Dark billowing clouds made the night sky moonless. I sat on my bed thinking about tomorrow. Tomorrow is my chemistry test and I can't seem to study. I hear the storm roaring outside my house, its winds rolling through my street. A flash of lighting revealed a shadow outside of my window.

         I jumped out of my bed and walked backwards toward my door. I anxiously waited for lighting to strike again to see if the figure outside was still there. At least a minute went by and the only sound I heard was the heavy rain pounding on my window. Lightning struck once more and I saw that the figure was no longer there. I tried to decide that the figure was just my sheer imagination.

         Internally, I felt that it was something more. I slowly approached my bed and quickly jumped on it and laid back down. Suddenly, I hear some sort of crashing sound coming from the kitchen. My parents were out at a party, so I knew it couldn't be them. My dog Wilson was with my sister at her friend's house, so I know it can't be him.

         I slowly approach my bedroom door and pause before opening it. It takes me a minute to collect the courage to open it and investigate. I bring with me my flashlight and a bat from my closet. The wooden flooring creaks as I get closer to the corner to the kitchen. I hear nothing but loud silence as my heart starts to beat faster.

         I get to the corner and quickly turn it, prepared to swing my bat at an intruder. To my surprise, no one is there and nothing appears broken or out of place. I stood there dumbfounded and lowered my bat with a sigh of relief. Lighting strikes again to reveal a figure on the front porch standing outside one of the windows. I ran to the front door to see what it was.

         I open it and there stood the figure. He was tall, slim, and had on a black hat. I swing my bat without hesitation and realize that it was just a cardboard cutout. But who put it there? I close the front door and lock it.

         I return to my room, too tired to continue studying and as soon as I close my door my sister and her friend jump out and yell in my face. They collapse of laughter as I jump back hitting my head on my shelf. I rub my head and glare at them spitefully. "Were you two the idiots who put the cardboard thing outside my window and on the front porch?" I ask, furiously reopening the door pointing for them to leave. "What cardboard thing? We've been in your closet the whole time with Wilson" they say laughing in confusion.

         I stand there for a moment, becoming more and more confused. I turn out the lights and they usher themselves out. Wilson lays beside me on my bed. Lighting flashes one more time and I open my eyes there it was. The carboard figure over my bed reaches out and clasps me in its cold arms.

         "...And after all that happened, I woke up sweating and panting" I say giggling to my friends at lunch. We had been talking about nightmares we could never forget and that was mine. Sometimes the carboard man still haunts me in my dreams.