"Driiiing! Driiiing! Driiiiiiiiiing!" The phone is ringing. I turn my head a fraction of an inch to the left, to get a better look at her alarm clock. It reads, 3:14am. What? Who could be calling me at this hour?? It must be pretty damn important to be calling so early, I mutter to myself, as I sit up in my queen-sized bed.
I slide left, and out of the bed, still barely conscious, and pull down my oversized Led Zeppelin T-shirt, over my blue and green checkered boxers, which seems to have rolled up during my night of fitful sleep.
As I make my way to the bedroom door, of my 4th floor, 1-bedroom apartment, I step over the broken TV remote, and several piles of clothes, both clean and dirty, when I hear something. Or rather, nothing. The phone has stopped ringing. But there's something else. I hear a soft rustling, followed by a muted squeaking.
Automatically, I assume it's just the floorboards of the living room, but if it is, what, or rather who is making the floorboards squeak? I put my ear to the wooden door, and hope to make out a sound, anything to let me know what's going on. I hear it again, a rustle of clothing this time, someone is in my apartment!!
What should I do?? Think! Think! Ok, where's my cell phone? In my purse, where's my purse? Ugh...in the kitchen, by the sink. I return quickly to the door, and decide there's nothing better for me to do, so I place my hand on the doorknob, and slowly, so slowly, turn it, and pull the door open, allowing me just a centimeter of vision. But that's enough, from this angle I can see that there is someone on the couch, just sitting there, facing the television, but not watching it, because the sound that it emits, is not audible. I can't tell if it's a man or a woman, but it's someone big. It's dressed in dark clothing, and I think it might be…OH MY GOD! It's holding a gun! I have to put my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming, but only air comes out of my mouth.
My room is still dark, and there are no other lights on in the apartment, so I don't think he's seen that my door is open. I quietly try to close my door, and just as I finish turning the doorknob, and am about to turn the lock as well, I hear it moving again. No time for being careful now, I quickly turn the lock, and hear it make its clicking sound, as I rush towards my bathroom door; luckily my bathroom and bedroom adjoin. Now, I'm in my bathroom, and I turn to close and lock that door as well, I succeed, and breathe a small sigh of relief, but my heart is still beating at 500 beats per second. I breathe in and out again, and decide to turn on the light switch, to see if I can find anything useful in the bathroom. As the switch flips on, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and how terrified I am is easily seen in the mirror.
I reach under the bathroom sink, and open the cabinet door, trying as hard as I can to be quiet, but the cabinet still makes a tiny sound, almost like a ghost moaning, but very, very soft. I hear the sound of someone getting up off the couch, and moving around, must be the man, I think to myself, and wonder again why he's out there. But not now, no time to think about why he's here or what he wants, I just need to get out of here.
I crouch down so that I'm now facing the inside of my bathroom cabinet, and desperately look inside, trying to find something I can use to get out of my apartment or, if worse comes to worse, to defend myself from the intruder.
Toilet paper.
Lysol.
Blow-Dryer.
Curling Iron.
Toothbrush.
Floss. I could just see the headlines now; 24-yr old woman strangled with dental floss, while receiving blows to the head by a blow-dryer. That sure wasn't the way I wanted to go.
Better keep looking, then. But, there's nothing here!!