SARIEL'S EYES FLUTTERED OPEN. Another dream, he thought. He crossed his arms over his face, drinking in the stagnant smell of his bedsheets.

"It's been seventeen years," he murmured under his breath. That was the farthest his clear memory stretched. Before that, everything was a blur.

Weakly, Sariel crawled to the end of his bed, pins and needles ripping through the area between his shoulder blades. He wriggled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension in his back. He felt the distinct sensation that something was missing. He shook his head. What was he thinking?

His stomach twisted, and Sariel was painfully aware of how little he'd eaten. He knew that massaging his temples wouldn't relieve his headache.

Sariel's legs wobbled as he made his way into the kitchen, shuffling through the cabinets for anything bland but filling. He hadn't gone out shopping for weeks, and everything he owned lurched dangerously close to its expiration date. He settled for a stale box of cereal.

Stumbling into the hallway, he paused, chills suddenly darting down his spine. The back of his neck burned, like something was watching him. He twisted his head to watch the window- outside, a haze had settled over the landscape, but no one was there.

I'm just being paranoid, he thought, gritting his teeth.

Sariel settled on his bed, tugging at the collar of his dirty shirt to give him some air. Any trace of hunger he had felt was replaced with nausea.

Crash!

Sariel gasped, his head jerking up in alert. It sounded so close, so real.

Someone was in the house.

Sariel dug his nails into the side of his bed, heart pounding in his chest. Was it really real? Or was this all in his head?

He heard heavy footsteps, footsteps no human could produce. Surely it was just a hallucination.

Another crash. Sariel wrapped his hands over his ears, trying to drown out the noise. He eyed his cellphone on the nightstand. Should he call the police? No, he couldn't stand the embarrassment of a false alarm. He especially didn't want to spend the rest of the night in a psych ward.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted a dark figure passing through the hallway. He tucked his head between his knees, hoping it would pass.

Whatever it is, Sariel told himself, it's not real.