The window was open, leaving the bugs begging at the screen. The hot Arizona summer was fastly approaching and it would soon get hotter, but for now, it was durable. Our one and only air conditioner had blown earlier in the day, leaving the cool air that would usually seep through my doorway, dissipated. I had opened my window hoping that a cool breeze would pass through every now and then to make me somewhat comfortable, able to fall asleep. My legs were wrapped up in the cool sheets and my head was laying on the cool side of the pillow. All of these things should've put a normal person to sleep right away, but I soon knew of the footsteps in the hallway.
The footsteps in the hallway. They were the sound of familiarity. They were the sound of repetition. They were the sound of anger and they came almost every night. I would sit there, with my hands clasped and eyes closed. I could hear the flicking of the yellow hallway light as he turned it on. I could hear the footsteps making their way down the hallway. And I could hear as they stopped in front of my door. I would peek through my eyelids, hoping that what I usually saw wasn't there. My hope soon dwindled as I saw the shadow of his boots blocking the yellow light.
Soon, the buzzing at my window screen had disappeared. The beautiful blue color that the moon engulfed my room in was nothing to gawk at. The sweat that accumulated over a night of sleeping in the heat seemed to suddenly appear on my skin. But none of it mattered. My focus was on the door. My focus was on the shadows. My focus was on those footsteps. They had came for me, once more.
