It all started shortly after mom and dad had left for dinner with their friends. I was sitting in my room, Jake was playing video games, and Ben was in the kitchen, eating dinner. Suddenly, the home phone rings. “I got it!” I screamed, as I carelessly got out of bed and answered it. I picked up the phone with my hands and tucked it in between my shoulder and ear. Hello?” I said.
         “I know where you live,” a man’s voice said on the other line. Thinking it was just one of my friends pranking me, I hung up. My feet shuffled back into bed. Not one minute later, I get a text from a blocked number. I know where you live, it read. Ok, I thought, this was getting a little creepy. As I contemplated whether or not to respond, another text rolls in saying the same as before, except in all capitalization. I opened my bedroom door and ran down the steps and headed for the basement, where my older brother was sitting.
       “Jake, some stranger has been contacting me, telling me they know where I live. I’m pretty scared,” Jake looked at me with frustration.
        "Skylar. There is not a stranger looking for you. You just fall for things easily. Someone probably just dialed in a bunch of random numbers on the telephone. You were the unlucky one who picked it up”, he said to me.
        “I swear! It was real! I know it is! How did they know my cell phone number and the house phone number!!” I whined back.
        “Oh shut up, Sky. You’re like the boy who cried wolf. You’ve pulled this stunt 3 times before. We even called the police once. On a tree branch,” Jake angrily said. He pushed me away, and I headed upstairs.
        Since Jake wasn’t very much help, I went to find my other older brother, Ben. I followed the smell of Soup into the kitchen, where Ben was quietly sitting, watching Sports Center. I explained to him what was going on, and he too just didn’t care. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the T.V. for more than half a second. My brothers probably thought I was just some gullible 12 year old with a wild imagination. I gave Ben a shove in the back and went on my way. My eyes burned from the air pressure pushing against me as I raced through my house and into my bedroom. I was scared. I didn’t think I could do anything about it. It was like the feeling people get when they have a bad day and feel as if there is no one to talk to, or be comforted by. Nothing to make them feel better.
      In my bedroom, I grabbed the home phone from my purple nightstand beside my bed and dialed my mother’s number, tears running down my cheeks. As soon as she picked up, I explained what had happened, without taking a single breath of air. And not to my surprise, my mom and dad also did not believe me. Just like my brother, they thought I was very similar to the boy who cried wolf. Why didn’t anyone believe me? I felt so upset. As I slammed the phone back onto my nightstand, I noticed something from the corner of my eye. My window. It was open. I was almost positive that it hadn’t been open before I left my bedroom. Or maybe my family was right, I was delusional, I thought to myself. After I fought with my brain for a while, I decided to just sleep it off. I shut the window and climbed into bed. As my head touched the pillow below me, it felt as if I had just touched heaven. That’s when I realized, I was exhausted. I needed sleep. I was probably just seeing things, and there wasn’t a stalker.
         As all of those positive thoughts were floating through my brain, the worst thing that could’ve possibly happened, happened. My phone shook the nightstand as it buzzed, and the lock screen lit up. Half asleep, my eyelids shot open at the sound. I turned over and waved my hand around my nightstand in search of the cell phone. After a minute of getting used to the brightness, I could finally see what my phone had said. I see you, Skylar. You may run, but you can’t hide. I decided to respond this time.

      Look! I don’t know who you are, but leave me alone! If you don’t, I’ll call the police. I was feeling very confident. Shortly after, I received another text.

       You think this is some game, don’t you? Goodnight, Skylar. the text read. The confidence I once had, left my body completely. My hands shook as I returned my phone to the stand. I tried to sleep, but I didn’t get very much sleep that night.
     The next morning, the birds chirping and the sun’s warm rays beaming on my face woke me up. My eyes fluttered open. I jumped out of bed and slipped my slippers onto my freezing feet. I peeked my head outside the door. The coast was clear. No stalker. I guess I really was being delusional.

