A Halloween Scare

It's October 31, 2007, and I am five years old. Back on Halloween of 2007, my only worry was getting the perfect costume and scoring my favorite candy. This year, I was trick or treating with my sisters Maeve and Julia. With me in my dog costume, Maeve in her fairy costume, and Julia in her witch costume, we hit our neighborhood and started trick or treating. That night was one of the best Halloween’s in my opinion. Little did I know what would be happening a few hours later.

“Grace? Wake up!”

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. Where was I? I was in a living room that I did not immediately recognize. The first thing I saw were the faces of two very concerned adults. The panic in their eyes said it all. After a few moments, those faces started to look more familiar. And soon enough, I figured it out; It was my neighbors, the Bails, and I was sitting in their living room. I had met the Bails a couple of times; They were an older couple with children that had moved out. I liked the Bails, but I was still confused as to why I was in their living room. I found myself observing my surroundings, and eventually my eyes scanned to the windows. It was pitch black outside.

Why am I here by myself at night? I thought to myself.

“Grace,” Mrs. Bail repeated my name again.

I woke up from my trance and realized that this was not a dream, but happening in real life.

“Sorry,” I said. “What happened?”

Mrs. Bail smiled, relieved at the fact that I seemed okay. Mr. Bail, however, still looked concerned.

“We think you sleep-walked over to our house. You knocked on the door and Mr. Bail and I were quite surprised to see you standing there! You looked like you were in a trance,” Mrs. Bail kindly explained.

Sleepwalking? At that point of my life, it had happened once or twice before, but nothing of this caliber. How is that even possible for a five year old to walk downstairs, out the door, across the street to my neighbor’s house, and knock on their door, all while being completely asleep?

When my parents received a call at midnight saying that their daughter had sleep-walked to their neighbors’ house, they were quite concerned. They rushed over as soon as they found out, and before I knew it, I was safely back home.

One lesson I learned from sleepwalking is that the people you can count on are not limited to only close friends and family; You can get support from unexpected places. I did not know my neighbors particularly well at the time, but I am so thankful that I could count on them for help, on a night where many things could have gone wrong. It was fortunate that they just so happened to be awake at the time, answered the door, and took me in with open arms. They called my parents, waited for them to arrive, and sent me home with a warm jacket. While this experience was scary, it allowed me to realize that I had a greater support system than I thought.