Alone at Night - Suspense Story

Note: I was going though some of my old papers from grade school and found a suspense essay I had written about being home alone for the first time. It is a good story so I thought I would share it here. This is the original essay with minor updates and edits:

"See you later!" I said to my parents and waved to them as they pulled out of the garage. I was feeling great! I didn't really like going out for dinner with them and this was the first time I convinced them to let me stay home alone. I was ten years old and I had the whole house to myself! I started walking around. It felt a little awkward with no one else around. I yelled out because normally I was not supposed to yell in the house. I jumped onto the couch and put my feet up with my shoes still on.

I was relaxing peacefully when I heard a few sounds outside in the back yard. It sounded like someone walking around a couple yards away from the house. I also heard some kind of metal jingling together. It startled me so I sat up and listened carefully. It was completely silent when I tried to listen. I walked over to the window that was covered with drapes and put my ear up next to it. I listened closely but could not make out the sound. I thought about peering out but it was dark outside and light inside so I was afraid whoever was out there would see me looking out.

I sat back down on the couch and started thinking. What if there was someone bad outside? What if they were going to break into my house and try to steal something or even kill me? My heart began to race. I got up and started walking to the kitchen when I heard the sound outside again. Someone was definitely out there.

Feeling unsafe downstairs, I dashed up the stairs to my parents bedroom. I shut the door and leaped onto the bed. I wanted to get in touch with my parents, but they were out to dinner and this was before the days of cell phones. I thought about calling 911 but I was afraid if they came over and saw me home alone, they would take me to the police station.

I decided to try to calm down and went to my room. A few minutes had passed and I was starting to feel better when I heard the sound outside again. I figured I had less of a chance of being seen from the upstairs window so I turned off the light and peeked outside. It was dark but I could see a shadowy figure walking around the side of my house.

I watched it until it was out of sight. My heart was pounding again. I sat back down and looked at the clock. I wasn't sure when my parents would be home. I thought about calling one of my friends. I was about to pick up the phone when the doorbell rang! I ran to the top of the stairs. I looked down and listened fearfully. The outside door opened and someone started knocking on the door! I was so scared and didn't know what to do. I wished my parents would come home. Finally, the outside door closed and it was quiet again.

I was a bit relieved but still very nervous. I went back to my parents room. Still looking at the clock. They had to be coming home soon. Then I heard the garage door opening. I ran to the window and looked out to see my parents car pulling in. I dashed down the stairs and opened the door to meet them. I had never been so happy to see them in my life! My dad walked in and I hugged him. I saw my mom and started to cry. I told them about what had happened and about what I had heard and saw.

We went to the living room and sat down to talk about it. Then I heard the jingling noise outside the window again. "That's it!" I yelled. "They are in the back yard!" My dad walked over to the window, opened the drapes and turned on the back light. We saw our next door neighbor outside walking his dog. My dad opened the patio door and said, "Hi, how are you doing tonight?"

"Not so good." he replied. "When I went out to walk the dog, I accidentally got locked out of my house. I walked around your house a few times to see if anyone was home. I wasn't sure so I rang the bell and knocked on the door but no one answered. Do you still have my spare key?"

"Sure!" My dad said and went to get him the extra key. The neighbor was very thankful and wished us a good night. I was relieved that is was just the neighbor but still a bit shaken up. Staying home alone did not turn out to be as great as I thought it would be. This story originally posted on connectedisolation.com. I thought to myself, maybe next time when my parents go out for dinner I will go with them.