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Driving home usually took thirty minutes. Today Jessie had to take a detour. Police cars had her normal route blocked off. She punched throught the buttons on the radio looking for any news hoping she could find out was going on. She had heard earlier today about some break-ins in the area but didn't catch much about it. As she drove she listened to the news report about someone breaking into peoples homes while they were gone. No one was sure why the perpetrator was breaking in. They think he or she has been looking for something. Nothing has been stolen or disturbed. They don't know how they are getting in.

Jessie thought it all sounded crazy. How did they know someone was breaking in if they didn't see how they got in and there was no evidence left behind. The rest of the drive home Jessie tried to think about something else. She was tired and just wanted to relax. Finally she pulled into her driveway. She looked at her small ranch style house wondering if the crimes had gotten this far from town. As she got out of her car she decided she would look around the house at all the windows and doors before going inside. The window nearest the driveway was too high for her to reach but it looked secure. She couldn't remember if she had locked it from the inside. She continued around the house and checked the back door. It was locked. The windows on the back of the house looked secure also. When she got to the far side of the house she started to worry. A large tree stood to close to the house and it branches often scraped the siding during bad storms. She had been meaning to  have that taken down. She looked up at the windows and wondered if someone would really try to climb that tree and break in. She thought she would check them from the inside. At the front of the house she didn't see anything unusual.

Jessie slowly stepped in her front door. Everything seemed fine. She thought she was just worrying about nothing. She went to the kitchen and poured herself a drink. She still had trouble shaking the idea that houses were mysteriously being broken into. She just needed to relax. She went to the living room and sat on the couch. Put her feet up on the coffee table. Closed her eyes and tried to forget about everything.  It was quiet. Too quiet. After a few minutes she heard a tapping noise come from the other side of the house. She grabbed a coaster and set her drink down. The tapping stopped. Jessie got up and walked towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

Tap tap tap. The hall was dark and the bedroom doors were closed. 'I never close the doors. How did they get closed' she thought. Jessie felt the hair stand up on her arms. She started to feel nauseous.  Part of her wanted to run out of the house. The tapping stopped. She crept slowly down the hall. A light flickered from under the door of the back bedroom. The light went out and the tapping started again.

Jessie stopped. Her heart pounding. She couldn't move any farther. Mich Jagger started to sing 'Start me up' from her back pocket. Knowing it was Dave she frantically pulled out her phone wishing he were here instead of 200 miles away. "Dave, I think someone is in my house" she answered. Dave started to say something but she didn't hear him. The bedroom door flew open with a bang shining very little light from within.

Jessie's heart pounded loud enough to wake the dead. She dropped her phone and it skittered across the floor past the doorway. A dark blurr flew past her shoving her against the wall.