Sometimes a boring day can turn shocking all of a sudden. Let me start off by saying that I live in a very dull and uneventful place. The biggest news around here is someone stealing from a local store. You could probably call it a blessing in some way. We never have to deal with serious crimes that bigger towns seem to always put up with. It's for this reason that I found myself unable to act when something very strange happened some nights ago.

I was trying to sleep but couldn't because of a light obnoxiously flashing through my window. Every attempt to ignore it did nothing. Turning to the side didn't help because the lights reflected off the wall and awakened me. Rolling on my stomach didn't help because I would keep waking up. My face doesn't seem to like being stuffed in a pillow, apparently.

My mind was made up after several failed attempts to ignore it. I got up from the bed and prepared to open it so that I could yell at whoever kept flashing their lights. Instead of a group of teenagers or clumsy neighbor, something different was looking up at me. The person looking up at me appeared to be a man with his face covered by a strange fabric. I knew it was human because I could see the nose poking out.

At first I just looked down at whoever it was with a blank expression. The person looking up at me didn't move at all and continued to blankly stare. I cautiously opened the window and leered my head out just enough to feel the wind blow in my face. There was still no response from the person looking up at me. He just continued to stare through that weird fabric.

"What are you doing?" I called out.

No response.

"You'd better leave before I shoot your or call the police!" I threatened. There weren't any weapons in my house, but threats like that usually made people scurry. Not this guy, apparently. He just stood in place and continued to stare.

I quickly went back into my room and took the phone off my bedside table.

"You see this?" I called out, showing him the phone to make my point clearer. "I'm going to call the police with this if you don't leave!"

I looked away just for a second so I could dial the police station; there was a sudden sound of footsteps that made me look up again. He was gone. I smirked to myself at how easily that worked and went back to lie in bed. Maybe now I'd be able to get some decent sleep.

My head didn't even reach the pillow before a knocking sound made me jump back up. It was loud and coming from the front door. I didn't even have to guess who it was. No time was wasted as I pulled out my phone once more and furiously dialed the police. The masked man was pounding so hard on my front door that I really thought it would break off the hinges. Every pound against the door made me jump a little bit more.

"Hello?" I heard someone say on the other end. My call has just reached them as this guy continued to pound at my door. I squeezed myself past the drawers in my closet and hid in a tight corner that was covered by dress clothes.

"There's this guy here," I whispered frantically. The pounding had stopped all of a sudden. I held my breath and waited for signs of anything else happening.

"What's he look like?" asked the operator.

"He's just…a guy wearing a white mask," I said.

My entire body shot up as I heard the sound of glass shattering from the other end of the house. The freak was now entering my house through physical force.

"What's he doing right now?" the operator asked.

"I don't know," I said very quickly. "He's inside my house and I need you to send someone over. NOW!"

"We're sending someone over right away," said the operator. "Just stay on the line with me."

I couldn't imagine staying on the phone while a madman broke into my house. There were slow footsteps coming from down the hall. He must have been wearing some heavy boots by the sound of them.

"How long was he standing outside?" asked the operator.

"I have no idea," I said. "Maybe ten…. twenty minutes?"

There were sounds of drawers being forcefully opened as he looked for whatever he could find.

"Just get here soon!" I whispered loudly.

"They should be there soon," said the operator.

"They'd better be," I mumbled.

The footsteps were picking up again. He was probably looking for me. It wouldn't take him long either. My room was the only one in the entire house that had a window directly above where he was. He had maybe a minute or so before he found my room.

"What's he doing now asked the operator?"

"He's…he's looking for my room," I whispered. I was so quiet that I could barely even hear my own words.

"Is he close to yours?" asked the operator.

"I think so," I whispered. He was close enough that I didn't dare try to get out. I was starting to hate myself for not finding a better hiding spot, or attempting to arm myself in some way as this psycho ran around my house. There were so many things I could have done and yet I chose to hide in a bad location and cower.

The doorknob to my room slowly turned as the masked man opened the door to my room.

"My body almost shut down entirely as he slowly walked into my room and looked around."

"Hello?" The operator called on the other end. I was far too scared to say anything at this point. His body loomed over my bed as his head turned in every direction to look for me. I quietly turned down the volume on my phone. His body slowly turned towards the closet and that made me panic even more. My heart felt like it was pumping at two hundred beats a minute. I could feel sweat dripping down my forehead as he looked at the clothes right next to me. He pulled out a kitchen knife and shoved it into the clothes, tearing them like paper. The kitchen knife was probably what he searched for earlier.

I shuffled a little just to move out of the way and accidentally hit him with my foot. The masked man stepped back for a second and then raised his hand up to stab me. I was so panicked that I couldn't think straight and pushed my leg out further to knock him off balance. He stumbled a bit and at first it felt like I'd be escaping pretty soon. My hopes were too high because he quickly regained his footing and grabbed my shoulder. The masked man didn't look like much underneath all those layers of clothes, but he had enough strength to slam my head onto the floor. Everything in my vision began to spin as he stepped on my face some more. I was too weak to do anything and too disoriented to even hide. He was pummeling me with all his strength. I really thought I was going to die at that moment.

It was then, by some miracle, that I received a form of help. There was loud shouting coming from the other end of the house as police entered in. The masked man looked at me and turned to break out of the window. All I could do was grab onto his foot in order to stop it. Doing that wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't have many other options. I pulled at his foot hard enough for him to lean forward and almost fall on his face. That's when I stood back up and wobbled a little. My head was still disoriented from the beating he'd given me. Even a simple step would result in my surroundings spinning.

"H…. HELLLP!" I shouted with all the volume I could force out of my lungs. The police were now running into my room. I fell backwards and heard the masked man get himself back up.

The police just entered my room. Two of them stopped to help and one other confronted the masked man. I was beginning to black out and can only remember hearing vague shouts and the sound of gunshots going off.

I awakened later in an emergency room. The right side of my face was covered in bandages and I'd gone blind in one eye. The authorities later told me that the man had been the suspect of several murders in the past couple of weeks. He liked to kill his victims inside their homes and then pose their bodies for pictures. The police shot him dead after he tried stabbing one of them. I was just glad that he hadn't used me for his sick photo shoot.

Months have passed since then and I'm still not there altogether. I'm permanently blind in one eye and still feel a throbbing pain in my head. The pain is nothing compared to the constant fear I live in. The windows in my room are always covered up and I have a house alarm and cameras set up in every room. People have called me paranoid and I just ignore them. They'd understand if they'd been through what I went through. All I can do now is recover and hope that something like this never happens again.