I was thrilled with the terror I was feeling as a noise came from my window. I had heard all the stories of the alleged “Sufficater” and was not pleased with their phony truths, but as I lay in bed, hearing all the noises of someone breaking in my window, I believed their stupid facts. Before I could even think of getting up and running away I was torn from my bed and slammed to the ground, screaming at the masked face that was inches away from mine.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” I woke myself with the screeching of my sore voice. For the past week I had been yelling at the masked face in my dreams and was still denying that he was real. Ever since I had moved into this particular neighborhood they had all told me creepy tales of the “Sufficater”. Of course I didn’t believe them but I’d been given nightmares of their fake stories almost every night.

Slowly I got out of bed and got ready for my Saturday morning. I picked out a gray sweater and sweat pants to match, threw on some slippers, and went to the kitchen when I realized that my family was gone. I checked on the fridge and found a note:
Jax,
Your brother has a soccer tournament-be back by 5!

Love-mom

As I read the note with absolute gratitude towards my mom for not waking me to go to a stupid game. I thought of something to do besides homework and staying at home. I had 2 options; go to the pool with a few of my new friends or call up an old friend to come over. I quickly made the decision as I picked up the phone.

“Hello,” Asked the voice of my best friend, Trixten.

“Hey this is Jax! Do you wanna come hang with me today?” I asked her hopefully. The conversation went on for over an hour while we were catching up on each other’s lives.

“Kay I’ll seeya in a bit! Bye!” I told her as I hung up. Quickly I cleaned up the house and finished getting ready within the 20 minutes I had for her to get here. That was when I heard the creepy noise. It had come from the basement and was about the loudest thing I had ever heard. I was frozen with fear while the man in the white mask flashed through my head. My heart started racing, my hands became clammy, and then the doorbell rang.

“Is that really what happened?” Questioned Trixten.

“Yes. It was like the scariest thing in my life! Serious! I thought I was seconds away from death!” I explained to her after telling her about my week in the new neighborhood.

“Well, let’s find the masked man! Just like the movies! We can be the detectives!” She hollered with excitement.

“And how old are you?” I asked kiddingly.

“Come on! I know, I’m 14 but can’t we just have a little fun? Please? We can go in the basement and just check it out. Come on. Please, please, please, please?”

“Okay! Just stop begging me and we’ll go!”

Slowly we walked down the stairs to the dark basement. Out of nowhere came the loud bang that froze us stiff. We could hear the soft breathing of another body getting closer, closer when seconds later I heard the blood curdling scream of Trixten. Before I could make a decision on what to do I saw a flash of white staring me right in the face. A chill coursed through my body as his breath ran down my neck. I was curious and terrified at the same time yet I couldn’t find any reason why I wasn’t running for my life at that very moment. Moments later he was gone and the lights flicked on. Trixten was fine, all except for her imagination (which happened to run wild when she was scared).

After we had calmed down and gone up stairs we decided to look up stories about the “Sufficater” on the internet. The first thing that popped up was the white mask. We both screamed in terror the moment the picture flashed into our minds then quickly exited off the page. It was like he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, I couldn’t figure it out either. Why hadn’t he just killed us right there? Who was he and why did he suffocate people in their sleep? There were too many questions running through my mind and I had to get away from any spare time to think about it. We shut off the computer and left the house to go shopping at the mall.

Hours later we pulled into the garage of my house and carried our bags to the door. When I pushed the key into the hole of the handle and twisted I heard a loud crack and the knob fell to the cement stairs. My body and mind were frozen all except for the racing face of the white masked man who started running through my head. Then I blacked out.

When I woke up I was in a hospital bed. It turned out I had fallen and hit my head on the cement, they also said I was lucky compared to Trixten. It had taken 15 minutes to get someone to tell me what happened to Trixten when they finally gave up. The worst part was that the doctor had to tell me for my mom. That was a bad sign.

“I’m sorry Jax. It seems that your friend has been, well….. Suffocated to death.” Dr. Wilben mumbled to me, trying not to make eye contact. I was devastated. Why not suffocate me? Why Trixten? She shouldn’t have come to my house at all, none of this would have happened.

Suddenly I woke with a chill as I heard the dreaded noise of my window opening. It was all a dream, but it seemed to be repeating itself, only this time it was real…..and I was the victim.