Tired after a night of gaming, I shut my computer, turned off my bedroom light, and went to draw the window shades.  As I did so, I noticed a figure standing, in the luminescence of a flickering streetlamp.  I was a little confused, it was, after all, 2 in the morning.  As I turned to my bed I saw his head tilt looking in my window.  Although something was wrong with the way he moved, I felt no shiver, nor menace as he faced towards me.  He looked down and pulled what looked like a cellphone out of his pocket.  I looked away, disinterested.

The next morning, I woke unreasonably early, and rubbed my eyes irritatedly.  It was my own personal curse, once I woke, I could not sleep, no matter how tired I felt.  Cursing under my breath, as 5:30 AM lit up when I powered up my macbook pro. I idly glanced out the window, as my favourite game loaded.  I met the eyes of the same stranger.  I shook my head in surprise.  He looked down at his phone and a minute later I heard a beeping from the corner of my room.  I opened my phone to find a message from private caller.
“Check your messages”
I sighed.  Truth be told, I was sick of my brother and his lame pranks.  I opened messages, and found 3 messages.  The first read “Check one.”  The second read “Check two”. The third read “Surprise”
I sighed.  Random nonsense.  I went outside, into the cold to get some firewood, and collect the chicken eggs, my chores.  My parents wanted to “get back to their roots” and embraced the burgeoning 'organic movement'.  Anyways, it made for good eggs in the morning and I didn’t have to work much, so I didn’t mind.  I opened the shed and grabbed three good sized pieces of wood.  I walked into the chicken coop and found the chickens all unbelievably quiet.  I found that strange, as they usually made an unreasonable ruckus in the morning.  I walked into the coop to find it completely empty.  I was surprised.  I shook my head and left, deciding to ask my parents if they had sold the chickens.  As I closed the door I noticed a ‘1’ scrawled on the door.  The message flashed into my mind.  “Check one.”
 

I walked back towards the house, fuming at my brother.  He seriously scared me this time, and I would give him his due.  I stomped up the stairs and as I opened my brothers door I saw a 2 on it.  I shook my head disgusted.  He wasn’t fooling anybody.  I opened his door and he was not in his bed.  Figuring he was just hiding, I checked his closet and everything.  He was nowhere to be seen.  I was beginning to worry.  I ran to my parents room to tell them.  I stopped midway in the hall.  A number three was on their door.  I only had one thought.  Please be there, please be there, please be there.  I opened their door and was met by nothing but the sound of my parents snoring.  I almost cried with relief.  This was just a prank by my brother, I was sure now.  I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun around.  There was nobody there.  I turned back to look at my parents once more before giving chase to my brother.  But they had disappeared, and as I stood there dumbfounded, there is was whisper in my ear, “Surprised?”