You vs. My Whole Life | Bang Chan

Hello Stranger

I woke up to the faint sound of glass breaking.

My eyes shot open and scanned my pitch black bedroom for any sort of explanation for the sudden noise that interrupted my dreams. I blinked a few times and slowly pried myself up on my elbows before sitting up straight in my bed.

Everything was completely silent. Great, of course nothing happened, my imagination woke me up to spice up my dreams. I sighed and was about to turn back around and go to sleep again when I heard a dull thud.

Well, there went my self blaming excuse.
At this point I was wide awake, sitting upright in my bed, not daring to move. I let a few seconds pass and took a deep breath.

It might be a bird that flew threw the window and was now stuck in my living room, I told myself. The explanations in my head were getting less reasonable and more ridiculous by the second.

I had two options. I could either stay in my bed and pray to be safe or be brave and see what actually was going on on the other side of my wall.

Another thud made me jump and also fed my curiosity. So, second option it was.

I lifted my bare feet off of the bed and onto the cold floor, sneaking to the door as quietly as possible, carefully taking every step. The only thing I could hear was my breathing but I couldn't calm it down as much as I tried.

My hand touched the door handle ever so slightly but I immediately took a step back again, adrenaline and paranoia mixing into a dangerous combination.

What if the person on the other side of it was an armed robber?

There was nothing I had to defend myself with and my chances of winning a fist fight were more than just low. I gulped.

My tired eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness of the room and I could make out the silhouette of my surroundings, focusing on finding something to defend myself with or maybe just scare the poor animal away.

It could still just be a lost animal and not a murderer, for all I knew.

None of the objects in my reach seemed suitable to use as a weapon so I made a new plan on the spot.

I just had to get to the kitchen fast enough. A sharp kitchen knife would make a bigger impact than a book or an eyeshadow palette, I figured.

Without thinking about it too long again, I pressed down on the door knob, opened the door and sprinted in the direction of the kitchen.

A cold breeze brushed against my bare legs when I stepped into the kitchen, making me realize that the door to my third floor balcony actually had a hole in it.

Right.

There was no way a person could break in to my apartment on the third floor in the middle of the night. How in the hell would a normal human being even get up here?

My realization made me relax a little and I was about to breathe out in relief when I saw a shadow moving in the middle of the living room, making me retract all of the statements my head had come up with up to this point.

There WAS a stranger in my living room that somehow broke in through my balcony door after climbing up to the third floor.

I searched the kitchen with my eyes frantically for knives, scissors, anything to throw in the direction of the figure to protect myself but unfortunately the only object in my reach was a dirty plate on top of the dishwasher.

My hands clamped around the porcelain and I placed it in front of my body like a shield, the leftover crumbs from my dinner falling to the floor.

"D-Don't come near me! I-I have a weapon!" I bit my tongue. My voice was so shaky, I wouldn't even have believed myself.