Out the Window

I could tell that something wasn’t right, but like every other time I felt this way, I ignored it. I was sitting in the living room playing video games, like any other ordinary day. My dad was in the kitchen cooking, my mom in her office hard at work. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, at least, not yet. I went into my parent’s room, and saw something strange outside the window. I walked over and looked through the blinds. There, in the backyard, were four, maybe five men, who all had on cheap plastic masks and dark clothes. A little frightened, I continued watching them. After about a minute, one of the men looked up at the window. I slowly backed away and started to walk towards the door. Almost instantly, I saw him at the window. Now, this wouldn’t be so shocking if my parent’s bedroom wasn’t on the second floor. His face was inches away from the glass, and I could see his eyes searching for me. I hid beside a dresser, fairly out of view. I was too terrified to move, so I stayed crouched down out of sight, watching the window. When my dad came by the door I whispered, “Daddy, someone’s at the window!” He looked confused, considering it was virtually impossible. What he did next, I will never forget. He left, soon coming back with what looked like a pipe, yet could also be considered a sword. I had never seen this weapon in my life, and I had lived here for 14 years. He motioned me to the other side of the window, and I crawled under it. I grabbed the string to pull up the blinds, and waited for his signal. I pulled the string, lifting up the blinds. It obviously shocked the man on the other side of the window, which is exactly what we were going for. My dad swung the weapon at the window, hitting it several times, until the man disappeared. When we were certain he was gone, we ran out the door, closing it as we fled. I could tell my next question was on his mind as well, because before I asked, he had raced to the computers. “Why are they wearing masks?” I asked at the exact time he started typing. Neither of us spoke after that, but we both knew, we weren’t going to find anything on the internet. These men weren’t something you see every day, and I doubt people knew who they were. My mom, who had been working in her office, could now be heard in the hallway. Knowing she had no idea what was going on, I quickly ran to her. She had one hand on the handle to her bedroom, and when I got to her, I pushed her away from it. “You can’t go in there!” I nearly shouted. It was apparent that I was scared, so she didn’t say anything about my tone of voice. “I just wanted to see what was going on in there.” She said in a sickening sweet voice. Somehow knowing what she meant, I leaned my head closer to the door. I could hear a soft tapping. Tap-tap-tappity-tap-tap. Something that was impossible to be heard from where I was standing, much less my mom’s office. “Mommy, does this mean we’re going to die?” I asked in a soft voice, while tears started to spill out of my eyes. “Of course not, we’re all going to be okay.” She said, her voice back to its reassuring self. I kept one hand on the door knob, and put my other arm around her, while hiding my face in her shoulder. Much like a small child would do when they’re scared. She hugged me, and the door knob turned ever so slightly in my hand. My eyes opened, only to see more darkness. After a few seconds, my eyes got adjusted to the lack of light, and I could make out the shapes of my bedroom. I smiled slightly, coming to the conclusion that the terror I had just witnessed was just a nightmare. I rolled over on my back, and stared at the small hole in my ceiling. Something still didn’t feel right. I brushed it off as paranoia from my dream, and tried to go back to sleep. Yet every time I closed my eyes, I could see that mask at the window, and hear the tapping at the door. I rarely have bad dreams, so I could understand some serious paranoia for a bit. I grabbed my phone and looked at the time. Seeing it was about 4:00 am, I decided I seriously needed to get back to sleep. I closed my eyes again, and tried to fight the images. I started thinking of some memories, trying to make myself happy. I thought about my friends, but every time I did, one of them was wearing a mask. I decided I’d try to think about my boyfriend, since he always brings a smile to my face. What scared me then was I saw a perfect image of him with a mask on, covered in blood, and holding a knife. It was almost as if he was standing in front of me. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I opened my eyes and stared at the wall. The feeling of paranoia was growing, and it felt as if someone was watching me. I have this feeling quite often, and I normally just brush it off, but this time, it felt so real. I looked up at my window, and almost screamed. I saw a person. Normally I just see the yellow glow from the street lamp outside my house, but this time, I saw the silhouette of a man. What makes it worse, I saw his eyes. Clearly, as if they were glowing. He had such beautiful blue eyes, that I didn’t want to look away. I had to though, I couldn’t look at him. I knew he was one of them. The men in masks. Somehow, I knew what he was going to do. I knew he wanted to kill me, and I knew he would if I kept looking at him. I turned over, so that my back was facing the window. The longing feeling to be looking at the man’s eyes grew. I couldn’t stand it any longer, I had to look! I turned over, and looked at my window. He was gone! All I could see was the yellow light, and the dark line separating the two sides of my window. I sighed in relief and stretched my arms. While doing so, I saw three glowing green lights in the corner of my room. This terrified me, because there was nothing there that could be making those lights. All I wanted to do was get out of bed and turn on the light. What was stopping me? I couldn’t make myself get out of the bed. Eventually I just relaxed and closed my eyes, only to see the terrifying images of everyone I know, dead, with a cheap plastic mask covering their face. My eyes bolted open, and I felt the need to go look out the window. I threw my blankets off of me, and sat up. I stared at the window and knew that whatever was outside would be the death of me. For some reason, I wasn’t scared though. I stood up, opened my blinds, and looked out the window. There were the beautiful blue eyes, staring at me from behind the white mask, covered in blood. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The mask wasn’t outside my window, it was right in front of my face.