One night a middle aged man, Seth, got out of bed to go get a glass of water.  As he was walking past his front door he heard a pounding on his door like someone was knocking on it.  He was a little sleepy and blew it off like nothing ever happened.  As he walked past the door again with his glass of water he heard the pounding again.  He got scared and dropped his glass of water.  The glass shattered into pieces all over the hardwood floor.  When he went and opened his front door nobody was there. Confused, he went back into his house, picked up the mess on the floor and went to bed believing that he had just imagined the noise and made a mess for no reason.
There was nothing really special about his morning.  He did the usual, got up at 7:00 am, took a shower, made himself breakfast, watched television for a little and then left his house at 8:30 am.  Something was different about today, he said, closing his front door.  He looked down and saw that there had been mud tracked across his porch and remembered what had happened the night before.  He didn’t know whether or not he had imagined the noise from last night or someone had made it.  Confused he left the mess on his porch and went to work.  All he could think about that whole day was whether or not he had imagined the pounding on the door.
When he returned home he noticed that the mud that had been on his porch before had been cleaned up.  He wondered if someone had come and cleaned up the mud but he was mostly thinking about why someone would clean it up for him and who it was.  As he went to open his door he noticed a piece of paper taped to his door.  It read “Person Missing,” and had a picture of a blonde 9-year old boy on it.  He took the paper, ripped it off the door, and went inside his home.  He crumpled up the paper and nonchalantly threw it in the trash.  He then changed out of his work clothes and started watching the television.  In the middle of watching the daily news he heard pounding on the door again.
“What do you want?!” He said while opening the door.
He then noticed that the people knocking on his door were two cops.
“We would like to ask you some questions sir.” said the cop standing in front of him.
“Oh sure,” Seth said in embarrassment.
“I’m sorry I thought you were someone else.”
“So where were you from the time of 11:00 – 12:00 pm last night?” the cop asked.
“I was here sleeping.  Why what’s going on?” Seth replied.
“Do you have anyone that could testify for you being here?” asked the cop.
“No, I live here alone. Why is this happening, I didn’t do anything against the law,” replied Seth nervously.
“You have done nothing wrong, sir.  There was a blonde 9 year old boy who hasn’t come home since yesterday and he was last spotted in the general area.  We have been going door to door all day asking questions,” the cop replied.
“Oh thank God.  That’s not what I meant I was just happy I’m not in trouble.  I feel sorry about the kid though,” Seth said relieved.
“Well if you notice anything out of the regular or see this kid please notify the authorities ASAP” said the cop.
The Cops got up and left his house.
Seth felt relieved and then sat in front of the television contemplating what had just happened.  He then recalled last night and realized that the pounding on the door may have been the boy that they all were looking for.  An extreme amount of guilt overcame him.  He got up in a frenzy and ran to his door.  He opened the front door thinking that he could tell the cops about what had happened the night before.  When he opened the door and looked outside the cops were nowhere to be found.  He went back inside telling himself that he would tell the cops tomorrow morning.  He sat down on the couch and started thinking that if he had answered his door sooner he could have helped the kid get home.  This thought ate at him for the next hour.  He had become so engulfed in guilt that if the kid were to be found dead he felt it would have been his fault.  He decided that tomorrow he would spend the whole day looking for the young boy in the woods.
He had a dream that night about what had happened the night before with the pounding on the door.  This time when he opened the door the boy was standing there.  He had cuts all over his body like he was attacked by 1,000 knifes.  He was covered head to toe in blood.  But worst of all he looked so pale and sad.  When the boy looked at Seth he filled with joy and had the most beautiful smile Seth had ever seen.  Seth then woke up from his dream in a panic.
Seth got dressed and ran out of his house toward the woods.  The woods were pitch black and an endless darkness.  He thought to himself that he had to find the young boy and return him to his family and if the boy would never be found it would be all his fault.  He had the opportunity to help the boy and he didn’t, it was all his fault.  He frantically ran across the forest floor. He tripped over fallen trees and rocks. Never stopping to take a break but only looking forward, only moving forward.  The boy was the only thing in his mind all he could think about was the smile on the boy’s face when he opened the door in his dream.
After about an hour of running through the forest he tripped over a stump and couldn’t get up.  His body was aching and he was out of breath.  He just lay there face first into the ground, telling himself that he would find the boy and return him home.  As he lifted his face and opened his eyes he saw a body lying in front of him.  He was encased in fear pushing himself away from the body leaning against a base of a tree.  He didn’t want to see the face of the body because he didn’t want it to be the boy.  His body moved on its own moving toward the body.  With every move toward the body the suspense built inside him.  He got to the body and turned it over so he could see the face.  It was the boy, he was engulfed in guilt and stated to cry.  He just laid there with the boy in his hands.
“This is all your fault, you could have helped him when he needed you the most. This is all your fault. This is all your fault!” he said to himself