3AM Intruder Behind the Curtains

There was a knock on the door at 3am. I walk through the pitch black house, down the stairs

to answer it. It's a cop. She says 'We have reason to believe that there's an

intruder in your home'. Police helicopter is overhead, cop cars everywhere

and a K-9 barking outside, so I let her in. We search every nook and cranny

of the house together, room to room in the darkness by the light of her flashlight and pointed

gun. Every time we throw open a closet door or turn up the bedskirts to look under the

beds my kids are still sleeping in, my stomach twists tighter in anticipation of finding the intruder.

It's like a nightmare turned real. We finish searching the home, bottom to top,