My Son Kept Saying Someone Was Watching Him at Night – So I Installed a Camera

My stomach tightened. “Feel what?”

“That someone stood in my room when the lights were off.”

The words came back to me later, over and over, because of how certain he sounded. Not confused. Not dreamy. Certain.

I checked everything.

Closet. Under the bed. Windows locked. Doors secured.

Nothing.

I even made a show of it the second night, moving carefully so he could see me being thorough. I opened the closet wide enough to show him the hanging shirts swaying slightly from my hand.

I got down on my knees and looked under the bed, where I found two missing socks, a comic book, and a stale cracker. I checked the window latch twice. I tested the bedroom door and the back door. Everything was exactly as it should be.

Still, Sam slept with his fists clenched under his chin.

I even tried sleeping in his room one night.

Nothing happened.

I lay awake on a spare pillow beside his bed, listening to the old hum of the air conditioner and the occasional groan of the house settling.

Every sound seemed louder because I was waiting for something to explain his fear. But the night passed quietly. No footsteps. No whisper of a door. No strange movement in the dark.

In the morning, I expected him to be relieved.