Urban Myth by James Raven

was the obvious question and it hadn’t even occurred to me. But now that I thought about it I distinctly remembered switching the TV off along with the lights.
    ‘I’m sure,’ I said.
    ‘So maybe it switched itself on again. Could be on a timer or something . Like an alarm.’
    I didn’t think so, but of course I couldn’t be certain. There was only one way to find out and that was by going downstairs. I threw back the duvet and flung my feet onto the floor. Nicole squeezed my arm and said, ‘What are you doing?’
    ‘I have to check it out.’
    ‘But what if they’re burglars? They might be armed.’
    ‘Burglars wouldn’t make such a racket. Besides, we can’t ignore it and go back to sleep.’
    ‘Oh, Jack, I don’t like it. I’m scared.’
    ‘Don’t be. I won’t let anything happen to you or the kids.’
    ‘Shall I switch on the light?’
    ‘Best leave it off for now. I can just about see.’
    I managed to quickly pull on my jeans which I’d dropped over the chair next to the bed.
    I could still hear the oddly muted voices as I tiptoed across the room to the door. They seemed to fluctuate from a murmur to a whisper. I gripped the handle in a sweat-soaked hand and eased the door open as quietly as possible. The voices at once became slightly louder and I felt a jolt of fear, a shot of adrenaline, as I stepped out onto the landing.
    I was pretty sure the voices belonged to at least two people. I couldn’t tell if the speakers were male or female. In fact even as I shuffled along the landing to the stairs I still couldn’t decipher what was being said. They were talking quietly and maybe even in a foreign language.
    I stood at the top of the stairs and looked down into the darkness below. I felt vulnerable suddenly and realized that I should have armed myself with a weapon of some kind, not that there was likely tobe anything I could use in any of the bedrooms. So maybe the only thing I had going for me was the element of surprise. Perhaps that would be enough to scare the intruders into fleeing from the house.
    I wasn’t sure what to do next but I knew that I had to do something. Waiting for whoever was downstairs to come up and confront us was not an option. My heart was thumping loudly in my ears and sinuses, almost drowning out the sound of the voices. I came to a decision: I would switch on the light, then rush downstairs and try to make it into the kitchen before they realized what was happening. There I would grab a knife and do whatever was necessary to protect my family.
    I knew roughly where the light switch was so I groped for it. My heart clenched as I flicked it on and braced myself for action. But nothing happened. The lights failed to come on. The bastards must have switched the electricity off at the mains.
    Just then I heard a floorboard creak behind me and I almost jumped out of my skin.
    ‘It’s only me,’ Nicole whispered nervously. ‘Are you all right?’
    I momentarily lost the power of speech so I couldn’t respond. My chest started to hurt. It was tight and hot and I couldn’t catch my breath.
    ‘Take this,’ she said. ‘They’re my scissors.’
    She thrust them into my hand and I experienced a tremendous sense of relief that I now had a weapon. They were large hair-dressing scissors that Nicole always kept in her toiletry bag. They gave me the confidence to press ahead even though I didn’t know what to expect. The intruders must have known by now that they had woken us. They were probably watching me from the shadows, waiting to pounce as soon as I ventured down. But what choice did I have? Our phones were down there and so too was our only means of escape.
    A rush of anger propelled me forward down the stairs. I had to tread carefully because even though my eyes had adjusted to the dark I still couldn’t see that far ahead.
    Fear gave me courage. I held the scissors out in front of me and started shouting in the hope that it would spook our unwanted