Startled, alert, and quickly awake I feel all the hairs on my arms raise up. I think to myself “there is someone here.” Maybe a monster, a burglar, my sister. Something is next to me, I can hear it breathing. I start to roll over the edge of the bed to see what it is. Something, a small voice in my mind tells me to stop. Sit still. Very, very still. I can hear him breathing. I know it is a man because of the sound of the breaths and the shape of the body in mom’s full length mirrored closet doors. He is lying next to me. He is so close to me, almost like he is looking at my face, but he is facing the mirror I think. Can he see me looking? I shut my eyes.

What is a 7 year old girl to do? Panic? No, he might kill me with that big pole he has in his hands. Mom! Yes, mom will help, maybe she can beat him up. I roll over gently, pretending to be asleep. “Mom,” I whisper. “Mom.” Then a flash of what might really happen floods my mind. “Oh my God” I think, he’ll kill us! Whew! mom did not stir. It is a good thing too because mom wakes up with a startle and takes a loud deep breath, almost like you scared her bad.

What do I do? What do I do? I lay still trying not to breath too hard. Trying so hard to pretend to be asleep. I begin to pray to God to help me. In my mind I silently pray for angles to come, and for this man to go away. I open my eyes and almost freak! He is walking across the room with the pipe in his hands, raised slightly. He is tip-toeing to her side of the bed. What do I do? I have to do something.

I muttered a groggy mutter as if to be talking in my sleep, I roll over to the mirror again so I can see him. Can he see me watching? I squint through the slits of my eyelids. It’s dark and fuzzy, but I can still see his shadowy figure near her. What is he doing? He is looking at her, in her face. “Oh God, please make this man go away”, I pray to myself.