It was 3am on the 25th October and my room was dark, silent and still. However, I could see that there was a person standing at the foot of my bed. He or she was wearing a clown costume and I was pretty sure, from the glare and the small amount of reflection, that it had a knife in one hand and a baby in the other.  Its reversed malicious smile sickened me. 

 The clowns face was rouge coloured and it had white, only around the eyes. It had a bright red nose and red teardrops underneath its eyes, which to me, looked like blood drops. It looked about 6’2 in height and was quite muscular. The clowns costume was primarily black and white, with splatters of red spread from head to toe.  I was certain I could see venom in its eyes. 

 Its height threatened me, I am only 18 years old and 5’3 in height so I could tell that I would not stand a chance, so despite how much I wanted to scream and shout, I did not protest. I continued to pretend I was asleep. The clown proceeded to stand at the foot of my bed, having not spoken nor moved. I was terrified but couldn't display my fear as I didn't know what could happen.  I didn’t know why this was happening, why me? I tried to replay the last few years in my head to try and figure out whether I had hurt anybody enough for them to want to do this, but I could not think of anything...

 Three days earlier, October 22nd   … I was sitting in my front room at home, listening to some music on the TV and suddenly I had a call off my friend Amy, telling me that I needed to put the news channel on, so I put the phone down and did what she told me to do. I was shocked at what I heard. There were reports of clowns being spotted in our hometown, carrying weapons! The news reporter stated that the police are aware of this but unfortunately, haven't been able to find any of the weapon holding clowns yet but are still on the lookout. The police urged everybody to stay safe and stay indoor with all doors and windows locked. I was confused, frightened and apprehensive; I felt my stomach churn, multiple times. It was nearly Halloween, which made this whole situation, that little bit scarier (even though I don’t think it could have been anymore scary). I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I resulted in reading books, listening to music and ensuring the house was all locked up. I lived on my own in in a small area, near the town Centre so I didn’t have any family with me, and because of how far away they lived from me, it would have been almost pointless asking them to come and stay with me. I also didn’t want to potentially put them at risk. However, I did phone my parents and let them know about what was happening and despite how nervous they were for me, they told me they were unable to come to me but made me promise that I would keep them posted. I then phoned Amy back and told her I knew what was going on, Amy confided in me and explained how scared she was, of course I was feeling the exact same, but I decided to pretend I was okay, so I could try and calm Amy down.  We were both terrified and didn't know what was going to happen. We hoped we would never have to see them and that when Halloween passes, so would the clown craze.

 Early hours on October 23rd, there were more reports of clowns being spotted in the area, but some were being seen with axes, knives and machetes. This terrified and panicked me. I carried on doing what I was advised to do and stayed indoors. I called Amy often, to make sure she was okay and kept in touch with my parents to ensure they weren’t too frightened. I continued reading several books whilst having my headphones on and listening to some music. Suddenly I heard a BANG! I paused and couldn’t physically move, I listened out to see if I could hear anything else and couldn’t. Eventually, when I had the courage to stand up, I slowly and cautiously walked downstairs… I could not see anyone or anything, nor could I hear anything or anyone. I walked around the whole of my downstairs, viewing everywhere to try to understand what the bang I heard was. I finally noticed something out of the ordinary and it was in my front room. My photos that were on top of my fireplace were now on the floor. Yet no windows or doors had been open. What could have caused this? I worriedly picked the photos up and went into the kitchen and placed them on my kitchen counter. I walked back upstairs and as soon as I got to my bedroom… CRASH! By this time, I was confused and very, very scared. I yet again, plucked the courage up to walk back downstairs. I paced around, and I reached the kitchen, where I found my photos on the floor smashed! So, I took them with me upstairs this time. What was going on? I didn’t understand at all. I wished this would all go away, that this had never happened and that I could just go and see my parents and Amy.

