“Do you?” Martha asked, as she plopped down in the bright pink armchair, the cream colored phone pressed to her ear, talking to her friend. She played with her cold feet as her friend filled her in about the latest drama. After a detailed conversation, she hung up the phone and opened her dresser to reveal a display of nail polish. She randomly chose a color and began to color her toes. As she moved onto her last toe, she heard a sound moving down the hall. Her parents poked their heads through her bedroom doorway, and informed her that they were going to a local restaurant for dinner, and asked her if she was fine staying home alone. She answered, “Yes,” and soon enough her parents were headed out the door.

After waiting for her toes to dry, she moved downstairs and into the kitchen for a bowl of ice cream. She opened the freezer and pulled out a carton of ice cream and placed it on the counter. After closing the freezer, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. A yellow post-it note was attached to the ice cream carton. She ripped it off in a confused way. The front of the note read: HI in upper case letters. She picked it up and ripped it up in disbelief and turned back to the stairs. But a slippery substance caused her to slip. Underneath her, the word HI was painted on the middle of the kitchen floor.

“But wait a minute! The word wasn’t there when I walked into the kitchen,” she thought, “Was someone in the house?” Standing still as she can be, she heard a footstep at the top of the stairs. She quickly opened the cabinet at the bottom of the sink and silently shoved herself into the back. Someone slowly moved into the kitchen and flung open the pantry door.

Then he moved in front of her hiding spot and opened the door. Martha closed her eyes tight, hoping that she was not seen. Sweat began to roll down her forehead and perched on the tip of her eyelash. He grabbed her leg and began to pull her out from her hiding space. She screamed and kicked, but that would not help. He pulled her onto the wood floor and screamed HI in her face. His breath was terrible. He pulled out a large butcher knife with the word HI written on it. He lifted the knife and began to bring it down towards her abdomen.

And Martha could feel herself being shaken. And right before she was about to be killed, she saw her mom floating above her. “Why were you screaming?” her mom asked. Martha turned her head in a puzzled way. “It was a dream,” her mom said, “Get back to sleep.”

Martha’s mom left the room. She picked up her stuffed dog, Charlie, and began to play with him. She felt something wet on his stomach. She turned it over to see a word painted on the stuffed dog’s abdomen. The word read:

HI.