I was walking down the road on a luscious autumn day. I was only 14 at the time...

I crumbled the paper and threw it in the trash. My head fell into my hands. I sighed as the pencil I was writing with rolled towards the edge of the desk. I knew I wasn’t going to manage to meet the deadline that I had set.

I’ve always had that tendency to over-exert myself. I kept setting the expectations too high. It’s as though nothing I had accomplished before existed or even mattered.

“Olivia?” I heard from behind. I turned back towards the concerned voice. It was Ezekiel, my husband. His chocolate brown eyes were darkened with worry.

I swiveled the chair towards him and straightened. “Hey, puddin’” I said, smiling.

“I thought I heard the sound of a rocket ship taking off in here,” he said as he looked around the room.

I chuckled. His face betrayed so little emotion, but I saw the flicker of playfulness in those chocolate eyes.

He looked back at me and smirked. Then, his gaze fell to the piece of paper that topped off the prior crumbled projects in the garbage. I saw a flash of confusion before he corrected his face.

“I’m trying to write my own biography.” I said, knowing what he wanted to say.

His brows raised. “I see. Just for fun or..” The flicker of playfulness returned to his eyes.

“No, I plan on getting it published.” I said.

“You’re going to make a publisher read about your life? Oof.”

I giggled. ” They asked me to write it, you goober”

He raised an eyebrow in feigned disbelief. He approached me from the doorway with his arm out in front of him. As he stood over me, he pressed his fore arm against my forehead. For a moment, I was confused. That is until he said, “You don’t have a fever. Are you feeling okay?”

I rolled my eyes at him. He moved his arm away to look at me. My smile faded as we gazed into each other’s eyes. My heart began to race. The butterflies in my stomach became restless.

His high cheekbones were brushed with a flush of color. His eyes were full of affection and maybe just a tinge of lust. A brown curl fell lazily onto his face. The air between us felt charged in that moment. The electricity between us was as powerful as the day we met.

“It’s time for bed, princess.” He said, tilting his head to the side. His love for me in that moment disarmed me. His voice was a soothing lullaby.

Stolen novel; please report.

~

The alarm blared in my ears. I groaned. I rolled towards that stupid clock as it screeched relentlessly. I tried to reach the son-of-a banshee from my bed, but failed. As my hand searched the nightstand beside me, it dawned on me. I had placed the terror on the dresser across the room the night before.

Of course I did that.

I sat up bleary eyed, and took in the dim room around me. A little bit of morning radiance filtered between the middle of the blinds and left a streak of light across the bed. It was early. Too early. The sunlight that peaked through the slats of the blinds cast no more than faint lines across the floor.

I glanced over to the bed next to me to catch a glimpse of Ezekiel. He had a pillow over his ear to protect himself from the sound of the alarm.

I swung my legs to the side of the bed. Slowly, I got to my feet. I hobbled like a new born baby giraffe across the room. I clicked the “alarm off” button and stood there staring at it for a moment.

*Crash*

*Bang*

I heard clattering in the other room. I hobbled over and nudged Ezekiel. “I think there’s someone in the kitchen.” I whispered. He groaned. For a brief moment, I contemplated hushing him with the pillow that still rested over his ear.

It’s probably nothing, I thought to myself.

Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness. I looked around for something to use as a weapon. I debated taking a lamp. Then I figured it was too big and too heavy to be an actually useful weapon. My other two options were an old metal coat hanger and an athletic muscle-massager-device that was shaped like a rolling pin. I picked the hanger.

I clung to the wall as I slunk out into the hallway. The kitchen was only 10 paces from the bedroom, and I knew that to avoid making noise, I would need to cling to the left wall.

I felt heightened. I only recalled feeling this way a couple times in my life. I knew that whatever it was probably didn’t know we were there. Otherwise, it would have thought to restrain us in some type of way. That or it thought it would be in and out of there before I noticed. I paid very close attention to the noise around me as I moved.

Step.

My footsteps were silent. I could hear my own breath despite how slowly I was inhaling and exhaling. I hoped it didn’t have superhuman hearing or anything.

As if on cue, the sound stopped. I held my breath.

Step.

I felt my heart racing as I was gearing up for whatever came next. The intruder made no more noise as I took another step.

Step.

I was starting to worry that the intruder knew I was there, then I heard another pan clattering from one of the cabinets.

Step.

Step.

Step.

For a brief moment, in the house, all was still. Like Time itself had ceased just to watch me shit myself as I faced whatever I found lurking in my kitchen.

Step.

I tried to stop myself from going any further.

Step.

Step.

I peeked my head around the corner to the kitchen. I looked towards the cabinets where I’d heard so much commotion. I only saw an open cabinet door. I dropped my arms that had instinctively held the decrepit hanger before me. It was Bonbon.

Ezekiel must have left one of the cabinet doors open the night before. We had cat proofed the place as soon as we moved in, but it was only as effective as our shitty memories. Bonbon got locked in a cupboard once as a kitten for 8 hours before we found her in there. After that, we learned our lesson with letting Bonbon have free reign over the house.

“Bonbon what are you doing in there?” I said, smiling from relief as much as entertainment.

Bonbon poked her gray head out of the cabinets. “Meow”