Below is one of Anthony's short stories called "The hallway was dark"

The hallway was dark and sounds from a distant room made my stomach tighten and my teeth clinch. I pressed pause on my X-box, took off my headset and turned to listen for it again.

As usual, my mother and I were home alone in our ranch-style house just outside of town. She had taken her sleeping pills to tame her emotions to get through another night. She hated sleeping alone.

My father was overseas protecting our freedom, and yet I did not feel free at the moment. The knocking noise at 2am had caused a rush of fear to tingle its way down my spine.

My body became tense as sounds of soft voices resonated in the distance, haunting our otherwise quiet house. Unintelligible at first, I clearly heard a female voice say my name.

I slowly stood to investigate, hands shaking from the eerie sounds of the distant whispers, and yet I struggled to find the courage to enter the dark hallway.

Taking a deep breath, I had hoped that I was just hearing things. It was late and I had been gaming for six hours without a break. It must have gotten to me.

But then I heard it again. A muffled laugh, or was it a cry? I couldn’t quite tell. Regardless, there was something down that hall and I was the only one who could investigate.

I pulled from my father’s strength. His courage and conviction to do whatever was needed had been embedded into my upbringing. He had told me that I was the man of the house before he had left, and to take care of my mom for him. I didn’t know if I could live up to that, but I wanted to make him proud.

Holding onto the door trim, I swallowed hard and moved into the hall. Stepping into the void, I worked my way toward the soft glowing light from our front room.

A stifled cackle caused my legs to lock into place. I had to force them to continue.

As I approached the end of the hall, I heard the front door hinges creak, followed by a mumble. Someone was in our house.

My breathing became heavy and the more I tried to control it, the louder it seamed to get. I froze with my back up against the end of the wall not knowing what to do. But as a loud thump hit the floor, and I instinctively stuck my head around the corner to see what it was.

Two uniformed men stood in the doorway. One was trying to console my mother after falling to her knees with grief, her hands holding back screams of emotions. The other man held onto my father’s uniform, folded ever so neatly.

I closed my eyes from the scene and pulled myself back into the hallway, stumbling toward my bedroom in disbelief.

The hallway was dark and sounds from a distant room made my stomach tighten and my teeth clinch.