       I leaped for joy down the stairs and into the kitchen. I jumped into a chair and waited for breakfast as impatient as a dog waiting for a treat. That’s when I realized. No one was in the kitchen. I looked around the room and to my surprise, it was completely silent. I crept out of the kitchen and walked into the basement, where I noticed my brother struggling with something. “Jake, what’s up?” I asked.
      “The controller won’t work. Neither will the T.V., or the lights”, he replied. That’s when it occurred to me that all the lights in the house were off. We then went from room to room, hoping for a light switch or anything of that sort to work. But nothing even budged. All the electricity was out. By then, Ben was downstairs as well. The three of us gathered into the living room to try and figure this out. While we were conversing, Ben’s face went pale.
     “Guys,” he starts. “Where’s mom and dad? Has anyone seen them this morning?” I raced up the carpeted stairway and into my parent's room. Their room was neatly organized as if no one had even slept in it the night before. I walk over to the bed, to find a note placed on one of the pillows.

     “Hey, guys. Sorry, we left without any notice. We got called into the office for an early, urgent meeting we just couldn’t miss. Love you all tons. See you soon. -Mom and Dad” I ran downstairs to tell Jake and Ben. We decided not to call either of them, for it would be rude to disturb them because of the electricity.
      After about an hour, each of our cell phones was out of battery, as well as all the other electronic devices keeping us entertained. Since there wasn’t really anything else the three of us could do or talk about, we just sat in the living room together, silently, waiting for our parents to return home. Suddenly, our ears started ringing due to an extremely rude interruption of the loudest bang of a wall any of us ever heard. It was so powerful, I was sure each of our hearts skipped a beat, out of fear and surprise.
     Jumping out of our seats, we headed for the basement, running quicker than the speed of light. We all hid behind the row of leather couches lined up next to the back wall in the basement. We all stayed silent, trying to figure out what in the world was going on. All of a sudden, we started hearing shuffling feet, scurrying around the room directly above us. The kitchen. The sound of shattering glass and falling silverware followed. Me being the dumb little baby sister started crying. “Oh be quiet, Sky. It’s all going to be okay,” Jake flatly said to me in a hushed voice. No one believed me last night. There was someone. Someone was upstairs, looking through our house. So I wasn’t delusional, I thought to myself. I was going to have a blast telling my family that I told them so. But that was only going to happen if we made it out. And I wasn’t so sure that was an option.
      It was three in the afternoon. My parents hadn’t come home yet, and the unknown human was still roaming around the house. My tears were dried against my glowing cheeks like glue. My older brothers had no idea what to do, nor did I. They were staying strong for me, acting like everything was okay. But I could see it in their eyes. They were as scared as I was. But, as if we were touched by the hint of a miracle, something truly miraculous happened. Tucked in the folds of the farthest couch to the left, Jake’s old cell phone that had been missing for months, lay, at full battery, ready to save us. I ran over to the phone, pulled it out of the couch, and called 911. We were saved. Not 20 minutes later, we heard the front door swing open, followed by multiple shoes shuffling on the second floor. After 2 minutes, people start talking. “I got him!” I heard someone say.
     “Come with me, you’re going away for quite a while,” I heard someone else pronounce. The front door slammed open, and we heard multiple police officers leading the stranger out. Once the door closed, we still hear a few voices muffled right above us. Confused, Jake, Ben, and I quietly creep up the stairs and into the kitchen, to find our parents, talking to two police officers.
     “Mom! Dad!”, we all scream. My family joins together in a group hug.
     “We’re so happy to see you! Are you guys okay? I bet you guys took this like champs!” my mom says in relief.
     “What happened? Who was in our house?” Ben says in shock. The police officer explained to us that it was a bad person who had been robbing houses in the area for quite some time, as well as contacting and finding out information about the people living in them.
      “What do you mean?” Jake starts. “He didn’t contact any of us”. I stared at him. He looked back at me, and his expression changed.
       “Skylar!!” My mom yells. “My goodness! I’m so sorry my love. We didn’t believe you. We should have.” I was standing with pride and confidence. I looked at my family with a glowing smile, and said the words I was just eager to say.
       “I told you so”.