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© Copyright 1996, Jim Loy
I was asleep, in bed. And then I woke up. I didn't know why I woke up, except that I had a feeling that I had heard a sound. What could I have heard? If it had been a normal sound, a dog barking outside, or a car driving by, would that wake me? I didn't think so. So, it was probably an unusual sound. Was someone walking around outside. Had someone tried to open my door or window? Was someone in my apartment, in my bedroom? I knew that it was unlikely that someone was in my bedroom. But, it was possible. I needed to find out.
I had been sleeping on my side, with my face to the wall. I tried to breath heavily, as I assumed sleeping people breath. And I listened. No sound. Well, I had to roll over. People do that in their sleep, don't they? I sort-of moaned and rolled onto my back.
And there, standing over my bed, was a dark figure.
He was facing me.
Should I get up and run? Would I trip and fall in a tangle of blankets?
Should I attack him? Maybe he would run away? Could I attack him? What with? How do you go from flat on your back to attacking someone who may even have a knife or something? Was he armed?
I turned my head, to see him more clearly. And I saw that there was no one there. The dark figure was a shadow on my wall. A street light was shining in my kitchen window, and was reflected off my kitchen floor. This light projected the shadow of a chair onto my bedroom wall. There was no intruder. There was no reason to be frightened.
My heart kept pounding furiously for what seemed like another hour. I finally slept.