David let the shutters of the window fall to the window sill, knowing that night time was coming soon.  He sat back down on the couch and watched his favorite cartoon.  He heard the door to the family room open and he looked behind him to see who was coming in…

“Don’t forget to do your high school homework,” his mom said.  She moved around the room checking under books, mail, cushions, clothes.

David looked at her for only a second before turning back to the TV, “Yeah, I got it.”

“We’re not going to have a repeat of last time?”

“No, yeah mom, I got it.”

“Good…” She walked behind him into the kitchen, “Have you seen my keys?”

“Um… I, don’t think so,” he turned around, “D’you check your room?”

David’s dad called from upstairs,  “Found ‘em!”

“Oh,” said his mom, “Never mind.”  She walked towards the door and David turned back to the TV.  Before she went out, she turned back to look at David,  “Are you going to be alright here by yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it mom.”

“You’re not going to get scared-“

“Yeah mom, I’m fine.”

David’s mom looked in his eyes.  “I really don’t want any calls from the police about a home invasion that didn’t happen…  I don’t want a repeat of last time.”

David could tell she knew he was still uncomfortable with being by himself, but he wanted to get them out of the house to watch a rated R movie that everyone was talking about, “I’ll be fine, mom.”

A white flag showed on her face along with a look of concern.  “Alright…  Don’t stay up too late.”

David’s dad walked in.  “We ready to go?”

“Yeah,” said David’s mom, “We’re ready.”

They said their love you’s and their good byes, and then they were gone.

David felt good that would finally be able to join all the conversations about the new superhero movie, but he couldn’t shake the undoubted feeling of wet eyes all over him.  He kept his vision glued to the TV to avoid seeing anything around him that he might not want to see.  He felt something creeping up behind him, something big and scary, something big, scary, and dangerous. 

With a shudder, a gasp, and a voice in his mind telling him to conquer his fears, he whipped around to see…

Well… had it been left up to his mind, he would’ve seen an intruder, dressed in black and in a ski mask, a knife in his hand and a fury in his eyes.

But there was nothing.

A shaky breath escaped his tight lungs as he turned back to the TV.

He stood up to go downstairs, he was cold up here and downstairs was warmer, also the sound system was better.  And besides, downstairs is the last place someone would think to check…

He left the TV on for background noise as he nervously fast-walked to the basement, turning on lights on the way.  He went down the stairs and settled on the couch that hugged the wall.  He turned up the volume, and sat strained, jerking whenever he heard the house settling.

---

About halfway through the movie, he heard a thump upstairs.

With a slow turn of his head, he looked upstairs through the ceiling.  Was it just the house settling?

It was just the house settling.

Just the house.

He looked back at the TV, but he didn’t watch it.

What if it was something?  These aren’t the type of things you joke around with, when it’s life or death, you play it safe.

He looked over at the phone and

looked back at the ceiling when he heard another thump, followed by what sounded by the front door opening.

He looked back at the phone while sucking in short deep breaths.  He took a hard swallow, stood up, and walked towards the phone.

He picked it up and held it in his sweaty palm.  ‘Should I call?  Last time I heard something it was my imagination.  This is the same thing.’

He put the phone down and stepped towards the stairs.  How was he going to get over his fears if he didn’t walk up there and face them?

Much to his surprise, he heard another thump.  He stumbled back and fell on the floor, still looking at the ceiling.

He got up and quickly wired a call to his mother.

“What?  What?  What is it?”

“Mom, Mom, I’m hearing things upstairs.”

“What?”

“I’m hearing things from upstairs.”

“Honey, not right now, we’re having dinner.”

“Mom, I’m serious, I’m almost absolutely sure that there is someone else in our house.”

“What?”

“Mom, I’m not kidding, there’s someone upstairs.”

“Honey, did the alarm go off.”

“No, no, mom, I didn’t set the alarm.”

“I know, honey, I did, I knew you’d forget…”

“Mom-“

“Are you doing your homework?”

David took a sigh, it probably was all in his mind, the whole idea of someone breaking in to a house that had all of it’s lights on was pretty far fetched.

“I’ll get to it mom.”

“All right, son.  Love you.”

“Love you.”

“Call me if you need anything, but don’t call in a panic.”

David took another sigh, “Alright mom.  Love you.”

“Love you, bye.”

David put the phone down.  He walked back over to the couch and sat down.  What was fear was still fear, but there was a certain curiosity that wasn’t there before.  In the front of his mind, he knew that it was just himself, thinking up all these noises, his mom had given him enough evidence to prove that.  But, in the back of his mind he knew that there was something upstairs.  He wasn’t crazy, those sounds didn’t come from nowhere.  He wanted to know what it was.

He stood up and quietly walked to the stairs.  He put his foot on the first step when another thump made him leap up in the air.

He freaked out.  He seriously considered calling his mother again.  This was for real, and his life was in jeopardy.  He wasn’t going to accept death because his mom wouldn’t listen to him.

But that was the thing, his mom wouldn’t listen to him.  He considered calling the police, he really did.  But when he called them last time, he got in huge trouble.  He was promised that the next time he called wolf, it wouldn’t be good for him.  He didn’t want to find out what that meant.  And besides, what if it was nothing up the stairs
.
He stood on the bottom step, he knew what he was going to do.

He was going to sprint up the stairs.  If he saw anybody, he would run directly for the door and run outside screaming bloody murder.

If he didn’t see anybody, then he would be okay, and everything would be over.

He closed his eyes and counted down in his head. 

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

He heard another thump just as he started to move.  He stopped only for a second to look up the stairs, but only for a second.

He ran as fast and as hard as he could up the steps.

He burst through the door and in to the living room.

He saw someone and screamed.  His socks didn’t do him good on the hardwood as he tried to change directions.  He slipped frantically tried to get up.  He looked back to see if the intruder had tried to come close to him.

With this he stopped.  He let out a relief laugh and got up.  He turned around to face his intruder, however all that stood in front of him was a mirror.