There'd been some attempted break ins a couple of weeks before and the last one had almost been caught in the act and had even once left some their tools behind in a rush to avoid being seen.

My family were all out for the day enjoying the good weather, except me, I had my GCSEs next week and was cramming as much revision as possible.

The crapper is close to the back door and as I'm taking a shit, I hear a noise. At first it's a scraping that makes me worry that the rats from the derelict house down the street had began to widen their scavenging to nearby houses again, and made a silent note to myself to put the rat traps back down. But then I hear a thump at about level with the upper hinges on the back door.

Now I'm scared shitless and really not in a position to fight well if whoever's out there manages to break in, so I try to hide the fear in my voice and tell them to knock it off. Unfortunately it's hard for me to raise my voice at the best of times and as nervous as I am now, all I can manage is a hoarse whisper. So they likely don't hear me over the sound of whatever they're doing out there.

The toilet room is tiny, about as wide as your average shower cubicle, so I'm able to reach forward and open the door. Across from me, lying on the floor is my dad's claw hammer, 'cos he'd been fixing the washing line yesterday. I extend my leg enough to grab it with my foot and drag it towards me, then throw it at the back door as hard as I could.

THUMP!

A startled pause outside, now's my chance.

I try to sound threatening, but all I can come out with is a somewhat wavering "Fuck off!"

I don't know if they heard me this time, or the thump spooked them too much, but the sound of them legging it back out of the garden, told me they were gone for now.