Ch. 1 The Unexpected Guest

RING! RRRING!! RRRRRIING!!! RRRRRRRIIIINNG!!!! Pause... RING!

RRRING!! RRRRRIING!!! RRRRRRRIIIINNG!!!! Pause… Then it started up again, my alarm clock that is, the bane of my existence EVERY Saturday morning. I let it continue on for another five minutes or so, partially because I was too exhausted and lazy to reach out to stop it, and partly because my hands were numb from sleeping on them wrong. Also, admittedly, I was just hoping the damn thing would just time out already. Yeah, no such luck, so I rolled over and slammed it hard as I could muster given the circumstances in hopes that I hit the off button, not the snooze. Of course, yet again I was disappointed and after ten minutes it came back with a vengeance. This time not only did it sound louder due to the covers no longer being over my head after I rolled over the first time, but the universe decided to position it just right so that when I reached over the second time it catapulted right into my face. As my boss likes to say, “What a bloody freaking morning.”

Obviously after that I wasn’t very sleepy anymore. Just mad. So mad in fact that I snatched up the alarm clock and brought my shoulder back, hiking up my opposite knee like I still played baseball. Not so mad however, that I actually threw the damn thing, realizing at the last second how stupid this was and that at that moment I couldn’t afford another one if my life depended on it. While I know this is a commonly used saying I wasn’t exaggerating. I had two accounts that said zero. Actually no, one said zero and the other said negative point five one which in my book is still zero but a banker would probably say otherwise. Oh, I’m rambling again aren’t I? Any who, the point is I was beyond broke and needed money which brings me back to the reason my alarm was ringing in the first place. Work.

I was late.

Running to the living room with work shoes in hand, I can hear a man’s voice say, “Hey kiddo long time no see.” Midstride, I turn my head to the left so startled and awestruck to see a middle aged man whom which I have never seen with his feet kicked up on the dinner table that I completely missed a step and almost tumble head first into the living room television. Mouthing the words, “oh shit,” on the way down, I slide within inches of the screen before coming to a stop. Popping right up, I take off back towards my room yelling the safety word given to me as a child should I ever encounter an intruder in the house. Oscar!!! Oscar!! Oscar! Please let her room door be locked. Please have fallen asleep without the sleep machine. These and other thoughts run through my mind as I ran sack my closet pulling out my old quiver of arrows and bow from my competition days. Strapping up in record time like not a day had gone by. I rushed out the room seconds later after removing the barricades I called myself making in a haste going

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

in.

Approaching my mother’s room at the end of the hallway I notched an arrow. Her door was now slightly ajar, though due to my haste I couldn’t recall if it had been before. Easing into the doorway I glance inside to make sure the criminal isn’t getting any ideas about my mom. Only then, does it dawn on me that she isn’t home, but her bed is made. The television which is always on when she sleeps, is off. Nerves she called it when I used to ask about that particular habit. Plus, the alarm clock that stays on the night stand farthest from the door is currently not set to ring. Of course, the most obvious signs that she is out and about are one, the outdated cell that sits on the stand closest to the hall door nowhere in sight. Although funds are tight I’ve been trying to get her to upgrade to a smart phone and get rid of that decade old Nokia flip phone for ages now. Two the coupons are gone. Yes, I said coupons. While some frugal mothers, grandmothers, or savvy shoppers occasionally gather a few coupons here and there that they might use, my mother has a stack. A meticulously crafted, strategically organized by date, expiration, time, participation may vary, days of the week Sunday through Saturday, stack of coupons that would have you awestruck at the shear thought of our funds being tight and asking why she has yet to find a good deal or coupon on a cell phone. If you ever see her outside these four walls without coupons; beware. The Invasion of the body snatchers has begun. Relieved at what I’ve taken in and satisfied with my quick analysis. I move on mumbling to myself, “clear”, as they do in military and police raids on T.V.

Now at the brink of reaching the hallways end that crosses the dining room where I first saw the culprit I feel my heart beat racing. Still, I control my breathing as taught by my first instructor all those years ago. Feeling the rush for the first time in three years my senses heighten as I burst around the corner. Empty. The room was empty. Immediately, I turned around to ensure he hadn’t snuck around to my six. Nothing, still. Then I looked up, left, right, and behind me once again. All turned up negative, so I crept on.