew how to get on top of the building. They said yes and showed me and my sister how, even helping us climb up one by one. We finally made it onto the roof, which connected to another building—the larger one we actually wanted to explore.
Once we got in, we started looking around. It was around sunset, so we enjoyed the view through all the broken windows. The building had many floors, so we kept going higher and higher until we reached one particular floor.
We continued exploring, and on that same floor there was a room without a door. When I noticed it, I walked toward it to see what was inside. To my surprise, there was a man in there. He seemed very put together—not homeless or disheveled. He was well groomed, wearing a nice outfit and work boots.
I didn’t go inside. I saw him from a distance, and as soon as he noticed me, he moved further into the room where I couldn’t see him anymore. I went to tell my friends and my sister that there was a man in there and that we needed to leave. I told them he looked like a construction worker or something similar.
Then he came out of the room and immediately became aggressive and creepy toward us, saying we shouldn’t be there. My sister, who has always had a sharp tongue, responded with attitude and asked why, trying to show she wasn’t scared. But he kept repeating that we all needed to leave, insisting it was a dangerous place and that we shouldn’t be there.
Then he picked up a brick, and it looked like he might hit my sister with it. I told everyone we needed to leave immediately and to hurry out. We all headed down the stairs while he followed us, still repeating himself.
I was first to leave, then the two boys, then my sister, with him right behind her. She kept telling him angrily that we were leaving, but he continued speaking in a panicked, aggressive tone.
We finally made it out of the building and back onto the rooftop we originally climbed onto. He then stopped the two boys and told all of us never to come back. He said it was a very dangerous place and told us to pretend the encounter never happened, that he didn’t see us and we didn’t see him. As if he was deeply troubled and worried about getting caught or something. He seemed like he was there doing something illegal.
As he was talking, I got a clearer look at him—what he looked like and what he was wearing. That’s when I noticed he had blue latex gloves on, which made my heart race even faster. I was already full of adrenaline from escaping the situation, and that detail made it even more unsettling.
I’ve watched a lot of true crime, so this encounter felt extremely disturbing. That night, after we got home safely, I stayed in bed with my sister replaying everything in my mind. I kept thinking about all the possibilities—what could have been in that room and why he had moved deeper inside when he saw me.
It felt like he might have been hiding something. Could it have been a body? A weapon? Drugs? I had no idea. I just knew his behavior felt off, and the gloves especially didn’t sit right with me.
I thought about making a report, but I never did because I was worried for my safety, especially living so close to the border. I sometimes worry about the cartel. But I believe in my heart that God always brings justice, and that everything done in the dark will eventually come to light.