“Remember to go to sleep at 9!” My parents yelled out to me right before closing the garage door.

“Yeah, yeah, Mom,” I half-heartedly replied, right after hearing the resounding slam of the door.

It was going to be the usual home-alone night. I’d grab a horror flick and a nice bowl of popcorn and wrap myself in my favorite blanket before sleeping on the couch half-way through the movie.

My parents were going to some dinner party and wouldn’t be home until about 10, so I had a lot of time to myself.

“Ahhh,” I breathed out.

Freedom from everything. Just a nice night to relax and have fun.

I heated up a bowl of popcorn and turned on the television in the living room. I stopped to look out the sliding doors to the beautiful sunset that was settling behind the snowy mountains.

The beep from the microwave startled my attention and I rushed over to get my delicious popcorn. After that, I settled in front of the television and plopped in a second-rate horror movie after turning off all of the lights.

I was laughing all of the way through the cheap horror movie. It was 9 o’clock already, but I was in no hurry to go to bed. I would probably just fall asleep on the couch, like I always do.

The hilariously bad movie dragged on for another hour, and my parents had still not come back from their party. The movie had just ended with the death of all of the protagonists, much to my surprise…

I was still smiling ear to ear at the stupidity of the movie after the credits had rolled until I noticed something outside the sliding door.

A crazy-eyed man, smiling horrendously at me was holding a kitchen butcher knife in his right hand. He was spinning the huge, menacing knife in his hand. I stifled a scream and reached for the phone by the couch. The man was still smiling gruesomely at me while I dialed 911.

“911 emergency service, Dana speaking, what is your emergency?”

“There’s a crazy man outside of my home with a knife!!” I rushed the words.

I could not concentrate at all because fear was beginning to get the better of me.

“Please stay calm. Find somewhere safe in your house and we’ll send a patrol car to your house.”

“OK.”

I ended the phone call.

My hands were shaking in fear as I got up from the couch. My room would probably be the safest place to be. I looked outside the window, and nobody was there. There was just a gentle drizzling of snow.

I began to run towards my room when I slipped and fell. I shouted in pain and frustration and I looked back.

There were wet footprints on the floor. And that’s when everything clicked together.

Nobody was behind the sliding doors. I had seen the reflection of the man.