I huddled deep into my warm blanket on my bed. As hard and cold as my old stiff bed was, I felt comfortable. It was the only bed we could afford, for now anyways. There was nothing but darkness throughout the tiny apartment. My family had inherited a deli shop and we lived upstairs, above it. It didn’t bother me much, nor the rest of my family. The rain made light tapping noises on the tin roof and garbage cans in the alley outside my bedroom window. It was the only noise that could be heard throughout the place. Everyone else was asleep though, so they couldn’t hear it anyways. My parents down the hall, and twin sister, Rosalie, in the bed across the tiny and cramped room. It was the third night in row that I lie in bed awake into the eerie late hours of the night. The third night in row that fear crept through my body, I covered my head with a pillow. I had to in order to shield my ears from the horrifying noises for I new he would come again.

He was the man who had no reason to be here, in our home or near our home, but came anyways. He came late at night and only wandered through the darkness, rain sloshing, angrily upon his head, but he never seemed to care. He wore the same thing every night, a plaid shirt and navy sweatpants. Each night becoming more and more saturated from the pouring rain. I never had the nerve to speak to him for fear of what he might really want. So he continued night after night, to walk slowly up and down our alleyway. He would make moaning noises that sounded like an injured animal calling out for help, but no one ever came. The sounds that he made shot through me like a knife, a huge rusty knife. It terrified me. I had never seen or heard anything like it before in my life and I felt a terrible urge to just make it stop. The night grew longer and longer as I lay awake, completely restless. My stomach turned to knots and eyes closed as tightly as could be. I wanted to fall asleep and leave this world of pain and horror, before it was time again.
Sleep never seemed to come, no matter how terribly hard I tried. I lie awake even deeper into the night. Still no noises could be heard and I wished I could stop time so I, for once, had the power to keep things that way. “UUUUUURRRRRRRHHHHHHHH”. A voice echoed through the sky, quietly and softly yet all the same, horrifying. I thought I heard it, I knew I heard it, but I didn’t want to believe it. I frantically curled into a tiny ball beneath the safety of the blanket. “La la la la la” I sang quietly and softly to myself, but it was not enough, as the moans grew louder and fiercer. He was here. I no longer had the control to whisper anything more to myself, or even move. He had stolen the sanctity of my bed away from me. I had to remain motionless, it was all I could do, that and simply wait. But I couldn’t wait any longer. The fear and wonder was now too much to bear and with all the guts that I could find, I stepped out of bed. I never thought that I would manage to do such a thing. Now, I was so confused on what to do next. I only stood in the center of the bedroom. From such a distance, I saw him. Wandering blindly through our property, and for what reason? What reason could he have? I now, only wanted to keep that distance, which felt somewhat safe, but as he spotted me I realized my mistake and realized I had no choice. He looked angry, angrier than I’d ever seen him, but it was too late to go back to bed, too late to turn back around, too late for anything. His eyes were like nothing I’d ever seen before. Nothing but white, no pupils or color, just white. Still they looked angry and stared straight through me as I held my breath and couldn’t breathe. He wasted no time walking toward me, moaning and groaning louder and angrier the whole way. He was coming. I could almost feel his breath through the semi- opened window. His heavy breathing, now louder than the unbearable coldness of the rain. When he could walk no further, he stood about twenty feet below me, his blank eyes staring directly through me, furious and ready to kill. All I could do was stare in shock. I was petrified and had nothing to do and nowhere to go. His eyes seemed to capture me and I couldn’t have moved if I tried. Before my chance was over, I opened my mouth slowly and cautiously to choke out the question I had so long been wondering. “Wh-What do you want?” He continued to stare and I frantically wondered if he could hear my soft voice through the gushing rain and under his hard breath, but I couldn’t speak any louder. In just the flash of a lightening bolt, he was gone, as if he was never even there, just a figment of my imagination. He disappeared into the blinding darkness, his petrifying eyes and all. I couldn’t even believe what I had just seen. It was like he was never there and I was left looking out the cold window with buckets of rain splashing to my face. Eyes wide opened, all I could do was stare. My stomach tied into knots, I thought the feeling would never leave. My sister, Rosalie, tapped lightly on my shoulder. I jumped nearly three feet high and my heart jumped into my throat. She was the last thing I had expected to see. She shocked me so much I could have screamed, but I still had no voice and was full of nothing but terror and astonishment. Through the darkness, I was slightly able to see the outline of her face, but only enough to notice and imply she was just awoken from a deep sleep. “Maya, what are you doin’?” She barely whispered her words. I had to think and clear my mind for a moment to remember, yet still could not. Then just lightly shook my head and went back to bed to securely hide under the blankets.