When I Became the Dumb Girl in a Horror Movie...

It is dark outside and the windows in my living room reflect an image of myself, headphones in and computer on my lap, back at me. My cat, Bowser, is curled up on a blanket beside me. A normal weekday night. Suddenly, Bowser jumps up. His ears prick up on high alert. I pull an ear bud out to listen too. The house is instantly eerie and I hear all the rustling and squeaks of the house. I pause a moment, about to put the earbud back in. Then, a loud howl comes from up the stairs. I immediately know it is my other cat Max. He howls again and I drop the computer next to me and start running up the stairs, hollering for him.

"Max! Max! Are you okay?"

I get to the top of the stairs and there Max sits at the top. There are no visible signs of trauma. The howls from only seconds before don't seem connected to him at all. I kneel down to check him more closely, petting his head, more to comfort myself than him.

I think I hear a noise. I pull my head up, look forward into the bathroom...and the shower curtain moves, flapping slightly at the bottom.

I freeze momentarily and then quickly check to confirm that Bowser is on the steps behind me. He looks back at me with curious eyes. I turn back to the bathroom.

And then, for who knows what reason, I do the one thing that my friends and I yell at every person in every horror movie for doing. I walk toward the bathroom. Do I have a weapon? Nope. Do I have my phone in my hand? Nowhere near me. I just can't go anywhere or do anything until I find out what is behind that curtain. I even do the whole "Hello? Is someone there?" thing. What do I think was gonna happen? An intruder will come out into the open and say something like "Hi, how are you tonight?"

After a few cautious steps, I fling the shower curtain open with a loud clang. Nothing is there....obviously.

I have to tell you, I am truly a weird person, because I kind of enjoyed the adrenaline rush of that night. My heart raced as I checked every crevice of the house. I actually thought, "Maybe I should write a horror novel." Later, that week, my friend Sarah and I actually watched some new horror movies.

I did think about the characters a bit differently this time around though. I always yell at the screen to "RUN" but, in the moment it is sometimes better to confront than hide from the scary things. The known, no matter how bad, is better than the unknown.