NATCHEZ — Natchez police found every child’s fear Thursday — someone hiding under a bed.

Natchez police officers responded Thursday to a house alarm in the 200 block of Oakland Drive, Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong said.

A pink bicycle was sitting on the front lawn, he said, and the front door was open.  Inside, Armstrong said, the officers heard footsteps.

After knocking on the screen door, which was closed, Armstrong said the officers began searching the house.

When they reached the master bedroom, officers noticed someone hiding beneath the bed, he said.

“Officers ordered her to get out from under the bed with her hands up, and she complied,” Armstrong said.

Officers said Lacye Michelle Starling crawled out from under the bed and told them she had been riding by on her bicycle when she got thirsty, Armstrong said.

“She told them she got thirsty and went inside to see if she could find some Powerade,” he said. “She said she was bicycling to lose weight and promised not to ride her bicycle anymore, but of course that wasn’t the problem.”

Starling lives just a block from the house in which officers found her.

The alarm system in the house has a microphone and speaker, and Armstrong said the alarm company representative also heard movement inside the house and asked if anyone was inside.

“She gave them her name and told them the same thing, that she was thirsty,” Armstrong said.

Officers arrested Starling, no age provided, 300 Oakland Drive, on a charge of burglary of a dwelling. She was in the Adams County Jail with no bond set as of Thursday evening.