“The killer is still on the loose if you have seen anyone matching this descrip-“ the light from the tv fades away as I groggily rub my eyes. A deep yawn falls on a silent house while on my way to bed ,it was 11pm and I had work tomorrow morning so it was time to get some rest. I was half way up the stairs when I heard a knock on the door. “Who the hell is that?” I thought to myself as I wobbled my way back down the stairs. When I got to the door I looked out the peep hole and didn’t see anyone so I headed back up the stairs, but before I could even fully climb a step the knock came again, this time much harder then before. I go to the door once more and see nothing threw the peep hole, at this point I’m tired and annoyed so I just start heading upstairs for the third time, when low and behold another knock, this time as if someone was kicking my door. I ran to the door and swung it open, angry and exhausted I started screaming at the top of my lungs. “WHO’S THERE!? COME ON OUT! I KNOW YOUR HERE GODDAMNIT!” Then suddenly a cloth was over my mouth I could bearly breath and the world around me got blurry, till I finally passed out.

When I awoke I was in a small room laying on a dirty mattress with strange cloths on. The room smelled awful as is someone used it for a bathroom and the walls where stained with what looked like black mold, and they had yellow streaks running down them. It was a little hard to see the full room since only one side had lights then suddenly a lamp came on in the other corner of the room. That’s when I saw him sitting in an old chair wearing a Halloween mask of some kind, but givin the distorted colors of the mask it was rather old, he had a vest on over a button down shirt that was brown, his jeans had stains from what looked like paint, and he sat in silence just watching me. When I tried to move twords him to talk I was stopped by chains on my legs, I hadn’t noticed them before now. “Who are you?” I ask in the most confident voice I could muster in this situation. “Tell me why?” The man replies in a deep graveled voice, not giving any head to my words. “Why what?”

I said while slowly backing away from him trying to find where these chains connected to the wall. A moment of silence falls on the room, then again he repeats. “Tell me why?” This time he rises from the chair and walks towards me. He stops at a distance from me, I’m assuming it was out of my reach with these chains on my feet . He reach’s into his vest and pulls out a gun then points it at me. “Tell me why?” As he places his finders on the trigger, his voice echoing in the small room and sending chills down my spine. “You wanna know why I should die?” I ask in a trembling voice. Fear fills my body and I can’t help but fall to my knees in despair. He shakes his head and squats down to be eye to eye with me. “Why not?” He says tilting his head to the side. “Why not?” I think “why should I be allowed to live?” No not that. “Why should I not be killed?” I said out loud looking at the masked figure. He takes out of his pocket a watch and checks the time. “Five minutes.” He says placing the watch on the ground between both of use. I begin to panic right away, “I only have five minutes to convince a psychopath that I shouldn’t be killed. What do I do? How do I survive this?” I take a breath and begin talking in the calmest voice I can.

“I have a family, two children, my girls there names are Sasha she’s 11 and Max she’s 8. There at my mother’s for the week. Their mom is dead If I die I’ll be leaving them without any parents and I can’t do that to them, you can’t do that to them!” I hold myself tightly while speaking knowing this may not work, knowing I might never see my girls again. He tilts his head down, peering at the watch, then to the left and breaths a soft breath. “3 minutes left.” A chill runs through me, I don’t know why this is happening, I know I don’t deserve this, then a thought breaks me from my sorrow. If I can convince him I’m a friend maybe he will let me live. I take a deep breath and calm myself closing my eyes to focus. I flip the switch in my mind and open my eyes once more to meet his. I calmly sit up right and broad chested and I smile at him. “Well how about professional courtesy then.” My voice no longer shaking and my mind relaxed. He takes a moment and looks at my face, he moves closer and looks into my eyes. “Wife?” He asks shifting his gaze up and down me. I lean closer to him this time my voice soft and gentle. “Yes.” As I slowly move back to my sitting position he places a key near me and stands up and walks to the door unlocking it. “How interesting.” He leaves the room, door ajar and I hear his foot steps disappear into the distance. I take the key and unlock myself, I slowly make my way out of the building calmly walking. I can tell I’m down town only about 3 blocks from my house so I begin walking home.When I finally make it to my home I go inside and close the door lock it, and begin weeping like a child, I have no idea how I managed to get away from that man, or how I was able to convince him I was like him. A few days later I saw police out by my neighbors house 2 doors down, they had his house tapped off and where asking questions to anyone standing around, I decided I was probably better off not telling them a damn thing and went to work. That night when I got home from work I turned on the TV and the news had an interview with my next door neighbors. They told the police that they heard him yell something last night but thought it was just some kids pulling a prank. “What did they yell out?” Asks the egar reporter. “Who’s there?” A chill runs down my spine, those words a cold memory of that night that haunts me. Then I heard a knock on my door, without thinking I started to walk towards it, when I got to the door I opened it up and saw an older gentleman standing there holding a brown paper bag. I asked if he needed anything or if I could call someone for him. He was silent for a moment, then he tilts his head and in the same voice that now echos in my mind he says. “I am here.” As he hands me the bag he smiles and walks away. For a moment I was frozen in fear and confusion, did he know I was lieing to him? did he know I was just making up a story? Is he gonna kill me? All these thoughts ran through my mind then finally I realized that I was still holding the bag he gave me. I was contemplating calling the police but then I remembered his words. “I am here.” For some reason I felt he would know if I called them. With a lot of panic and anxiety I opened the bag to find a wad of cash, $365.56 to be exact, the exact amount I had once givin to the now missing man a few years ago to help with some payments, he always said he would pay me back but never did. At the bottom of the bag was a note, It said “Professional courtesy.” Written in blood.