 Later that day, I tried to get some sleep, so I curled up in bed and put my music on. Just as I had drifted off, I heard a big gust of wind and felt a sudden draft. I know I locked all my windows and all my doors so where would this wind be coming from? I checked upstairs and like I had thought, everywhere was locked and secure. I walked downstairs for the third time, and the first thing I noticed was that my front room window was wide open. I walked over to the opened window, had a sneak look out of it and couldn’t see anything apart from unlit houses and street lights which weren’t turned on. I slammed the window shut and locked it again. I again, walked back upstairs and despite how worried I was, I tried to get back to sleep. I woke up about two hours after I had fell asleep and felt a little better. I thought I had ought to check the house, due to recent events. I walked around every room upstairs, and nothing had changed, and nothing seemed odd. All the windows and doors were still locked, nothing seemed to have been touched. I ran downstairs to check there. First, I checked the front room and thankfully, everything was the way I had left it. Yet, when I reached the kitchen that was a whole different story… Most of the drawers were open, the cupboards too. The photos were weirdly back on the kitchen counter, I mean how did I not realize that they were not still in my room? I shut all the drawers and cupboards. I grabbed the photos, I took them upstairs and went to bed.

 Before going to sleep, I called Amy, hoping she was still awake. Amy was awake, so I explained to her about all of the weird things that kept happening, here at my house. She was surprised at what I told her, but not because of why you would think. Amy was surprised because near enough everything that happened to me, happened to Amy too. How could this be? We had both never been more confused about anything, ever. Amy told me she was hearing noises, went downstairs and saw all the kitchen drawers and cupboards had been opened. Amy also described to me, about her photo frame (without a photograph in) had been, by the look of it, threw right across the room. Amy and I were both very bewildered! We did not understand what on earth was going on. We chatted on the phone for another hour or two, mainly about everything that was going on, but also about life in general. We were on the phone for a good few hours before I eventually told her I had to go and try to get some sleep. I said goodnight to Amy, told her how much she means to me and I went to sleep…

I awoke on October 24th about 09:15am to a strange noise. I could not describe the noise as it was so peculiar and spooky, but it was so loud, it managed to wake me up. I didn’t know what it was or what it could have been, but I tried not to let it bother me too much. Until, the noise kept reoccurring. This time, it did bother me. So, I followed the noise and this time it was leading me to the spare room I had in my house. When I got to the spare room door, I hesitated for a couple of minutes, I came to a standstill and froze, unable to move. I couldn’t physically lift my arm up to open the door, I was so scared at what I could have found.  After roughly 10 minutes, I somehow managed to slowly but surely open the door to my spare room. What I saw, was dreadful. There was a baby, a baby screaming. That was the noise I heard, a baby crying. Whose baby was this? Where did this baby come from? I didn’t know what to do.

The baby boy was beautiful, had sparkling, bright blue eyes. He had a blue blanket wrapped around him. I would have said he was about 6 months old at the most. He was a small baby and would not stop screaming. I tried to think about whose baby this could be and could not get anywhere. I didn’t know anybody who had a baby, I didn’t even know anybody who was pregnant. I have never been around children as I am an only child, have no cousins and was home schooled my whole life so haven’t had much interaction.

 I didn’t know where to start with a baby. When will he need feeding? How will I feed him? I picked the baby boy up and cuddled him tightly to try to prevent him from screaming, and after some time, my tactics worked. He was fast asleep. Soundless. I took the baby into my bedroom and placed him on my bed, so he was comfy whilst sleeping. I carefully moved the blanket and saw a necklace around him, with a dog tag, which read;

  “You best look after him, or you WILL suffer.”

 This was horrific, and it terrified me.

 At about 12:00pm, the baby was thankfully still sound asleep, and I was still scared. Nothing had changed. I still didn’t know what to do with him, but after reading his tag, I had decided I had to do something. I called Amy to ask her what I should do. She gave me a daily routine for looking after the baby and she helped me with day-to-day things. Gratefully, the baby mostly slept most of the day and didn’t need anything apart from feeding every few hours. My head felt like it was going to explode, I was still trying to think about whose baby this could have been. I thought and thought and thought but could not think of anybody this baby could have belonged to. So, this was my job now, at least for now. I had to look after this baby, as best I could possibly do.

 Later that day, the baby woke up and started crying hysterically. I fed him and then he went straight back to sleep. As soon as the baby dropped off to a deep sleep, I went downstairs to attempt to watch some TV for at least half an hour. I switched the television on and started watching a film. I must have fallen asleep… Because I woke up and the film had already finished. I suddenly panicked and went to check on the baby. He wasn’t there! Where could he have gone? There was nobody in the house, so I thought. No windows or doors open, no way of the baby getting out of here. I sat on my bed for a moment and underneath my pillow, was a hand-written note. This note was written in red pen and said;

  “You didn’t pass the test, watch your back… Katie.”

