He sits at a table, pistol loaded in front of him. Waiting. He waits for the return of the people responsible for trashing his home while he was out earlier in the day. He hears a sound of something being dragged above him. He stands in a quick jerking motion. How, he thinks,

the doors and windows are locked and from his location he can see the only 2 doors his home has and the stairwell. No one has entered, no one has gone up those stairs. He rounds the table and heads towards the stairs, pistol in hand pointing the way. His mind wanders to earlier

events.

He unlocks his back door and enters the house. His grocery bags fighting him as he enters. He sits the bags down and for the first time notices the disarray. When he left everything was where it should be but now chairs are stacked on top of each other on tables, plates

shattered and strewn about. Books lay open of the floor, papers thrown in everywhich direction. His couch and chair over turned. He instanlty thinks a burglar has been in his home and rushes to his desk. The desk is toppled over. He rights the desk and locates the envelope that

was in the middle drawer. The envelope lay on the ground by the desk. He knew it contained $5000, a sum he pulled out of the bank the day before to buy a trailer from a man online. The cash was still there. He knew that this was no robbery because the money was not hidden and it

all remained. He decided it must be a prank. So he cleaned his house and found nothing missing. He then grabbed his gun, cleaned and loaded it, turned off all lights to make like he was not home and he waited for the the pranksters to return.

Now bounding up the stairs wondered

how they got past him and when he opened the door to his room he saw the chair in his room upside down on top of his bed, his room was torn apart. He then heard a sound coming from the living room and he crept down the stairs.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he saw what

looked to be a shadow standing in the middle of the living. "I have a gun!" He said trying to sound strong. He asked the person in his house stood at least 6 foot tall but had an old style stove top hat like President Lincoln wore.
"Don't move i am going to call the police." He

said sounding less sure of himself. The shadow did not move. Instead of reaching for his phone he walked towards the man. He reached out to touch the shoulder of the intruder but his hand seemed to go right through him as if he was trying to grab a shadow. Then the man, the

shadow disappeared. Now he heard the sound of someone breathing behind him, he felt the warmth of their breath on his neck. He turned and was staring into the red eyes of the man with the stove top hat. Although he was completely shadowed he could see him grinning. His scream was

the last sound he ever heard again.