Towards the end of the summer, I spent a long weekend house/dog/cat sitting for my parents in New Jersey. It was a pretty sweet gig because they have a pool, a hot tub, HBO and seven very snuggly animal friends. Also they give me money.
Luke came down for the first two days, but as I drove him to the train station on Sunday night I realized that this would be the first time I had spent the night in this house entirely alone. I’ve housesat there before but usually my younger brother was home. Now, I should mention that I’m not typically scared of being home by myself, I do it in my apartment all the time. But my parents’ house is in the woods. It’s not super isolated but it does get very dark and just a wee bit creepy at night.
A few hours later I let the dogs out for the last time for the night before heading upstairs with the animals to get ready for bed. I turned on the shower and as I was waiting for the water to warm up I realized I couldn’t remember if I had locked the back door after I let the dogs in. I scampered downstairs to check. When I got there I discovered that not only had I neglected to lock the back door, but also the garage door and the front door. I quickly remedied this and hurried back upstairs before I wasted too much shower water.
As I got stepped into the shower I had another thought, “The killer was already inside the house… This is how I die!”
Fortunately, I didn’t get murdered but it was probably among the top 10 fastest showers of my lifetime. Really I was never in any danger though, not with these brave champions guarding the bedroom.
Actually, they were asleep the whole time. If there had been an actual intruder one would have hid and the other would have probably requested snuggles instead of barking to warn me.
Corinne for the Win 
I’m surprised Dawn and Tucker are on the bed together. Usually when there are cats in the room, Tucker the Brave hides under the bed.