Why I always lock my door when I sleep

 

So it’s Halloween and while I love me some horror movies to watch on this night, I can’t help but remember a little incident that happened a few years ago.

I rarely locked my doors when I slept, before. I just didn’t feel the need to do so. I had nothing to hide, I wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything would barge in and frankly if I were to sleep late, someone could just come in and wake me up before I became late for school. Even my uncle was surprised when my mother mentioned to him that I do not lock the door at night.

“You should lock the door when you sleep.” He looked at me. But I was indifferent to the statement. I was okay with how things were going, so why lock the door when there really is no need to?

But all that changed after one night.

It must have been around 10 years ago. I could not sleep that night. I tried reading a book. I listened to songs. I turned sides countless times. But sleep did not come easy that night. Mainly it was because of this scratching sound I could hear faintly in the distant. I even opened the door a few times but I just couldn’t figure it out.

Sleep eventually came around 1 am.

But I woke up again at 2:30 am.

In my half asleep state, I saw this person sitting on the sofa beside the window. I almost turned on the lights to check. Then I remembered: I always do that. It always seems like the clothes on the sofa seem like a person to me in the dark, made up by my mind. It’s happened countless times.

So I just shrugged, and I went back to sleep.

I woke up late the next morning at 7 am.

I turned to look at the sofa, there were no clothes. Then, I realized I had arranged my closet only the previous night.

I was dumbfounded. I opened the door and I hurried downstairs.

My parents and elder brother were having a serious discussion.

Our TV was missing and so were some other items.

It turns out we had been robbed that night. The scratching sound I had heard of appeared to be the robber. My brother thought he heard something so he opened the door to check.

The robber sneaked into my bedroom, because it was the only bedroom that was unlocked.

It was the robber casually staring at me sleeping that I saw that night in the dark.

Needless to say, I have always lock my door at night, since then,