The night was cold and the wind was as crisp as it could be. I could hear the sound of the leaves occasionally hitting my window, causing me to look over sometimes to check if i was safe. I’ve never been home alone for this long. My mother had headed to New York, and my brother was in China. Usually, I would go to with my mother, although this time I wanted to stay. My father was also out of the country, so it was just me, and occasionally the neighbors would check on me to see if I was safe. I felt so appreciative of them, because of how much paranoia would grow and fill inside. What if there was an intruder? Or what if there was a gas fire? There were many possibilities.

This night perhaps was the scariest. I kept hearing creaks downstairs. I could hear footsteps, and it instantly sent crawls down my back. My heart began to palpitate, and I felt as if I was going to throw up. It was like I could hear people talking to each other, discussing what their plan was. I checked outside to see if maybe I was hearing a conversation outside. The other neighbors on the street were always a little loud, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was them. This is my worst fear. The fear of being intruded on scared me, and made me feel sick to my stomach. It wasn’t the people outside. They were louder. They felt more near. They felt like they were too close for comfort.

My first instant thought was to leave my through my window. I always planned this in my head, for safety reasons of course. I never want to put myself in an area of danger. I heard a little knock on the door. My heart began to drop. Then, there was no sound. I waited for about 10 minutes, and then decided  to creek open the door. There was no one. I skipped downstairs, and I noticed that no one was there. Everything was untouched. I was probably convincing myself. As I began to walk downstairs, I heard a huge BANG! I felt shocks through my body. I turned around and walked slightly, trying to not make any sudden sounds.

I thought people did other things on christmas, like drink hococo, and watch a family comedy holiday movie, not break into people’s houses. I was the most nervous i’ve ever been . I began to prepare myself by walking in the garage. If I went to the garage, I could see if anyone went in the house by coming in there. My heart began to bang against my chest. I felt like I was set for danger. Thankfully, the garage was not wide open. That didn’t mean I was in the clear. I began to look around, checking my surroundings.I had my flash on my phone, so I knew where I was going. I didn’t even I was almost shaking at the thought of me seeing someone somewhere around her. It was a risky decision to come in the garage, but it was a choice I had to make, and it was a good place to hide.  I left the garage slowly, trying to get a grasp of where I was going. I wasn’t going to try to get slaughtered on sight. I skipped back into my kitchen. Was I imagining sounds? Was no one actually in here. Was I going crazy? I walked back upstairs, still hesitant of where I was going.

A couple of minutes go by. Nothing serious had really occurred yet, although I was still feeling quite uneasy about the whole situation. I was watching tv, and then I heard talking. There was some mumbles. I couldn’t have been imagining that now. I heard things being put down, and I heard things shake, and I was convinced someone was in here. I then peek outside my window to check if someone is coming in and out the door. I looked down, and there was people coming in. It was confirmed. I then slowly walked downstairs half-way to peek, so I could run to the garage. Then everything went black, and I heard the door slam. I was convinced they left once I began to wait ten minutes. As ten minutes went by, I was sure they left.

I walked fully downstairs, skipping down them, and as soon as I was down, I heard a huge “SURPRISE!” from my family. They were all laughing as I jumped from how much they scared me. I then walked down fully, confused on why they were here, or why they scared me like that. “Why would you scare me like that?” I yelled, laughing at myself. I walked to the living room and had seen presents. I was happy they were back. This meant we were staying here together this year. I was happy to celebrate a world-wide favorite holiday with my family.