I lay in my bed, in the dark, twisting and turning because my back was causing me so much pain. I guess, I pulled a muscle or something. Finally, around one in the morning, I fell asleep. A loud noise woke me up two hours later. It was so dark and cold. My back still hurt and I heard a tiny squeaky voice laughing. It seemed like it was coming from my living room. I thought it might be a kid, but why would a kid be in my living room? I wondered. I wasn’t married, I didn’t have a kid, and I didn’t have any siblings. My parents were on their annual vacation to the Bahamas and I was left here at home all by myself. They had asked me to go with them, but I had just started my new job, at a trendy boutique, called Foals Perk, so I couldn’t go with them.

I heard more noise and that squeaky laughter again. As I pulled myself out of bed, the cold floor shocked me like lighting running through my veins. I didn’t really want to move any further, but I knew I had too. There was someone in my house. I grabbed my metal baseball bat and slowly opened my bedroom door. I peered to see if I could spot the intruder but I couldn’t see anybody. I realized that it had become very quiet; a very scary silence that seriously gave me goosebumps down my spine. However, I took hold of my bat with all the courage I could muster and stepped into the hallway. Slowly, I walked towards my living room taking in consideration of my surroundings. When I got to the living room I was flabbergasted to see that it was in complete chaos. Everything was over-turned and thrown everywhere. I turned on the light and that’s when I really got scared. Our Italian leather couch was slashed like it had been devoured by a wild animal. Our coffee table lay broken in half and magazines ripped about and scattered everywhere. I felt the hairs on my neck cringe and I knew somebody was behind me, but I couldn’t see them in my peripheral vision.

“Who’s there!”, I yelled. Then the lights went out. I heard that squeaky scary laugh again. I have a weapon, I said.

“That’s no match for me”, someone responded in a squeaky harsh voice. Then something grabbed my leg and pulled me down. “AAAAAAAAAh!”, I heard myself scream. I saw a small figure looming a few feet away from me laughing in that same high-pitched voice. “What do you want?!” I yelled. The shrill laughter grew louder and my heart was beating so fast I thought it would explode. The figure started walking towards me and I couldn’t move. By its size, you’d think it was a small child, but when it grabbed my leg I knew it wasn’t a child. It was strong. I just lay there frozen as it got closer. It had something in its hands. It looked like a small pouch. It opened the bag, and a golden light erupted from it. I screamed in horror as I got a look at the face of the intruder. Its face was so gross. It was like somebody had thrown acid on its face. It was wearing a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold, and cocked hat, shoes and buckles. It had green eyes; they had evil in them. When it saw my disgusted expression, it smiled and I saw its rotten sharp black teeth.

“Get out!” I yelled at it.

“Now, Sarah, I can’t do that,” it responded. It knew my name.

“How do you know my name?” I asked.

“No matter, No matter” it said. You must help me find me gold it said.

“Why would I help you?” I screamed

“You want to see ye parents again, you will help me find me gold!” it scolded.

“What did you do to my parents?!” I yelled at it. It laughed, but this time it was harsher and colder. Suddenly, to my surprise it ambushed me and dug very sharp nails into my arms.

“You will help me find me gold or I’ll kill everyone you love” it growled at me, and before I could speak it disappeared in a dark mist. I woke up the next morning hoping it was all a bad dream. The horror of last night was vivid in my mind and I kept seeing its face. “You will help me find me gold”, played in my ear like a broken record and I wondered why it specifically wanted me to help it find its gold. My parents! What did it do to my parents?! It wasn’t a dream. I looked at my arms and there were the scars from when it had dug its nails into my arms.