She arose with a start from her doze on the couch. A noise of unknown origin bringing her back to reality, disrupting the dream mixing reality with the murmmered sound of the television. The phone of course. She chuckled to herself at her fear and answered the ring.
A late night conversation with her older sister began while her twin slept silently on the couch next to her.
"Turn to the channel I'm watching", her older sister insisted as always, "let's watch it together".
Whatever. There was nothing else on anyway. After about an hour and a half of the she was dozing off as usual to her sister's talk of the mundane and trivial when she was shaken to her senses by a frightening sound.
This time the sound originated from her right. She turned and realized in horror that the front entrance's doorknob was turning slowly and then with more furver. Without a second thought she sprung off the couch and into the hallway making it to her brother's room in what seemed like two leaps. She was at the window in a blink of an eye to try to catch a glimps of who was trying to gain entry into her house.
Her fear flared up in full when she saw nothing but the tail of a coat swishing out of the way of the closing door and the headlights of an indistinguishable car backing out of the drive way.
"Someone's in the house", she whispered to her sister on the phone. "O man, they're in the house".
But her sister couldn't help her. She was miles away in Iowa. With no place to go she quitely backed into the closet only to realize that there is no door and no where else to hide. Panic rageed inside of her and on the other end of the phone. "Do you want me to call 911?", was the reply from her sister. Even in this time of danger the girl couldn't help but think what a ridiculous request this was.
"Oh Lord, they're in the halway and heading toward me", she tried to whisper in the phone. But the words were barley audible. She couldn't talk anymore they were too close.
She was sure the beating of her heart would give away her position. The thunderous rhythm seemed to echo endlessly in the empty room. She could hear them pass the open door of the room she was in. Sure that they had passed she risked peeking her head out of the closet to see if she could steal a look at were the intruder had gone.
The back of this mystery was disappearing into the darkness that engulfed her mother's room. Should she try to run for it now or wait until this person had taken what they wanted and left.
No decision was made in her jumble of a mind, not one muscle was following the commands coming from her brain. Every fiber of her body was encompassed by the realization that if this person turned around and turned on a light she would be found.
A light!!
But instead of heart stopping fear incredible joy and unbelievable relief came. It was her mother. And with that realization she broke down into uncontolable sobs that sent tremors through her body like she had never experienced before. In the background she could still hear her sister worriedly repeating on the phone, "What happened, are you alright?".
"It's mom", the girl squeaked out between sobs, "It's mom".
Her mother entered the room to see what was wrong with her daughter and found her crying on the floor. Moments after her mother entered the room her twin also entered.
"I thought you were a burglar", she gasped to her mother, "I forgot about you!" she then cried to her twin. "I'm so sorry".
"No worries sis", her twin replied, "I heard you jump off the couch and saw the door opening so I sprinted to our room and hid under my bed".
Their mother comforted them both and told them why she was so late and why she had to come through the front door instead of the garage. Apparently her car had broken down at work and she had to get a ride home from a friend. And never having entered the house from the front door she had to struggle a bit to get it open.
The girl soon calmed down enough to roll her eyes at her mother's incredibly inappropriate comment about the situation, but that was her mom for you.
Even though the 'danger' was over a restless night filled with flashes of the events that had taken place still raked the girl's mind. For many a night after this and for years later a simple sound could bring back the mind crumbling fear that she experienced that night and make her feel like it just happened.
This night could never be forgotten.
By the way, in case you were wondering, this is a true story. | 
