“You have 5 minutes, starting now.” Growled the tall masked man infront of me. I couldn’t believe I locked myself in my room with him. What do I do, why the hell did I run upstairs instead of to the back door when I had the chance? Why is he giving me 5 minutes to convince him not to kill me? What the hell is going on? My brain felt like scattered puzzle pieces as I searched for something to say, but I froze in panic.

“H-How?!” I cried whilst shaking with fear. My hands trembling and breath shakey. I even quickly glanced around my room for valuables to offer. For half a second I was scared he wanted me to offer up myself. While my mind raced a thousand miles a minute, he spoke.

“How?” He repeated my question. “Why do you deserve to live. What makes you special enough to breathe the air the innocent breathe. I want you to tell me what makes your miserable life worth existing. Convince me, and you live. 4 and half minutes.” He spat my time limit out like a slur. I froze in panic once more. Why is he doing this? What’s happening, I don’t understand.

“Please, my son is only 2, he needs me. Please don’t take me from him I’m not ready to go yet. I don’t want to die please leave me alone. I haven’t even seen your face, I’ll has nothing to give the cops, I won’t even call them!” I spouted out anything I could think of to beg him to leave me alone. My eyes started to water and I started hyperventilating.

“You have a son?” He asked inquisitively. I nodded my head, my breathing still too erratic to answer. “Do you deserve to be his mom?” I stared confused for a second.

“What?”

“Do you. Deserve. To be. His. Mom. Are you worthy of parenting him. Is he safe with you. Is he happy with you. Does he matter. Or are you a worthless excuse for a parent. 4 minutes.”

“I- I- I try to be a good mom! It’s hard with such an high energy child, but he’s a good smart little boy. He’s sweet and funny and he loves so much and so hard. He’s my miracle.” I said, trying to calm myself. Then before I could blink the masked man had me pushed against my closet door, his knife to my throat in a flash.

“That’s not what I asked you.” He growled. My eyes widened and I yelped like a dog out of fear. “I- I- yes? Yes! I deserve to be his mom. I love him and no one can protect him like I can! I’m a good mom, I’m a good mom!” I kept crying that I was a good mom, my eyes squeezed shut waiting for the final blow. But it never came.

I only realized the masked man had left when my rotating fan blew air near me and I was cold, his body wasn’t blocking it anymore. I stood frozen in place pressed against my closet door for a few more minutes before I slowly began to inspect the entirety of the house. The masked man and vanished without a trace, as fast as he’d shown up. I was almost convinced I’d made him up. I thought about calling the police but what I said before was true, I had no way of catching this guy. He wore gloves, had a mask, he didn’t have a recognizable voice, there was no way to chase him. They’d just tell me to lock my doors and call if he came back.

To be sure, when I was brave enough and had a weapons, I ventured outside to check around the house. No footprints, no nothing, it’s as if the man was never here. Now I really felt like I’d just imagined it all. When I went back inside, I collapsed on the floor and cried. I made a mental note to call my therapist when I’d relaxed. Then I called my sons father to check on them. I broke down and told him to lock all the windows and doors and explained what had just happened to me. He told me to call the police anyways, maybe they’d have someone spend the night here. I was more worried about there with him having our son for the weekend.

He never showed though. I waited by the phone all night to see if the man ever came, to get a call that my son and ex were dead. Instead I got the call that everything was fine and our son would be home with me in a few hours like normal. I was paranoid the rest of the week, but nothing happened. He never came back. He never finished the job. I guess I convinced him not to kill me after all.