“Thank you for watching Dancing with the Stars, see you next w-” BOOM! BOOM! Laura bolted straight up in seat on the couch, as thought an electric shock had been injected into her body. The time was ten o-clock at night, and the bright sun that had once shone through windows had been swallowed up by the darkness of night. Chills ran up and down her spine as she sensed how alone she really was. Except for the little girl, Olivia, whom she was babysitting. She laid sound asleep upstairs in her room.

After standing up shakily, Laura turned off the TV. She sprinted up the stairs two at the time and thrust open Olivia’s bedroom door. Laura felt guilty waking the little girl up, her white blond hair pulled into two messy pigtails, and her angel-like face with rosy cheeks. Hesitating, she strode up and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Wake up Olivia,” Laura whispered. The young girl’s eyes fluttered open to reveal a pair of ocean blue sparkling eyes. Her arms wrapped around Laura’s neck, and they sprinted to find the perfect hiding spot. After settling on her brother’s bedroom closet, Laura fished her slim silver cell phone out of her pocket, grabbed a flashlight, and quietly shut the door. Turning on the flashlight, she felt the presence of someone behind her.
Her blood went ice cold with fear. Forcing herself to turn around slowly, she came face to face with a girl with auburn brown hair and dark brown eyes. Laura screamed an ear-piercing scream and backed up straight into the door. Wait a minute– the girl she was looking at was herself in a mirror!
“Way to go, Laura,” she mumbled under her breath while her lower back throbbed.
All of the sudden, she heard another obnoxious noise that came from downstairs. Holding back a scream, she held Olivia tighter in her arms. Her only thoughts were that she needed to keep Olivia safe, no matter what happened. Her first instinct was that she needed to find something to use as self-defense. Putting Olivia on the ground, she searched through the closet until her hand enclosed on something long, hard, and wooden.
“Perfect,” she muttered out loud. All of the sudden, she heard a noise that sounded like glass breaking, and the sound of footsteps getting louder. Laura’s grip tightened on Olivia’s hand, and her weapon of self-defense. I’m ready whenever you are, Laura thought. As if right on timing, the closet door was thrust open and Laura came face to face with a tall man in black clothes with a look of astonishment on his face. In one fast movement, Laura took a good hard swing with the baseball bat and the criminal was knocked out cold.
It was as if the world had just gone into slow motion. All Laura could think was, did I really just do that? Her eyes darted down to Olivia, who looked as though she had just seen a ghost. Hands shaking, Laura gave her a rub on the back, made sure she was OK, and pulled out her cell phone.
“Hello,” she whispered in the phone. “I’d like to report a robbery.”