It was a humid Florida night in the middle of the summer and my dad was on his way to pick me up from the scariest movie I’d ever seen. As I said bye to my friends and got into the car my dad asked if I enjoyed the movie and teased me about having nightmares that night. I laughed it off and changed the subject but deep down the movie was stuck in my head. It was a murder movie similar to many I had seen before, except this one was in a neighborhood exactly like mine and it added an unexpected twist. Eventually we pulled in the driveway and since it was a summer night I got to stay up late while my parents went to bed.

I knew I was going to struggle to sleep that night with the horrors of the recent movie lingering in my mind. Watching TV and eating snacks only kept me occupied for a short time before it was time to close my eyes and fall asleep. Naturally, every sound I heard seemed louder than it actually was and each time I heard something I had to inspect my room carefully to make sure I was safe. After managing to fall asleep for an hour or so, a loud thud woke me up and instantly the movie was the only thing coming to my mind.

Without hesitation I rolled out of bed quietly and walked to my parents room hoping they could comfort me and explain the noise. Pushing open their squeaky door I don’t know how I managed to remain silent as I saw both my parents bloody bodies next to each other in the bed. I couldn’t comprehend that my parents were gone and now I was wondering if the killer was looking for me. Hiding in the closet my mind was asking thousands of questions and I had no answers. I could only pray that the thud which woke me up was the killer making his exit. After what seemed to be ten minutes of hiding in my parents room, I started to move toward the phone and call for help. Listening for the dial tone I began to call when I heard somebody coming up the stairs. I had to choose to run for safety and alert the killer that I was there, or hide and hope he didn’t find me.

As the footsteps neared the top of the stairs my legs wouldn’t let me run and under my parents bed was the only place I felt safe. Carefully searching through the bathroom and closets the killer had completely missed me, or so I thought. Slowly walking over to the bed I heard the killer bending over and the bedskirt slowly lifted revealing me when I surprisingly woke up in my bed.

The scene of my parents murder and the fear of being next was all part of my nightmare and now I wondered if I should go make sure my parents were okay. For almost fifteen minutes I told myself to relax and go back to sleep, but it wasn’t possible with their bloody bodies haunting my thoughts. Slowly I walked to their door and took a deep breath as I pushed the door open exactly as I had in the dream. However, this time the door squeaked and woke my dad up which was all I needed. He knew exactly why I was standing at their door and he started to laugh as he said, “I told you so.”