I was quietly minding my own business at home, studying for an upcoming exam. The Christmas lights and decorations were twinkling away, adding little bits of cheer around the house. A Christmas candle sat proudly on the mantle piece, freshly lit and emitting a delightful scent, not unlike baking sugar cookies. The husband was out running errands and the dog was stretched out on my feet, softly snoring.
I was beginning to get drowsy and the words on the page of my textbook blurred a bit. Just as I was about to call it quits in favor of a nap, my phone sounded off like a siren, shattering the sleepy silence around me.
The dog jumped up so quickly, he knocked the textbook off my lap and it landed squarely on his foot, bringing a quick yelp from him. I shook my head, trying to clear the sleepiness, as the dog slunk away back to his bed, all the while whining pitifully at his injured paw.
I managed to locate my phone and answered it, trying to stop the abrasive ringtone as swiftly as possible.
“Hello?” I squeaked out.
“Anna!! What are you doing right now?!” my friend, Amy*, demanded. Her voice was so high and shrill it startled me for a moment.
“Well, no-nothing at the moment,” I looked over at the dog who was still glaring at the offending textbook.
“I need you to go to my house right now! My husband isn’t answering his phone and I just know my kids are stuck in their room! It’s almost noon and he’s still asleep!!” As she spoke, her voice got higher and higher, and by the time she finished, I was sure only dogs and dolphins could understand her.
“Alright, alright, let me figure something out,” I mumbled, putting out my Christmas candle and standing up.
My friend had recently moved from the apartment complex where I lived to a house not far away, and I hadn’t visited her new home yet. I’d only seen her husband a handful of times and I’m not sure we’d exchanged more than a few words to each other.
Amy is a talented artist, who had attended a craft fair that day to sell some of her artwork and hand painted Christmas cards. Her husband, Harry*, worked a full time job away from home, and I knew he had been working tons of overtime recently.
Assuming that my friend was overreacting, I grabbed up some kitchen bowls I had been meaning to give her and some dog treats I knew her dog would like as an excuse when I knocked on their door. I could just image driving up, ringing the doorbell, and her husband and children greeting me just as awake and functional as could be. I didn’t want to go empty handed.
Patting Jace, my dog, goodbye, I threw my bag of excuses in the passenger seat and headed towards their house. Before I’d even gotten out of the apartment complex, Amy was ringing my phone again.
“I’m on my way, I promise,” I assured her as she apologized for asking me to check on her kids.”It’s okay, it really is!” I assured her, pulling out into traffic. In a few short moments, I was pulling into her driveway.
Her house looked dark, all the curtains drawn and no signs of life within. I cautiously exited my car, bag of junk in hand, and walked up to her door. Amy’s front door sported a beautiful Christmas wreath, accompanied by an aging pumpkin on her doorstep, no doubt leftover from Thanksgiving.
I rang the doorbell and tried to inconspicuously peek through the glass on her front door. It was sculpted in such a way, I couldn’t make anything out, just darkness inside.
After a few moments, I hesitated and rang the bell again. No lights turned on inside, nothing stirred. I was beginning to worry a bit.
Out of the corner of my eye, I detected movement, and glanced over to see her 2 year old pulling back the blinds and waving at me. I hesitantly waved back. I snatched my phone out of my pocket and called Amy back.
“No one’s answering the door…” I started-
“It’s unlocked, just go in!” She said frantically.
“Is Harry going to shoot me?” Here in the south, it’s a real possibility of being shot, entering a house uninvited.
“No, no,” she laughed. “Just go in.”
I cautiously turned the door handle and the door swung easily open. Inside, Amy already had her Christmas tree up and stockings for all the members of the family. It was silent inside the home, as I slowly crept inside.
Per Amy’s directions, I started down the hallway on the left. The door on my left was completely shut and the door on my right was cracked slightly. Inside, I could just make out the shape of Harry sprawled out on the bed asleep.
I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I’d been more embarrassed. No part of me wanted to intrude on this man’s privacy. I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts, and gently knocked on his bedroom door.
No response. I knocked a little harder this time.
“Harry…? Harry..? It’s Anna. Amy sent me… Harry?”
The figure in the bed shifted around in the darkness.
“Yes? Anna?” He sat up and blinked at me.
“Amy sent me over.. I’m just gonna go say hey to the kids now…” I backed quickly from the room, already turning a shade of red. I turned around and opened the door behind me.
Inside the room, Amy’s oldest daughter, Lilly, was sitting up in her bunk bed staring at me. Her youngest child, Emmett, was bouncing up and down in his crib/playpen.
“Who are you?” Lilly asked me, starting to look a little concerned.
My mind worked quickly. Lilly had seen me numerous times, but this time, my hair was pulled back into a messy bun on top of my head and I had an over sized sweatshirt and jeans on. I’m sure I looked much sloppier than I usually do.
“It’s Anna. Do you remember me from the wedding?” I think that’s the last place I had spoken to her. Her eyes lit up.
“You’re the princess!” She said happily, referencing my wedding dress.
“That’s right! I just left my dress at home today,” I said, helping her climb out of the top of the bunk bed. Emmett squealed happily, still bouncing up and down. As I set Lilly down, I noticed Emmett had taken his diaper off and was starting to pee a little around his play pen.
“No, no, no,” I said, quickly picking him up and scanning the room for a diaper. Lilly tugged on my jeans and I looked down at her.
“You have to get me dressed. I want to wear my blue dress today!” Overwhelmed at this point, I set Emmett down and opened the closet, still looking for diapers.
“It’s there! The one behind that one,” Lilly said, beginning to jump up and down, too.
“I see it, but where does Mommy keep the diapers?” I asked, still searching.
“My dress first!” She protested. Meanwhile, Emmett had opened the door of their room and I could hear my friends voice in the other room coming from her husband’s phone. I knew she wasn’t on speaker phone, but I could still hear her plainly, at least several decibels louder than I’ve ever heard her before.
Lilly started to pull her PJ’s off and the dress over her head. I heard Emmett talking, and looked around to see he had opened a closet door in the hallway and was pointing to a shelf above him. Several packs of diapers and wipes where perched on top.
I started towards the closet as Lilly tugged on my pants leg again.
“You have to help my brush my hair now!” She said, trying to hand me a hairbrush.
I turned around again to see Harry exiting their bedroom, Amy still screaming at him through his phone.
“Hey Harry, I’m so sorry to disturb you.. I’m just gonna head out now…” I turned again to see Emmett peeing a little by the closet and Lilly frantically trying to pull the brush through her hair.
He mumbled something back to me, obviously embarrassed as well, as his wife continued to yell through the phone.
I crept quickly back through the house towards the door, depositing my bag of “excuse items” on the kitchen table and pulling the door closed behind me. Even with the door closed, Amy’s voice rang through the air, angrily hissing indistinguishable curses at Harry.
Just as I got back to my car, my phone rang again. It was my husband.
“Hey hon, how’s your day going so far?”
*names changed for privacy*
~-~-pennie4thoughts
Luna Eclipsed 