SILENCE IS GOLDEN I always hated staying home alone. Any sound would make me jump out of my skin and run for cover, the only thing that helped was noise. I remember I was home alone one night in the summer. Every one was gone (even my loveable dog who I had always had trouble getting rid of) and they had left me all alone with a TV dinner and an empty house. When I heard a squeak on the stairs I jumped and started vacuming my room in order to drain out any other sound. After five minutes I was bored and my floor clean, so I picked up a book and started to read. It was dead silent except for the ocasional flip of a page. When I heard another floor board creak I got nervous and started reading out loud. I was reading when I heard a noise I couldn't cover up, it was another floorboard and even closer to the room I was in now. I started reading louder and louder but I nearly choked on my breath when the door to the room sqeaked opened a tiny bit. My heart nearly stopped but I kept on reading, now staring down at the page before me concentrating on the words not daring to look elsewhere. All of a sudden the light flickered making me look up. There was noone in the room but when I looked at the vaccum I could see my reflection in it and as I stared back at myself with relief I saw something else. Right above the reflection of me there was a small girl's face. I instantly looked up, but there was nothing above me. I looked back at the vaccum and all I could see was the reflection of myself sitting against the wall nearly having a heart attack. This was all too much for me, I turned out the light and ran to my bed. I hopped under the covers and pretended to be asleep. I rolled over on my side so I was facing the door and there stood a sight that made my night a whole lot worse. Floating in the middle of my room was a doll with its eyes fixed on mine. I shut my eyes and opened them hoping the doll would be gone but no, it was still there staring at me. It made me shudder, her cold glassy eyes not blinking at all. I lay there for a second having a staring contest with a doll when I sundenly snapped and shouted "Get out of my room now!". I then rolled over and tried to pretend to be sleeping. I guess I was trying so hard that I fell asleep. In the moring I was the only one in my room. There were no children or their dolls, just me. I have never seen anything like that before, or maybe ever again. All I can do is wait and be silent. Submitted From: Becca Miller, Minnesota, USA