His heart was pounding. He was sure he had seen the doorknob turn. Reggie stared unmoving at the door. Nothing happened. He kept staring until the pressure and uncertainty forced him to get out of his bed and investigate. He creaked open his old wooden door and walked into the dark abyss of his house. Rain pounded relentlessly against the house, pattering the windows. Lightning flashed in the distance, briefly illuminating the house, sending scampering shadows across.

He was home alone while his parents were out for dinner. It was the middle of the night and Reggie wondered when they would come back home. They don’t normally do this. He walked into the kitchen to see if anything was there. He placed his hand on the refrigerator handle. At that exact moment, there was a harsh knocking on the front door that sent paralyzing chills down his spine.

“Is that Mom and Dad?” he inquired. Why would they be knocking if they have a key to their own house? He questioningly walked to the front door and looked through the peephole. The rain was so thick he couldn’t see two feet in front of the door. He opened the door.

“Mom?” he yelled, “Da-” Before he could finish a bolt of lightning as bright as the sun exploded overhead, hitting the dark oak tree in the front of his house. He toppled backwards like a tumbleweed in the desert wind, and fell back inside his house. Reggie, ears ringing and freaked out, curled himself up in a ball and squeezed his eyes shut, silently thanking everyone and everything for not killing him right there on the spot. After about ten minutes, Reggie uncurled himself. He decided that he was going to call his mom and dad and tell them what happened. He found the door in perfect shape somehow, not a speck of paint off, and no damage done. Amazingly, it was shut, and when Reggie tried to open the door, it didn’t budge.

“Maybe somehow the lightning melted the metal lock mechanism,” Reggie thought. But how could that be if the door is in perfect shape? Reggie tried the door and used all of his strength to open it, but it would not budge. He was stuck inside the house alone. There was no way someone could get inside the house now. Or out.

Reggie decided to call his parents. He went back to his bedroom, but couldn’t find his phone. He decided to try to fall back asleep again. He lied in bed for what seemed like an eternity, trying to process the probability of how he could have possibly gotten struck by lightning. The unrelenting torrential rain pounded on his window. Reggie stared at it, trying to fall asleep, when he saw the faintest crack appear on the side of the glass. He stared intently, watching like a hawk does its prey, as the crack slowly grew until it was the length of his forearm. As he watch in horror, the crack moved up, down, and forward, like a spider making a web. All of a sudden, the window gave. Glass and rain collapsed on top of Reggie. He screamed and turned, his back facing the wet glass. Little pieces of glass fell on top of him, falling on the bed and floor, until in the blink of an eye it was over. Reggie scrambled out of the room and locked it from the outside, so nothing could get in.

Reggie had enough. He found his phone on the ground and called his mom.

“What is going on?” he asked, exasperated. His phone rang, but nobody answered. Probably because it was a Samsung. Reggie went into the living room and switched on the TV. “-And this is your local news report, this storm has upgraded into a category two hurricane. We advise all local residents to stay inside their houses. Under no circumstance should anyone be out on these roads, the danger is too immense. If things start to get bad, find the safest spot in your house and secure yourselves inside there. Good luck, and stay safe.” Reggie sunk in the sofa.

“My parents are out there,” he said, “I hope they are okay.”

Reggie kept the news on for background noise against the relentless rain and crashing lightning. He called his mom and dad what felt like hundreds of times, hoping that they would answer, but it continued to go to voicemail every time. Reggie thought that it could not possibly get worse. He sure was wrong.

In an instant, the power went off. Reggie felt his way into his parents bedroom. As he took a step, Reggie put his foot on something hairy and strong. He screamed and ran in the opposite direction, and stepped on another, and another. He shrieked and kicked them away, but they kept coming, more and more and more. They surrounded Reggie and he fell to the ground, where they surged him. In a second he knew what they were. Spiders! He curled up into a ball and started sobbing, wishing this nightmare of a night went away, for his parents to be home, and no spiders, and everything back to normal again.

Then the spiders disappeared. Once again, Reggie was faced with the question of how this was possible. He felt exhausted and emotionally drained. He wondered what was next in store for him.

Suddenly, the power turned back on. Immediately, a shadow overlooked Reggie. It was a man in black, tall, with a gigantic knife in his hand. Reggie screamed and attempted to run away. The man only smiled, and he slowly started walking toward him. Reggie shrieked and screamed, and as fast as he willed his feet to run, they denied him. In fact, Reggie kept on slowing until he could not move a muscle, and the menacing man caught up to him. The man raised the sharp knife high above his head, and he braced himself for the end.

And then Reggie woke up.