Every night, before I fall asleep, I hear footsteps downstairs. The groaning of the wooden floorboards send chills up my spine. It can’t be my imagination, because it happens at the same time each night. I know that it’s not my family, because my parents are laying in bed reading or resting, my brother is fast asleep, and my golden retriever is curled up on my bed with me.

I’ve always wondered what the creaking sound was coming from. But the creaking is all I hear, nothing else. No crashing into walls, no voices, nothing. Since day one, I have wanted to go check out “the thing”. That’s what I call it, since I don’t know what it is. The first thing that popped into my head was that it was a person, but I figured that if it was a person, it would be someone dangerous, but if it were a dangerous person, they would have hurt someone in my family already.

Creeeeeaaaaakk.

There it goes again. The floor groaning has been going on for 3 weeks now, and it’s driving me crazy. I have even told my parents about it. My dad has checked, but found nothing, but I don’t believe that. I am going to go check for myself.

I get out of bed, and walk down the hall.

Creeeeeeaaakk.

Again. I quietly sneak down the stairs.

Creeeeeaaaakk.

Again. I reach the bottom of the stairs. Silence. I look around. Nothing. On a table in the living room, there is only one lamp on, and there is a flashlight next to it. I walk over, grab it, and flip the switch on, the bright ray of gold shining in front of me.

I slowly walk into the kitchen, flashlight in hand. I haven’t heard any noise since I reached the bottom of the stairs, but even so, I’m scared. My stomach is twisting in knots. I want to go back upstairs and back to bed, but I force myself to keep investigating. I go into the kitchen, shining the light around. All I see is the the kitchen and what is normally in it. I walk in a circle around myself, and once again, nothing.

I continue forward through the kitchen, toward the table.

All of a sudden, my flashlight burns out.

Crreeeeaaakk.

I spin around, freaked out. I am scared to death, but I can’t go anywhere.

Crrreeeaakk.

This time, it’s louder. Now I am super scared. I’m afraid to yell for help. I turn around, slowly walking backwards. Abruptly, I felt a sharp pain, something that felt like a knife in my back. I scream in agony, falling forward, unable to control myself. I hit the ground with a huge thud, and blackout.