today's sunset!!!

i can't help but feel like i am missing something... like maybe i forgot to lock my front door before i left or forgot to close the window in the back room. but i can't be sure until i get back. maybe i am putting thoughts in my own head. but i'm not sure. i drive home down the long road in the night, hoping that maybe everything is safe in my little house. pulling up in the driveway, i see everything untouched, nothing out of the ordinary. as i walk to the front door, i hope that i did remember to lock it. i slide the key into the lock and turn it... the thunk of the lock tells me that i did. i walk through the house, turning on lights as i go. in the back room, the large picture window had been left wide open, though the screen is locked. only i can't remember if i had locked it before i left. i hear a noise from somewhere in the house. i had not made it and i don't think that the house can make that kind of noise by itself. but i ignore it and turn on my tv, keeping my cell with me just in case. i turn it to a safe channel, watching a cop show. well, maybe not so safe, with my wandering mind, but the good guys win, mostly, and i am thankful that at the moment. i feel safe. a few minutes later, i hear another noise, like someone walking on the floor overhead. the house doesn't creak like that unless someone is walking. clutching my phone, i slowly walk to the bottom of the stairs. "hello!" i yell. "is anyone up there?" i hear nothing. i don't want to go up to investigate by myself. i call my best friend. "hey," i say quietly into my phone when he answers. "chris, i need you. i think that maybe there is someone in my house and i want someone with me if something happens." "okay, i'll be there in a minute, okay? sit tight." he hangs up. he lives about five minutes away. i can't help but feel afraid. i wait by the door, facing the staircase. i do not want some creep to come up behind me and strangle me while i look away, even for an instant. moments later, lights flash before a car enters my driveway. without looking away from the staircase, i open the door. "amy, i'm coming," chris calls. he seems really close. the screen opens and i turn towards chris. i look at him and then wrap my arms around him. i am shaking with fear. "you really are afraid, aren't you?" he asks. "well, yeah. i keep hearing things in the house. like it sounded like there was someone walking across the hall upstairs about two minutes before i calld you." "stay here," he says. "no, i am coming with you so i can call someone if you get hurt." he starts going up the stairs, and i follow, my fingers poised over my phone in case i have to call 911. the door to my room is open. i am sure i had closed it before i left. "he is in there, i am sure of it," i whisper to chris as i point to my bedroom. chris turns on the light in my room and finds something red all over the walls. it is blood. on one wall is writtin you will never leave your house again. i shriek. i hear someone in the closet. he comes out with a knife in hand. "RUN!" yells chris. "get outside as fast as you can and call the police." i run down the stairs and out the door. my phone is to my ear. "911, what is your emergancy?" "there is someone in my house and my friend is trying to stop him from coming outside and hurting me, but the man had a knife and there was blood in my room and the man wrote that i will never leave my house again." "okay, police are on their way." moments later, i hear sirens as police cars race to my rescue. "CHRIS!" i yell. i hear nothing, except for loud noises coming from the house. there seems to be a lot of stumbling. sirens wail at the bottom of the street and i can see the blue and red of them as the police race down the street. i wave my arms and yell. the police cars pull up to the curb and four or five police officers come out, guns drawn. "where is the man with the knife?" one of the officers ask. "he's up the stairs, in the room straight ahead. my friend is in there, you have to help him!" "okay, we're going. don't come up until someone comes for you, okay?" "okay." the men go inside. i go to the door and watch them go up the stairs, yelling "POLICE!" there is a scuffle and i hear a gun shot, followed by two more. i scream again. a minute later, a police officer comes down with the man in handcuffs. the man has a gun shot wound in his leg. the other officers come out. "i'm sorry, but your friend got shot," says the officer who talked to me earlier. "i called an ambulance as we were coming down the stairs." i start to cry. chris lost his life while trying to protect me and keep the man off the officers. he was my best friend and now he is gone... my chris, my very best friend. i don't think i will ever be able to live in this house again... when the man thought i would never be able to leave it, it turned to be the complete opposite... never again will i entr the house that my friend died in, trying to protect my life...