The Shadow Figure

*NOTE: This is another original thriller short story written by myself that is in first person. This is not a true event but completely made up. Enjoy  I enjoy writing in first person as it allows myself to feel more connected towards my characters as I write about them, allowing myself to feel as if I was in their shoes and am experiencing the same thing. However, these stories are truly made up and doesn't pertain to any part of my life events. *





I was home alone. My parents just left for a family visit several miles away from our home. I had some homework to catch up on, therefore I didn't want to go with them, or else I would become behind on my school work, again. I was in my bedroom, laying on my stomach while typing away on my laptop. I had the lights off except I had the lamp light on so I could see what I was doing. I was writing an essay for my history class, specifically about the occurrence of World War I and II. I was almost finished with it, but then, the lights went out. Of course I could still see, but, I needed to see my notes better. The thing that feared me most was that, the lamp was battery operated, no plug required and the batteries were new. Therefore, something was wrong. I went down stairs thinking that my parents came back and was just trying to scare me, but, nobody was down there. As I started walking back towards the stairs, I looked out the window and saw a figure staring at me. My heart started racing more than it did before. I could feel it beating like a drum. I looked on the other side of the room for a moment, and then back at the window, the figure was gone, but then there was 3 knocks on the front door. I was hesitant to answer it, but I went to the closet, grabbed a metal baseball bat, and went to answer the door.

My hand gripped the knob and quickly turned it as I flung the door open. Nobody was at the door. However, there was a note with one word on it, "run". My heart skipped a beat, several beats actually. I felt my knees and arms getting weaker. I quickly closed and locked the door. I went back to the window and saw the figure standing there, looking at me, again. I went to call my parents, or the police, but the phones weren't working. I wanted to run out the door but I was too much afraid to do anything.

I decided to wait in my room for a few minutes, staring at my window and door, with the bat gripped firmly in my hands.

I went back down stairs and to see if he was still at my window, and he wasn't, but I heard three knocks on my door again, and then the door knob started shaking as if he was trying to get inside my house. I started to shake with fear. The bat dropped to the ground because I lost all ability to hold things in my hands. He somehow was able to unlock the door and I saw the doorknob turn as I just stood there staring at it, feeling paralyzed. I was able to finally grab my bat and run upstairs to hide. I closed and locked the door. I ran over to close the curtains of my window as well. I jumped on my bed and got on my knees with the bat in one hand. I heard foot steps coming up the stairs. I just now remembered that if he could get into my house, through a locked door, then he can get inside my locked bedroom, I am doomed.

He stood at the foot of my door and tried to turn the knob of my bedroom door. I went over to my window and opened it, wondering if it was a good height to jump. It was two stories down, I had a choice to either die by the thing outside my door, or by jumping out my window. Before I could decide, the door unlocked. I decided to just crawl under my bed and hide there. I held my hand up to my mouth so I wouldn't make any noise while breathing and trying not to scream. I saw the door creek open and saw his shoes walk across my floor, looking around for me. He stopped at my window as I forgot to shut it again. That might have been a good plan, to let him think I jumped out the window and ran. But, he might be smart enough to know that I would be able to survive after a jump like that. I saw him walk back to the door as he stood there, wondering where I would have gone.

I am just laying here, waiting for him to leave so I can run to a neighbors house or gas station or something. I saw him walk out but I didn't hear any more foot steps than two after he left, so, I knew he was waiting for me outside my bed room door. I looked towards the wall for a moment to relax and just breath. But, when I looked back over to the door, he was there, he got down on his knees and was staring right at me. I let out a squeal. I crawled out from under my bed and ran out the door. He tried to grab me but I hit with my bat as I ran down the steps and to the door, which wouldn't open. I saw a shadow increasing on the door as I knew he was right behind me. I couldn't breath, couldn't talk, couldn't move. I was paralyzed again. I managed to turn around slowly as he was standing right there. I dropped the bat once again.

I saw lights coming from the window, it was one of my friends who offered to help me on some math homework. I turned to look at the window and then back at him but he vanished. This honestly was the scariest night of my life, this was mainly about survival for life or death. I opened the door to greet my friend and hugged her tightly as I was so happy to make it out of this alive.

Another winner. Your stories are like mini-episodes of Twilight Zone or Thriller. At about the middle I was thinking that it was going to be another false alarm. Like the shadow and the footsteps up the stairs was your dad coming home. But when it got to the part where you hit him with the bat I knew it wasn't your dad.
I feel sorry for anyone who would really break in your house. They would be lucky to make it out alive. Haha.

Haha. Good thing that this isn't a "real" story then. Anyways, all my bats are in the basement and to get there, I would have to go outside and to the side of the house. So, I would have to use something else to protect myself. I am glad you enjoyed it.

You could just throw pencils.
(To readers: That's an inside joke. Hint: It's a typo/ exasperation thing.)