The fireplace crackled and sparked around the Kim family, who snuggled around it, the cold air outside forced the family of five to sit closer together than normal. However, the loving family had no issue leaning on one another while their favorite movie Home Alone played. It was the perfect film for this time of year.  Chris, the youngest child, was cuddled up next to his father’s lap as his two sisters took their places on both sides of their mother. 

The family quoted each line before the scenes appeared on the screen. While the tarantula crawled across Kevin’s forehead, the middle child, Christine, got up to get something to drink. 

“Get me some water, too,” said Chris, calling from his dad’s lap.

Turning her head to look at her brother, she missed a small patch of water that was hiding on the floor, causing her to slip and fall on her backside. Christine made a loud thud when her body struck the floor. The family gasped in surprise, “I told you to stop bringing water into the living room a thousand times!”

“Are you OK?” she asked, heading towards him. 

Once Christine started laughing at her own clumsiness, the family chimed in on the laughter. 

All this unfolded in front of the man standing outside wrapped up in his clothes, leaning against the family’s old Oak Tree. His black eyes peered into the family’s living room window. His old callused hands were warm inside his old leather jacket, and he cackled as insidious thoughts filled his head.

Chris rubbed his eyes yawning and silently whispered to his dad, “I’m ready to go to bed.” The movie was slowly wrapping up and the rest of the family began heading to their rooms too. The man out front was no longer standing in front of the old Oak Tree -- He had made his way to the front porch. While the family had the last of their conversations before going to sleep, the chatter covered up the noise of the front door slowly opening, which allowed the man to stealthily enter the house. 

He entered the house and strolled to the fridge. Opening the door quietly, he took a sip right out of the milk container before chugging the rest, spilling a portion of it onto his beard but made no attempt to wipe it away. After closing the door, he headed to the living room where he sat down in the couch, still warm from where the family was sitting, and peered around. 

The man relaxedly put his hands behind his head and casually crossed his feet in front of him. He calmly waited while listening to the family wishing each other a good night. When the house finally fell silent, he made his ascent up the stairs where the family slept peacefully. The wooden stairs made slight creaking sounds, as his worn out boots pressed against each one. 

As the man looked down the dark hallway, he entered the second room to the right, the only open door. Walking into Chris’s room, he misplaced his foot, cracking open one of the boy’s lego pieces. A dull crack squeaked out from under his boot. It wasn’t loud, but even the quietest of sounds in a sleeping house was just loud enough to awaken the boy amid his deep dream. 

Rubbing his eyes, Chris slowly sat up, giving sight of the two half pieces of his largest lego figure. One leg after the other, Chris now stood up and scoured around to look for the culprit. After searching behind his rocker, the restroom, and his closet, he concluded that it must have been his annoying sister. Taking one last careful look around his room, Chris fell right back down and within seconds was fast asleep.

Hidden in the closet, the man gave a slight chuckle. His perfection of hiding inside peoples’ clothes in plain sight appealed to him. Once again, after making sure that the boy was surely asleep, the man went out into the hallway to….

The boy, unaware of the man who was now behind the door of the mirrored closet, began crying for his dad. His dad rushed into the room to see what was going on, only to see that it was a false alarm. The boy began telling his dad that there was a monster in a room, but his father only replied, “Chris, It’s Ok, monsters aren’t real and I will always protect you.” The father once again tucked Chris in and kissed him good night.

 Chris shut his eyes and the mirrored door opened.