Bay Window

One cold winter night, a sixteen year old girl named Brittany Snow, was home alone, watching TV. Her parents had gone out to a dinner party at a friend's house. It had been snowing heavily all afternoon, but Brittany felt nice and snug as she sat on the sofa in the lounge, tucked up under a warm, fuzzy blanket.

By midnight, Brittany's parents were still not home, and she began to feel uneasy. She didn't want to call them, in case they thought that she couldn't take care of herself.

The television was in the corner of the room, right next to the big bay window. She was watching one of her favorite movies, a horror film named Prom Night, when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something moving in the bay window.

Through the darkness and the falling snow, she could make out the figure of a man, walking towards the window. As he got closer, she was able to make out his face and it filled her with horror.

The man's face was hideously scarred, his eyes were wild and crazy and he seemed to be grinning maliciously at her. Frightened, Brittany pulled the fuzzy blanket over her head and tried to hide. She hardly dared to move.

Slowly, she pulled the blanket aside just enough to peer out with one eye. The man was still there. He was just standing there, staring directly at her as the snow fell behind him. Then, he reached into his coat and pulled something out. It was a long knife.

Terrified, Brittany pulled the blanket back over her head and hoped that the madman would think it was just a pile of blankets sitting on the sofa. She managed to move her hand slowly over to her pocket and took out her mobile phone. Pressing the buttons in a panic, she dialled 911 and held her breath as she waited for an answer.

When the operator asked "What is your emergency?", Brittany put the phone close to her face and whispered "There's a man outside my window. He's got a knife. Please come quickly."

She sat motionless under the blanket as the minutes ticked by. Eventually, she heard sirens outside and the police started banging on her front door.

Brittany pulled off the blanket and rushed to the front door, letting the two police officers inside. They said they had seen no trace of anyone outside her house.

"He was right there", said Brittany, pointing out the bay window to her snow-covered front lawn.

"That's not possible", said the female officer. "There couldn't have been anyone standing out there. The snow is completely undisturbed. If there was someone out there, they would have left footprints."

"But he was standing right there, staring straight at me", said Brittany. "I saw him with my own two eyes."

"You know, your eyes can play tricks on you", said the male officer. "Maybe you've been watching too many scary movies".

The officers turned to leave when. all of a sudden, the female officer stopped dead in her tracks. She pulled back the sofa that Brittany had been sitting on. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. Brittany and the male police officer gasped.

On the carpet behind the sofa, there was a trail of wet footprints and a discarded knife.

"You weren't looking at the man outside the window", said the female officer. "You were looking at his reflection. He was standing right behind you all along."