hello

Alone in the house, I looked out the window and saw nothing but complete darkness. Not a hint of light coming from anywhere. It was as if the whole world lost power. Everything in the house shut off all at once. I stumbled in the dark, looking for my phone to use as a flashlight. “Great,” I said, “My phone’s about to die.” I quickly sent out a text to my mom asking what was going on, but it didn’t go through. I was alone in pitch black house, no power, no anything. My attention was drawn back to the window when a flashing, red light appeared across the street. I could barely make out where it was coming from. Then I realized, it wasn’t from across the street. It was reflected off my window--it was in my room. I didn’t want to turn around. I had nothing that could light up in my room, besides my TV and phone. So what could be blinking? I cautiously turned around, only to see a walkie-talkie. I had forgotten that I’d taken it away from my brother and hid it in my room. I walked over to my dresser and picked it up to see why it was lighting up. Initially, I assumed it was running low on batteries and that’s why it was flashing. But I was far from right. As soon as I touched it, a voice started to speak. A voice that was unfamiliar to me. “Hello Brooke,” it said in a spine tingling voice. “Hello? What’s going on? Why’s the power out everywhere?” I asked. That’s when I heard it. The sound of the other walkie talkie, downstairs. “Jack if this is you messing with me, stop right now,” I said into the walkie-talkie, scared to open my door and shout out to him. The voice spoke again, but this time not into the walkie. “Brooke,” the voice called from down the stairs. This didn’t sound like Jack at all, there was no way he could’ve made a voice as disturbing as this one. I ran to my door and locked it. Who was in my house? I pushed my dress in front of the door, creating a barricade. “Whoever you are, get out of my house now!” I yelled out. The sounds of feet running up the stairs came next, right up to my door. “Open up, or else,” the voice called out. I grabbed for my phone again and dialed 911, praying the call would go through. “Hello, hello! There is someone in my…” and that’s when my phone died. I was stranded in my house with no power, a dead phone, with someone who knew me but I definitely didn’t know them. “Let me in,” the voice demanded. There was nothing for me to do. Loud pounding on the door was enough for me to realize, I was asleep. I woke up in a panic, but quickly realized it wasn’t a dream. It was real.

Anonymous