The rule of our house was to always be back before the witching hour (12am -3am). Certain people believe that witches, demons, or even ghosts are at their most powerful during those hours, and that it was bad luck to be out at that time of night as it attracts them. I however, ignored this when I came home late after a night full of partying. Looking at the time it was exactly 3:00am. I admit I was drunk, stumbling all over the place. I was unable to make it up the stairs to my room so I decided to sleep on the couch. My couch is positioned against the wall, with one end right next to the window of my backyard. Surprisingly none of the curtains were closed and you could see the entire backyard through the sliding door and the window right by it. I decided to lay my head down on the end by the window.

Looking at the time which was now 3:10am, I had an intense feeling overwhelm me. Suddenly the automatic porch light in the backyard came on, shining right above through my window. I quickly shut my eyes pretending that I was asleep, as the light only comes on when it detects motion. I had no intention of finding out who was standing outside my window. That's when something made a huge bang on the window I slept under. Startled and afraid I jumped up to look outside. There was nothing. That's when I heard the door from the hallway behind me open. As I slowly turned around to see if there was anyone there, I heard footsteps walking toward me from the hall. I could see the hall clearly even though it was dark, and although no one was there you could hear someone walking.

As it got closer the pace picked up and I could hear someone running in my direction. I quickly ran outside through the sliding door which triggered the porch light to come on again. As I was catching my breath, I looked back at the house to see if anyone was coming. As soon as the light turned off, the sliding door had slammed shut. I could hear footsteps approaching from behind and it came to a halt. Cold air brushed against my back and there was a faint whisper......

"Why did you go in so early? There's still time to play!"