I wake me up, and immediately I can tell that something was off.

My heart starts to pound and my head goes fuzzy with an overload of thoughts. An unsettling feeling washes over me.

A noise in the hall catches my attention, and my whole body, even my raging head stills. My heart is pounding so hard I’m sure whoever is out there can hear it.

The door bangs open and my sister flies, face pale with a sheen of sweat.

“Hide”

We scramble to my closet, hiding behind the hanging clothes.

I hold her close to me, barely any room between us to breath in the small space.

The door opens and a dark figure comes in, looking around wildly.

He says our names, hesitantly at first, then with an urgency. He tears at my bed, kicking up blankets and pillows while yelling our names.

We hold on tighter, gripping each other for life. Her fingernails digging into my forearm.

He stops and looks around before landing on the closet door. He rushes to us, tearing open the door.

I let go of my sister and jump on him, knocking us to the ground.

My fingers find his throat, and I let them squeeze.

And squeeze.

His body stills but I don’t let go. My fingers stuck in their sickly position.

I hear my name. I look up to the source, my mother standing in the hallway, a horrified look on her face.

She looks from me to the body beneath me.

A high pitch scream rings through my ears. Piercing my brain with a thousand tiny needles.

Her form disappears and suddenly I have control of my fingers.

I crawl back to my sister, still in the closet. She lays on the floor in a puddle of awkward angled joints.

I pick her up and put her in my lap. She doesn’t move, just lay in my arms.

She must have passed out.

“Wake up”

She lays still.

“Wake up!”

Sirens. Red and blue lights.

“Wake up!”
Both victims were strangled to death.  No known motive behind the attackers assaults. The attacker has delusions that she was protecting her family from an intruder. Attacker may be delusional and should be committed to a hospital.