My long walk home from school was a drag and I couldn’t wait to relax. Finally, I made it home from a boring day at school. I did my normal routine; take out the dog, do frustrating homework, and finally relax for the night. On this particular night, my parents weren’t going to be home until about nine. I sat on the couch, grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV. The blank screen remained visible, for some reason it wouldn’t turn on. I tried again, same thing. I went to get the laptop instead, but I realized my dad had taken it to work. “What to do, what to do…” I said to myself. I went to call a friend and see if their TV was working. I picked up the phone but I heard no tone. I remembered that I needed AR points so I sat down and began reading my long book.

About thirty pages into my book is when the phone rang. I thought it was the weirdest thing because the phones weren’t working. I picked it up, “Hello?” I said, frightened. “Can I please speak to your parents?” A strange, scratchy, unfamiliar voice responded. “They aren’t home right now, can I take a message?” The response, “No thanks.” Click, the other line ended. I didn’t think much of it because I don’t get scared easily.

I was getting tired so I decided to rest my eyes. It felt like a second but two hours later, I heard a car door slam. Were my parents home early? I ran to my room and to my curtain covered window. Slowly, I opened the curtain just enough to see the driveway. A white car with dents and scratched paint was sitting in the driveway. I couldn’t tell if someone was in the car so I waited for them to drive away. DING DONG! I heard the doorbell but I wasn’t aloud to open the door when I was home alone, so I sat in the corner of my room curled up in a ball. DING DONG! DING DONG! I crawled down the hall and to the front door. An unfamiliar face was looking through the window. He had big glasses and a strangely long chin. He was very skinny and had many wrinkles on his face.

I froze in fear as I noticed his features. When my mind wrapped back up, I started my way to the phone. Still on the ground, I grabbed the phone and dialed 911. As before, the phones weren’t working so I ran to the garage. Somehow he got through the locked door and was on his way down the hall. I heard his footsteps as he entered the kitchen, on his way to the garage. Quickly, I tiptoed to the dark, outside world. My bear feet touched the fresh snow and I jumped as a shiver went up my spine. It was pitch black outside and I didn’t know where I was going. My fear got worse as I noticed there was absolutely no sound in the thin, icy, air.

The sound of my neighbors voice was a relief as he called my name. “Help! Help! Call 911! Someone’s in my house!” I yelped, terrified. He quickly grabbed me and pulled me inside to warmth. I saw the five familiar, worried faces of my neighbors. They told me to lay on the couch while they figured out what was going on. My eyes slowly dropped as I drifted into a deep sleep.

The roaring sound of sirens entered the room and awoke me immediately. “What’s going on?” I asked the family, all who were gathered around me. “The bad guy is caught and the police are taking him away.” I saw my parents in the corner of my eye and jumped up to hug them. We thanked our friendly neighbors and walked home. The police asked me questions and were on their way back to work. That was the scariest night of my life.