Hi, my name is Shandi Mercer; I am a senior this year at Helmswood High, in the small town of Helmswood, FL. The town is so small that you rarely ever see two cars meet each other on even Main Street. It is a town of 35 people, and it is extremely boring on Friday nights. But that’s not the thing that makes my life so terrible. The one thing that makes my life such a nightmare is the fact that I suffer from paranoia. I have had this problem ever since I was about seven years old. I was never able to concentrate in school, because I thought someone besides the teacher was watching me at all times. I have seen strange men and shadowy figures in my bedroom at night and cried myself to sleep because of this terrible disorder. I guess you could say that I hallucinate too. The odd thing is, I don’t do drugs, and I rarely drink.
So right now I sit here in the corner of my room because from there I can see everything. The lights are on so I am not in the dark. Why am I sitting in the corner of my room you might ask? I just saw a man standing in the dark of my kitchen. I am in tears wondering who to call. There is one big problem though,
The phone is downstairs.
I finally gather up the courage to go downstairs and call my mother. She has gotten calls like this before so it is nothing new to her. I get downstairs; looking around the corner to make sure no one is there. I can feel a warm breathing on my neck and my heart stops and beats harder and harder with each passing second. I turn around and I see…nothing. I run into where I saw the tall dark man and flip on the light. No one is in the kitchen. I grab the phone and sit in the kitchen talking to my mom for two hours straight. I won’t be able to sleep because of this strange figure. What should I do? Darkness falls in the house.
“Mom! Are you there...Mom!”
I hear nothing, but whistling. I get off of the chair I was sitting on and see the figure walking towards me. It’s getting closer to me, my heart is pounding and a fowl smell has just filled the air. The whistling stops. I hear heavy breathing again and then I hear him whisper in a strong deep voice:

Now I lay you down to sleep
I pray the lord your soul to keep
If you die before you wake
I give the lord your soul to take

The power is returned my home and I see nothing there. I slide down the wall and my tears roll down my cheek. How can I fix this terrible disease that I have? Who can possibly help me? Then I realize, it’s just a prank, it has to be. Someone is just trying to scare me.
I turn around and run towards the one place I NEVER go, the basement. There has to be a power box or something down there! I get halfway down the stairs and hear whistling. I stop in my footsteps and listen for about five minutes. The whistling stops.
I walk down the huge wooden stairs as light as I can so barely any noise is made. I reach the flashlight on top of the power box and open it up. Everything is disconnected, wires are cut and they can’t be restored at this time of the night. I look around with my flashlight and see no one there. I head back up stairs as fast as I can run up those stairs and slam the door shut. Another problem occurs though. The battery on my flashlight goes out. That’s right! We have more batteries around here somewhere. I feel around in the pitch dark of my kitchen and find the cupboard where they were last time I saw them. Nothing there. My heart stops and I realize where they are,
Downstairs.
I go back to the door and open it slowly. Walking as slow and quietly as I can. I hear the whistling again. It’s getting closer, it’s getting louder. I am halfway downstairs what do I do? It stops, so I take one more step forward and the whistling reprises. Then I hear a voice say:

God forgive me for my sins
This girl is going to lose her shins
Protect her from the devil and his son
No more chances for her to run

I hear a pounding on the wood of the stairs. Someone is walking up! I back up slowly and see the shadowy figure I saw about three hours ago. He’s getting closer, and all I can do I stand there in fear as it gets closer and closer! I turn around to run up the stairs and my foot has been grabbed I trip on the stairs and turn around as I beg it to go away. It grabs my neck and picks me up, taking away all of my breath. I can’t breathe, and I am starting to lose consciousness.
He carries me by my throat and brings me to the top of my stairs. He tosses me to the ground. I take deep breathes of air and I see him come out of the darkness of the doorway. It is enormous, this is not paranoia. This is actually happening. This thing is more than seven feet tall and is extremely muscular. He grabs my throat again and he pins me against my refrigerator. Then I see his face. “Dad?”
He was supposed to be out of town with mom, he had a business meeting, I watched him leave with mom!
He stares into my eyes and whispers, “Sweet dreams, Shandi.”
He pulls out a long sharp object, I scream as loud as I can and he thrusts is toward my chest. I wake up.