3 — Intrusion

I live alone. And my name is not Sarah.

When I finally dared to read it, there was no threat. No ransom. Just a single, handwritten line:

Then, the worst part: he didn’t enter. He simply slid a single piece of paper under the crack of the door. I watched the white rectangle slide across the moonlight like a tongue. intrusion 3

This was different from the first two.

The first was a thief—crude, violent, all adrenaline and shattered glass. He took the television and left a smear of blood on the curtain. The second was a ghost (or so I told myself), a draft that moved pictures on the wall and left faucets dripping. I live alone

“You left the back door unlocked again, Sarah.”

But the third? The third knew my name.

It didn’t break the window. It didn’t kick the door. That would have been a relief.

The third intrusion came at 3:17 AM, not with a crash, but with the soft click of a key that shouldn’t have worked. I lay frozen, listening to the floorboards in the hallway confess their secrets one by one. Creak. Pause. Creak. No ransom

I heard him stop outside my bedroom door. Not at the lock. Just… there. The silence that followed was heavier than footsteps. It was the silence of someone reading a sign. Here lies the sleeper.