It was 2:30 a.m.

And a security alarm went off somewhere in the near area. Close enough so that I could hear it. I had no idea if it was from the main house to which the guest house is attached. if it was a car alarm. if it was from another house in the neighborhood. The alarm sounded four times during the course of an hour. And for that hour I thought I might be robbed or hurt or even killed. I know this sounds dramatic, but I had just woken up and didn't know what was going on. I stayed in bed, afraid to move, focusing my eyes on the door to the guest house, hoping to see some shadows or movement through the curtains. I strained my ears trying to hear footsteps or breaking glass or anything that might tell me what the heck was going on. I was also hoping to hear police sirens, but they never sounded. I realized that I didn't know the phone number for the police and was too scared to open up my laptop to look it up, thinking that if there was someone outside they would see the light from the screen and know that I was there. I tried to figure out how someone might break in and what I could do to stop or slow their attack. I tried to remember if all of the windows had bars on them, but was too scared to get up and actually check if they did. I remembered how safe everyone told me the area was, but also that the house had, prior to getting an electrified fence, been robbed. I thought about how weak the lock on the dock is. I wished either the boss' sister or stepfather had followed through on their offer to fix the additional lock on the door. I thought about calling the boss, who was not at home, but was the only person I could think to call to figure out what was going on. I felt stupid for not having the phone number to the house or the cell phone number of either the boss' mom or sister. Later, as I became more awake, I realized that the organization's office number was the same as the house; I decided that after the third time the alarm sounded, if it happened again I would call. I figured if I was awake because of the noise, everyone in the house would also be awake. So the alarm sounded for the fourth (and final time) and I called. I tried to keep my phone under the covers to dim the light of the screen, again thinking that it might let someone out there know that I was in here. J, the boss' mom, answered and calmed me down, explaining that the neighboring house's security system was broken and that the tenants were out of town, which meant ADT could not disarm the alarm until they received authorization from a family member. She also offered to let me sleep in the house - the boss was gone so I could sleep in his room. But once I learned that there was no security threat and heard how calm she sounded, I felt safe and fine to sleep where I was. It was a horrible way to spend an hour, thinking of all the worst things that could be lurking outside and feeling helpless to stop them. I went online briefly after talking to J to see if anyone was there to whom I could explain my situation. I just needed to get the craziness of the last hour out of my head. I say thank you to my lovely sister.