Glass smashed.

The sound broke the silence like a gong, i quickly glanced at my clock - 3:00 AM - before moving through my room at a crouch.

Despite years of training in the force, the anxiety of catching an intruder had never escaped me. My heart thumped rapidly in my chest and forced me to lean in just to hear. A sudden creak or breath would give my position away, the same for my intruder.

The bottom step creaked as it supported the weight of something heavy. I paused, standing straight back against the wall as I peeked through a crack in the bedroom door.

The room, blanketed in darkness gave me no hint of who they were. Heavy breathing echoed as the next set of steps creaked in unison, it was a male, I was sure of it.

He paused, the outline of his big shadow clear in the moonlight, he was atleast 6'2 and had 100lbs on me. I'd have to catch him by surprise or trick him , there was just no way I'd win head to head.

Get him to believe I'm a house wife and then grab his balls and pull down - hard - ripping something would be the easiest way to end him.

The man looked in both directions, and went the opposite way. Catch him by surprise it is.

I exhaled, my lungs burned longing for air. The door swung silently, my shadow growing across the hallway. The cold floor slid smoothly under each foot, the further I went the more cautious my movement.

I wrinkled my nostrils at the stink, a smell of mud and body odor filled the adjacent doorway. With both feet firmly on the ground, i counted down in my mind... "3... 2... 1..."

I leaped.

The back of the cloak fit snugly into my hand.

I ripped, hard.

The cloak came easily off the hanger, flying across the ground. The man nowhere to be seen.

I spun. Too late.

My face was smashed with something solid and I crumpled.

Shards of wood danced around me. I noticed the green sticker of an old cricket bat and a bearded man frowning from above, and then darkness.