Aren't You
Glad You Didn't Turn on the Light?
I was in my dorm room watching television after a long day of finals.
My roommate Amber had decided that she was going to go to the library
to do a little studying for her final before going to bed. Lying there
I was starting to get a little nervous. Our floor in the dorms was not
usually this quiet. It almost seemed as if I was the only one there. I
suddenly remembered most people had already left town for Christmas
break. I wish we could have already left too. Amber's stupid final is
what kept us here. It was still unsettling to not hear anyone on our
floor. I decided to get up and check the hallway just to be safe. When
I opened the door, I saw nothing. I shut the door, and sat back down on
my bed. Dozing off, I turned off my television and lamp and decided to
go to bed.
I was suddenly woken up by a very large hand gripping my throat, and
another on my mouth. I could do nothing. I felt so powerless. A very
large man lay himself on top of me. I couldn't move under the weight of
his body. The door to my room was suddenly opened again. I feared
another man coming in to help this one. My roommate walked in. I could
tell it was her by her silhouette. I tried to scream, but the man's
hands kept me from making even the slightest noise. She grabbed her
books from her bed and turned around and walked out. I kept on
struggling but I was no match for the enormous man laying on me.
Eventually everything went black.
The roommate continues....
After class I decided to go to the library to study for my last final
of the semester. After going over a few of my notes I remembered that I
had left my book in my room. Walking back to my room, I remembered my
roommate telling me she was just going to stay in that night and sleep.
I decided that I could just open the door and grab my book off of my
bed without turning on the light in hopes of not waking her. I was a
little nervous when I was walking down the hallway to our room. It
seemed too quiet on our floor. It was never this quiet. I suddenly
remembered that most everyone on campus had already left for Christmas
break. My final was one of the last ones. I opened the door, grabbed my
book, and left without hearing a noise from my roommate. I must have
been pretty quiet.
Heading back to the library, I made a plan to study for about another
hour and then go back to the dorm for some rest. I finished up my
studying and headed back to the room. I was so ready to get some sleep.
Walking in a daze, I made it to our dorm without even paying attention
to where I was going. I finally got to our room and tried to open the
door. It was locked. I don't remember locking it when I left because I
didn't want to wake up my roommate. I just figured she woke up and
locked it. I could see light coming from under the door. She must be
awake, I thought. So instead of searching for my key I just knocked on
the door. There was no answer. I knocked again, but was still met with
no response. I finally just unlocked it and started in the door.
I was immediately horrified by what I saw. My roommate had been
strangled on the bed, her body twisted in many different ways.
Scrambling for my cell phone to call the police, I saw written on the
mirror: "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights." I turned
around to run out of the door when I saw a man standing in the doorway.
He shut the door, and turned off the lights.
Author's Notes: I used the story titled "Aren't You Glad You Didn't
Turn on the Lights?" In the original story there are not any details,
and it leaves a lot of room for imagination and detail much like all
urban legends. In this story I used a lot more detail than the last
story in my storybook. In this story it is a lot easier to use detail
and be able to scare the audience. Most college students can relate to
the characters in this story because of the location. Most have had a
time in their dorm when they felt uncomfortable, or scared. In the back
of their mind there was probably a story close to this one creating
this nervousness. In this story I showed the relationship between the
roommates by them both being nervous about how quiet it was on their
floor. They both brushed it off saying it was Christmas break. I
changed the end of the story from the original. In the original there
was not really any explanation of what happens after the roommate found
the other dead. I decided that adding the man standing in the doorway
was another unexpected turn. I couldn't add another roommate's story to
tell what happens to her. The audience is left to let their
imaginations make up the rest.