Night visitor

Author's name: Tracy Serra

The mother is on the verge of collapse when her life and the lives of her children are threatened by an intruder in her home. She was alone at home with her two young children during a severe snowstorm, and in the middle of the night, as she was putting her son back to bed, she heard a sound—old houses never cease to make noise—but this sound was disturbingly familiar: the heavy, slow sound of footsteps climbing the stairs. Soon, she saw the figure of a man appear at the end of the hall, shrouded in darkness.

Overcome with fear, she woke her two children and rushed them to the oldest part of the house, a small, hidden room concealed behind the walls. They hid there while the man searched for them, trying to lure the children with promises and intimidate their mother into submission. In the stifling darkness of the room, the mother struggled to remain calm so she could devise a sound plan.

Is she looking for a weapon or trying to escape? But she spots him again. That face, that tone, and she immediately realizes the situation is more dangerous than she imagined, because she knows him and knows exactly who he is and what he wants.