While baby-sitting the new neighbors’ children for the time, Katie answered the door and she heard an odd voice. Katie thought it was one or all of her friends playing a joke on her but when she hung up the phone, she went into the living room with the kids to help with the figure paintings that they had started and wanted to get finished before they went to bed.

When Katie put the kids to sleep she started to read the book she started the other day. As she got more heavily had passionately into the book, she heard a knock at the door, she went to look out at the window by the door, she didn’t know who it was so she turned off the lights and stepped away from the door. As the young man left she went to the kitchen and cleaned up the food and painting mess the kids left for her she went back to her book, but she was interrupted by losing power that was caused by the lightning and thunderstorm. Katie went to get a candle and made sure the kids were all OK. When she stepped into the rooms they were all asleep and dreaming of blue cotton dreams. As she was leaving she heard someone talking but she couldn’t see how. The phone began to ring. Katie jumped out of her skin and to a ghost pale greenish color that left her hands shaking. As she settled down she went through the house making sure that all the windows were locked and closed and did the same thing with the front and back doors. Katie heard the ring again, but it didn’t stop this time. She went and looked on the phone list to check the number. As she was doing that the phone kept ring so she picked it up and then hung it up. An hour had almost passed before the phone began to ring and ring until it just stopped. She thought it was weird. She wasn’t going to disagree with the phone. Katie went to pick the phone up. When she did, she heard a hoarse voice on the phone. She left the phone off the receiver. Katie thought it was her imagination was taking her for another ride. Katie was getting worked up over nothing so she went back and fell asleep on the couch with a heavy heart and didn’t leave the doors unlocked and she had the alarm turned on also. When Katie woke from her heavy sleep she didn’t turn off the alarm she was thinking that if anyone would want or try to get in the alarm would go on and notify the police. Katie fell off to sleep again, but wasn’t that afraid that much anymore. When she woke again, she was in a different part of the house and against a pole with the kids still fast asleep she tried to get a look at the face of the eyes and the way the mask was shape. Katie remembered that she had brought her cell phone with her and tried to call the police on it, but she couldn’t get that far of a signal out. Katie tried to remember what the number on the note had said and the e-mail address as soon as she did she put in the -mail address to get the people across the street to come over. She even tried to get the kids up, but they were all asleep and the person that was trying to get the alarm turned off until they had enough of it and broke it. Katie untied herself and made a run for it and she started to go through pots, glass, any that could get replaced to the new owners of the house. Katie went upstairs and locked all of the kids doors and then ran downstairs. As she was running down them she ran into that person. She started to scream. As she was screaming she was hit on the head. The next morning she was alive and in the hospital. When she was awake she saw the kids. She asked how she ended up here. They moved out of the way and she saw the young man who was at the door the night before. She looked up and smiled at all of them and said take you to the young man who saved her life.

— Jacque Jones is a Tonganoxie Junior High School student.