[ WP ] [ TT ] You wake up to a large hologram that says `` You hear a loud crash in the room next door , what do you do ? A . Hide in the closet . Turn to page 2 B . Investigate . Turn to page 3 C. Run away . Turn to page 4 . '' Moments later you hear something smash the wondow in the room next door .

A bright light woke me, the harsh blue light of a television screen. I scrunched my eyes shut and thrashed in bed, groaning. Did I leave the television on? 
 
 No, I did n't. Sizzling in front of my bleary eyes was a three-by-four foot glowing screen, some kind of suspended hologram, and it looked like there were words on it. 
 
 I fumbled for my glasses, my fingers brushing the condensation on my glass of bedtime water. It was still cold, I had n't been asleep for long. 
 
 I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and put on the glasses. Ah, yes. I was dreaming. For the words on the screen read: 
 
 YOU HEAR A LOUD CRASH IN THE ROOM NEXT DOOR, WHAT DO YOU DO? 
 - HIDE IN THE CLOSET 
 - INVESTIGATE 
 - RUN AWAY 
 
 I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stretched. Then I stepped into the air to fly into the next room -- 
 
 -- and landed on my face. 
 
 `` Goddamnit,'' I shouted, as pain exploded across the bridge of my nose. What was happening? I was n't dreaming? 
 
 And then, a crash in the room next door. 
 
 Wait, what did I just hear? I glanced up at the screen. It hovered, the blue light illuminating the rumpled sheets and sleeping cat on my bed. A shiver ran down my arms as I put two and two together, my brain still fuzzy from sleep. How could this be real? Where did the screen come from? There was no light source. 
 
 Another crash. Rustling. Something was in the spare bedroom. Something much, much larger than my cat. 
 
 My heartbeat started to pound in my ears, my vision going white at the edges. Was it a burglar? Was I hallucinating? Please, let this be a dream. 
 
 Something thumped against the door to the spare bedroom, and the doorknob jostled. A grunt, a scrape. Something alive. 
 
 I leapt to my feet, limbs shaking. My nightgown clung to my back with the sweat of sleep and fear. I heard it, then, a scratching, a scratching on the door to the spare bedroom, kept closed to keep my cat out. 
 
 I realized I was n't breathing and gasped, then clapped a hand over my mouth. I glanced at the door, terrifyingly dark from the shadow cast by the screen. The screen! There must be a reason. I looked back. Remus was awake, his dilated pupils glowing red. His hackles raised, ears back. The screen. 
 
 Three options. Investigate? Fuck no. 
 
 The doorknob jostled. 
 
 Run away? If I left the room, I may come face to face with whatever it was. There was no time. Fuck, fuck, what was happening? 
 
 A cracking sound, of splintering wood, and I saw something shiny roll across the floor out of the corner of my eye. I squinted. 
 
 The doorknob. 
 
 I scrambled toward the closet, tripping over an empty Amazon box and the cord to my hair dryer. 
 
 Remus! 
 
 I spun around, my foot tangling further. Remus was trembling in my arms as I hastily gathered him to my chest, his tail whipping around, a thick bottle-brush of tension. A creak from the door with the shattered latch. 
 
 Everything was happening too fast. I slammed into the closet and yanked the door closed. It was too loud. How could this possibly hide me? It was the only option left. 
 
 The screen vanished. Darkness. 
 
 I pressed my back to the wall of the closet, my breathing ragged and deafening in my ears. Remus chuffed quietly through his nose, trembling and burying his face in the crook of my elbow. I felt clammy and cold, my toes numb, the cord to my hairdryer wrapped around my ankle. 
 
 Rustling. 
 
 Something came into the room. 
 
 A whuffing sound. Sniffing. 
 
 My eyes adjusted to the dark, the room lit by the dim, glowing light of my computer tower. I could see through the gap around the closet door. I could see it. 
 
 I stopped breathing again. 
 
 It was a monster. There was no other word for it. A children's book, B-movie horror, campfire story monster. 
 
 And it smelled like hell itself. 
 
 It was black, so dark I wouldn't've made it out except for the gleaming scales and shards covering its hide. It faced away from me as it snuffled by my bed, scaled tail scraping the carpet, leaving furrows and shredded fibers behind. 
 
 Remus shifted in my arms, pushing his paws into me, pressing away from the thing in my bedroom. I almost shushed him, but fear froze me into lucky silence. 
 
 The monster scraped a paw over my bed, mattress stuffing floating in the air as its claws rent the fabric like a hot knife to butter, barely a sound. My vision blurred as I thought of what it could do to my soft, spongey flesh. The monster bobbed its head through the air, looking for something. It pawed the air where the screen was, and grunted. 
 
 A low growl erupted from me. No, not me. Remus. He struggled in my arms, and I tried desperately to hold him. 
 
 He exploded from my grip and crashed into my sock bin, tearing down shirts as he clawed his way to the top shelf. Hangers fell and rattled to the floor. 
 
 I froze. I was dead. No way that thing did n't hear that. 
 
 After a moment, it seemed I was still alive. I pressed my eye to the gap and saw the monster still standing, a paw on my bed, head weaving through the air. It opened its mouth and panted, and I saw black slime drip from dozens of glittering teeth. It did n't seem to have a nose, or ears, and I could n't make out any eyes. Maybe that stupid screen had the right of it, hiding in the goddamn closet would save me. Just brushing against that thing would probably make me bleed out. 
 
 It took a paw off my bed, and shook its head like a dog, and clumsily turned to leave. I was safe. I was fucking safe. 
 
 I was blinded. The world went white as something impossibly bright filled my field of vision, and there was a crash in my bedroom. 
 
 CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'RE SAFE AND THE MONSTER IS LEAVING. BUT YOU NOTICE 
 
 I looked away instinctively from the garish light, and looked straight into the bright, glowing red eye of the monster. 
 
 I screamed then.
