Simon

Ilive in a small suburb of San Francisco. We moved in with my grandmother, who had lived in the same place for almost two and a half decades. She had moved out and left us the place. My mother moved into my grandmother's room and my sister and I took the other.

Shortly after my mother started sleeping on the couch. My sister and I couldn't figure out why. When I asked she would tell me of her nightly visitor who would suffocate her while she was sleeping. When she would wake gasping for air she would see a shadowy figure hovering over her bed.

Being superstitious people we soon adopted an old tom cat, Simon, who avoided my mother's room at all costs. Since cats were once used to ward off evil spirits by the Egyptians.

One night while my mother was sleeping on the couch, the shadowy figure visited her again. Simon, who usually stayed out at night, jumped up on the couch, and hissed waking my mother up. The figure was not there when my mother opened her eyes.

Since that night forward Simon sleeps with my mother, watching her over the night. The figure has not been seen or felt since then.