It was very dark, both inside and outside the house, and I was thinking I may get ready for bed soon. Suddenly, I heard a car alarm going off outside and I went to the window to look and see if it was mine... it was.

I grabbed my keys off the counter and returned to the window to turn off the alarm when my car roared out of the driveway out down the street... it had been stolen.

I was really pissed off and I ran back to the kitchen counter, where my keys had been, and grabbed my cell phone and butterfly knife... the only weapon I had in the house to defend myself. I had the feeling there was someone else in the house. I flipped open the butterfly knife and cautiously walked to the front door. It was so dark, but I could still see pretty well.

Out the door, I could see a police car parked along the road. The police woman had been speaking to a person in the car behind her, perhaps giving a ticket [though there didn't seem to be harsh feelings from their encounter], and was walking back to her car to leave. I ran out to the police car while I flipped the butterfly knife closed so she wouldn't think I was attacking her. She sat in the seat and closed the door as I approached the rolled-down passenger window. I leaned in a bit to tell her what was going on.

Me: "I need to report my car stolen!"
Lady Cop: "There's nothing we can do to find it."
Me: "But it was just stolen!"
Lady Cop: "Oh, just now?"
Me: "Yes! Not more than a couple minutes ago!"

I was yelling by this point, exhasperated that she was so unhelpful. She drove off, but I knew she wouldn't return, nor would she do anything about my stolen car.

I walked back into the house. My brother was in the kitchen and I told him what had just happened. I flipped out the butterfly knife again... I senced someone in the house and we started hunting room to room. I took out my cell phone to call 911 as we crept through the dark kitchen when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my brother holding something in his pocket... it looked very much like a gun.

I acted like I was on hold with the police department and walked next to him. As I got close enough, I grabbed his hand and got the gun away from him. It was a nice, black and silver .45 and, when I looked back at him, my brother was gone and it was one of the gang members who had stolen my car.

The cell phone disappeared from my hand and was replaced with my butterfly knife... which had turned into a small one-shot pistol. I held up the .45 in my left hand and leveled it at the guy in front of me as I backed around the corner towards the front door. I warned him to stay put but, betting I wouldn't fire at him, he took a step forward.

I fired a warning shot from the .45 into the air. "Stay there!"

He smiled and took another step. I yelled again, "I will use these!"

He took another step... still smiling.

"Fine." I had warned him. I fired the .45 at his leg and he went down screaming: "You shot me!!"

"I told you I'd use the gun. Did you think I didn't know how to use it?"

Suddenly, someone came running up the open front porch. I knew it was another gang member. I fired both guns at the new intruder... the single shot pistol going of repetively. The other guy went down fast and I turned the guns back on the first guy, who was just getting to his feet.

I held both guns level with his chest. "Not a move."

He wasn't listening anymore and stumbled forward. I fired at him, filling him with bullets... but he was still alive... laughing, talking, and yelling at me... all the while, he slowly walked towards me... mortally wounded, yet still able to walk. Everything about him screamed danger and I knew that, if he reached me, he would kill me... even though he was dying himself. I aimed for the head and shot multiple rounds... almost all were bullseyes, yet he still stumbled forward.

He took a step and fell to his knees... dying. He laughed and whispered: "I know your secret.... I can see you!"

...and I woke up.