The Night Stalker Lives Here

A wisp of smoke or vapor lurks in every corner and crevice of my home. You can't see it, but know when it has struck. It waits til night fall before it strikes. Even better, it waits til the dead of night before it works it's wily ways on me and my family.

I feel as if it strikes every night sometimes twice a night. This is my tormentor of the evening and I think it relishes in it. It has a little bit of control over our nocturnal activities.....sleep. All is well when it's time to sleep, but in the deepest, darkest part of the night The Night Stalker strikes! It finds the one person in my family that has a deep attachment to his dog and steals it away, just out of his reach where he can't seem to find it.

When The Night Stalker has struck I hear about it and sometimes so does the rest of my family. Said child is in great peril and won't go back to sleep until his precious dog has been found and is safely in his arms. As I lay awake listening to the frantic search for the dog I can almost hear the laughter and snickers of The Night Stalker. When the dog is not found my boy will give a little whimper and creep into my room to ask for help. I think he knows that The Night Stalker exists, he has told me he thinks he hears or sees something in the hallway, the space between my room and his. Other times when he is truly panicking he will scream from his room "I CAN'T FIND MY DOG!" with great sadness and trepidation. These are the nights the rest of the family gets a taste of the smoke or vapor that lurks and laughs when it has created a bit of misery.

I know during the day it is watching, planning, and waiting for the part of night where everyone is immersed in dreams of happiness and comfort. It is then that The Night Stalker seeps out of the corners and crvices of my home. It likes chaos, it likes to be disruptive, it likes watching misery. It is The Night Stalker.