I woke up to my phone blowing up, checking the time I thought to myself “Three in the morning? Why is anyone texting me at this time?”. The first text I read said something along the lines of “It’s a beautiful night tonight” from a random number I didn’t know, as I checked the next ten more I noticed they all said the same thing “Go look at the moon, it’s a beautiful night”, “Odd” I thought to myself, as I made my way down the list of recent texts, one caught my eye, for being different from the rest. I clicked on the notification and it brought up the messages screen, this one said “DON’T LOOK AT THE MOON”, and that was it. No explanation as to why, just don’t do it. I must admit this peaked my interest, so I began to walk down the hallway, that leads straight to the backdoor, when I heard a scratch on one of the windows in the spare room, about five feet to my left.

Now I’ll admit, the scratching scared me a little too much, I may or may not have released some body fluids, but that was not on my list of issues at that moment, someone was texting me odd stuff and scratching my window. I crept down the hallway, to the open door facing just right of the window I thought they were scratching at. As I walked into the room, quiet as a mouse, I noticed how silent everything was, no usual house sounds, not even the insects outside were making a noise.

I got another notification, fearing what might be coming I opened up my screen to see the text “Found you”. My alarm sounded “Front door”, I knew someone was there, but I heard no footsteps, but I knew they, it, was there, waiting for me to come out, like a bear hunts their prey. I knew I had only moments to make a move before it would be where I would, it was only a dozen or so feet from the front door to the room I was in. I decided to take the flight approach, and run back into my room, this time I could hear footsteps, large pounding footsteps echoing across the hallway, closing in on me.

Locking the door behind me, and shoving my dresser in front of it, I sat down on my bed, shaken up and tired. I could hear the breathing of the thing behind the door, whatever it was. It sounded heavy, and mechanical, like they were being forced to breathe. I knew I was a sitting duck, but I had no other choice, I couldn’t jump out of my window, it doesn’t open, and the cops would just think I’m another junkie having a bad trip, so I was only left with one option really, wait it out. By now the breathing had stopped, and the footsteps started up again, except this time going away from the door, relieved I let out a sigh.

Ding, I looked down at my phone, “Peek a-boo” the text read. It rammed my door. By now it was 5:30, but it only had felt like minutes since I woke up, I retreated into my bathroom, the last line of defense between me and the thing, judging by the fact that it looked he’d be in here with one or two more hits. I ran in, and locked the door once again behind me “This is crazy” I thought to myself, “No way this is happening this only happens in movies and books” Well I guess my life is now a book, because it was happening, and I wasn’t just going to wake up and laugh it off, this is real life.

I could hear the splintering of the wood, cracking every time it hit the door. It was in, I could hear it walking through my room, searching. I held my breath, I couldn’t risk it hear me breathing. Ding, my ringer, I didn’t mute it, and it definitely heard it. I could hear it inching closer to me, like it was playing a game with me, but not a fun game, something far more sinister. It started tapping the door, I looked down at my phone, “Come out come out wherever you are” it read. At that point I knew I was done, this flimsy door is the only thing separating the thing and I. It hit the door once, the wood held up, another time, the wood splintered, a third time, the wood was cracking, the next one would be it. I could hear it running toward the door; then it stopped, no more movement, no more slamming the door. I could see light through the window, day is breaking, and it must be scared of the sun.

I emerged from the bathroom to see the aftermath of the struggle, my door lay on the floor, half of it still on its hinges, and my dresser laying flat on the ground, with all its contents strewn about across the carpet. I thought about it more, and the more it became clear to me, it must come out at night, hence the texts, and it must leave during the day. It all starting adding up, and putting me more and more at ease. Ding I looked down, “See you next time”.