Home alone.

Nothing beats being home alone. There's nobody there to tell you what you can or cannot do on a Friday night. For me, these nights are spent in the basement with all the lights on while I surf the web or watch a movie. I turn on all the lights because I have a fear somebody will attack me from behind, but you know, that's another story. Sure, nothing beats having the pleasure of doing whatever I want.

Until the lightning strikes.

And the power goes out.

And I am submerged in a place of not a single light while a storm rages outside the window.

While I am frozen in shock and fear, I hear it. A grumbling in the distance. A knocking on the window. It unnerves me.

It's pitch black and I dare not move from my position. Fear begins to crawl up my back as the knocking continued. I am frozen. A flashing from the lightning. In that moment I see a shadow moving through the slit of window in the basement. The shadow of a man.

Despite the darkness, I leap up and quickly run for refuge in my own bedroom. I ram into a few walls, but the fear in my chest was enough to dissipate the pain.

In my mind I am not thinking. Fear clouds my thoughts but one thing remained clear -- there was a man outside.

Thoughts of psychopaths run through my mind and I shake. I hug a pillow. Trembling, I peek through the blinds of my window, and make eye contact with the strange man standing in my neighbor's lawn. He smiles. I jump back and run into my covers. I squeeze my eyes shut and will for the nightmare to end.

The doorbell rings.

My joints ache from my tenseness. I quietly list the possibilities of weapons I could use to protect myself. I reluctantly get up from my refuge and go to the door with a flashlight in hand. Curse my curiosity.

Slowly I peek through the peephole and surprise, surprise, there stood my killer.

But wait! He suddenly turns and faces my direction and I realize that my killer is actually my neighbor. He had been locked outside of his house and was seeking shelter.

How silly of me.