 that? No, I must be imagining it. I mean, what the hell is that anyway? Having just finished washing my face before bed, I headed out of the bathroom and caught a glimpse of something out of place. About 10 or maybe 15 feet outside my back window was a thin shape that stood out from the colorful bed of flowers to its left and the two or three acres of woods behind it. At first my brain identified it as a shovel someone had dug into the ground and left upright. Yet there were a few problems with this that came to mind. The first was that my backyard was entirely gated and I'd never had problems with trespassers before due to the height of the fence and the remote location where my property sat. The second was that though there was not a soul or animal in sight my motion sensor light had been triggered near the odd object's location. If someone had snuck onto my property and dug the shovel into the ground they couldn't have done it just now. There would have been nowhere for them to run. And lastly it wasn't just a long piece of wood that resembled a shovel, not exactly at least. There was a black top hat that sat curiously at the very top of the wood. As I stared wide-eyed at the slant of the shovel-like object and the tilt of the black hat at the very top I felt a visceral urge to vomit. I barely managed to contain it. Have you ever spoken to a dog before and seen its head slightly tilt to the side in I assume an attempt to figure out just what the hell it is you're saying. That's the feeling I got as I peered out the window and that black hat seemed to stare back and then there was darkness as the outside motion sensor light turned off and the backyard was no longer in sight. Okay that's enough Don I said to myself remembering to breathe and turning back to the kitchen. Can you guess what happened next? No probably not unless you've encountered the same thing I did but then again I assume you wouldn't be able to read this if you had. As I turned my back to the darkness the motion sensor light came back on at that very second and I stopped breathing again. As I turned the object came into view again but this time it was a few feet closer and it was different instead of just the hat it wore something patchy and gray on its chest as well. Though it was almost certainly a dream I decided to call the police anyway but as I did I made another mistake I turned my back on the thing yet again reaching for the cell phone I heard the glass window shatter onto the floor I fell back against the wall immediately and turned to see the creature now inside my home standing in the circle of sharp debris this can't be happening I whispered to myself as I scanned the thing which was now only 20 or so feet away it wore a black top hat that tattered gray clothing and now two bone thin arms had seemed to sprout inside I dialed 911 and the last thing I remember was passing out later on I was able to hear a recording and my voice saying it's in the house I can't tell you much about what happened after because I don't really remember but I can tell you where I am now I call it the overlook but I'm sure it's real name something else probably some nice title that does its share to conceal just what type of lunatics it contains inside crazies like me you see I'm allowed to write one letter a week supervised of course and this time I've decided to share my life story with a lot of you well I suppose it's less my story than it's it is still here with me it watches me from the corner of my room it scurries up the walls and hangs from the ceiling it sometimes just stands there tilting its head towards me maybe it's deciding just when exactly to finish me off there's not much left for it to devour however seeing how I haven't slept in weeks and continue to lose my touch on what's left of my reality the doctors here weren't thrilled when I cut my eyelids off three or was it four days ago it was a hell of a mess but what else could I do they don't understand that every time I close my eyes it gets closer at least this way I bought myself some time at least this way you'll have some warning if he comes for you next I call him the stick man and if you see him don't look away