With the baby now gone and having read the note I was left, I was petrified. How did whoever write that note, know my name? That’s when I realized… Whoever is doing all of this to me must be somebody I know or somebody I used to know. I called Amy again and told her that the baby had miraculously disappeared. I was not ready for what Amy then went on to tell me. The baby was now at her house. Amy was doing the washing up and when she went to her room, there was the baby. Lying on her bed. I started feeling tears fall from my eyes, I was so terrified about all of this. What will happen next? The only difference with the baby coming to my house, and the baby going to Amy’s house was that Amy didn’t get a note, or just hasn’t found it yet.

 I then phoned my mother and father and filled them in on everything. I told them about the baby turning up, the noises, the baby suddenly (somehow) leaving. They were very shocked and didn’t understand what was going on. They were frightened for me and wanted to know everything, so I explained everything, every detail. Whilst I was on the phone to my parents, I heard a colossal bang come from the spare room, again. I asked my mother and father to stay on the phone to me while I went to investigate the sound. I slowly, edged towards my spare room, sweat dripping. I carefully opened the door and suddenly became speechless. I saw what I hoped not to see again, the baby! He had returned. Why was this happening?

Seeing the baby boy again, came as a shock, I really didn’t expect this. Not again. This time, there didn’t seem to be a note, not that I had saw anyway. The baby was in a moss’s basket, sleeping. I took the moss’s basket and I took it to my room, with me. That way, I could keep an eye on this baby and make sure nothing out of the ordinary could happen.

I was scared, terrified in fact. I had no idea what I had done so wrong to have to deal with this horrific experience. Sweat was dripping from head to toe. I was constantly trying to think about any vendettas people may have, about me. Could I think of anything? No. I didn’t understand, at all and I didn’t have a clue what to do. There was a baby who kept appearing, constant noises and spooky things happening around the house. I wish I knew, I wish I knew why this was happening, why it was happening to me… I just couldn’t get my head around it, despite how much effort I put into trying to. The fear in me, felt like it was going to jump out of my body, felt like I couldn’t handle it anymore. But I knew that I needed to be brave and face any upcoming events. I was suspicious, I mean what could possibly come next? I didn’t think that anything else could happen, surely whoever is doing this, had used all their tricks? Surely, they are now fed up of terrorising me and attempting to ruin my life? I was extremely petrified, and I didn’t know if I would have been able to handle anything else thrown in my direction. I hated all of this and I don’t think I will ever completely know why it was happening, why somebody was getting a kick out of terrifying me, but I do hope that I, one day, find out. This was the scariest situation I have ever horribly been in. I wish I could just click my fingers and run away, that way, I wouldn’t have to put up with any of this and would not have to sit in my own home, trembling.

Whilst still in my room, with the mysterious baby, I heard something, something very strange. It wasn’t a cry, a bang or even a smash. It was whispers. I couldn’t hear what whoever it was, was saying but I could make out that it was somebody whispering. I wanted to go and investigate but I was even more anxious than before, there could have been someone in my house. How would they have even got in? I kept asking myself numerous questions and didn’t get anywhere, I had no answers. I didn’t think anywhere was unlocked and I thought I had checked at least 5 times, I did check at least 5 times. I staggered to my bedroom door to see if I could hear any better from there…

I couldn’t. Even though I could still hear whispers, I could not figure out one word of what it, he or she was saying. It begun stressing me out as no matter how much I just wanted to go and find out what was going on, everything in me was telling me not to do it. Was it a sign? I hid the sleeping baby and moss’s basket in my bedroom, behind my dressing table. I then gave myself a couple of minutes to pluck the courage up to go and find out. Eventually, when I thought I was ready to do it, I slowly crept downstairs as that where I was certain the whispers were coming from.

I got downstairs and saw nothing, heard nothing. I took a walk around downstairs as I knew there must have been something I missed. No, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nobody was to be seen and even the whispers had disappeared. I walked back upstairs as it was now getting late, I thought it was time for bed. Silly me! I got back to my bedroom and to my surprise, the baby, yet again, was equally nowhere to be found. The baby boy had miraculously fled. How was this baby getting in and out of my house? It felt impossible. The amount of times I had checked that everywhere was locked and secure, I thought it would be unachievable to get into my house, let alone in and out. I checked all the rooms upstairs, to see if anybody was there. The baby wasn’t, and neither was anyone else.

It was now 21:00 and was getting late, I was shattered, so I went to bed…