Are You Awake?

I used to be such a sound sleeper. I'd close my eyes, rest my head on the pillow, and when I opened my eyes again a second later it'd be light out. That's how it used to be at least.

A week ago, as I was about to get into bed, I heard a loud noise from downstairs. When I went down to investigate I found one of the living room windows wide open, and the lamp on the table next to it, lying on the floor, shattered. I sighed loudly and shut the window tight. I got a dustpan and brush, cleaned up most of what was left of the lamp, and threw it in the trash. I was exhausted by this point so I groggily walked back up the stairs, into my bedroom, and into bed. The warmth of the bed was comforting, I was completely relaxed. That's why I was so curious as to why I couldn't fall asleep. As I said before, I was a sound sleeper. I never had trouble sleeping, especially when I was tired and wanted to sleep. So what was eating at me in the back of my mind? Keeping me awake. That was when the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and a terrifying shiver went down my spine.

"Are you awake?"

A quiet voice whispered in my ear. I froze. Whoever was speaking was so close I could feel their warm breath on my ear. I didn't react. I tried my hardest to pretend to be asleep. To hope whoever this was would just leave me alone. After a few minutes I could no longer feel their breath on my ear but I still didn't move. I didn't want to until I saw the sun rise. I have never been happier than when I saw that first ray of light the next morning. I jumped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed my car keys and shot out the front door, having just enough time to look at the now empty table which once had a lamp. I drove to my closest friends house and told him what had happened. He assured me I could stay with him for a few nights and called the police for me while I sipped some coffee. The police questioned me, as you'd expect, and I gave them my house keys so they could search to see if they could find any evidence. They came back that afternoon to return my keys and told me they found no sign that anyone was still in my house. Unconvinced, or maybe just nervous, I stayed at my friends house for the rest of the week, finally returning home on sunday. My friend offered to stay with me but I assured him it wouldn't be a problem. I did cautiously check the house again though, just to be sure. Once I was finally confident I crawled into bed and closed my eyes to drift into what I hoped to be my first pleasant sleep this week. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my side. I reached down to see what was wrong and found my hands covered in blood.

"I guess you were awake." The voice whispered.