Unstable, p.3
Unstable, page 3
No, these wet muddy shoes don’t mean anything.
After cleaning and rinsing the shoes of all traces of mud possible, I am even more tired and emotionally drained than before, making it much easier to pass out beneath my inviting covers.
Bang!
I sit straight up feeling a little bit disoriented. What the hell?
I cautiously put my robe on and slowly open up the door to peak into the hallway. My ears are straining to hear any other movement coming from downstairs, but there is nothing but eerie silence. I’m afraid to call out in case someone is in the house, so I punch in 9-1-1 on my phone, thumb at the ready to press the call button. I creep into the hallway and tip toe downstairs, careful to avoid all the spots that creak in the floorboards. I’m halfway down the stairs when it dawns on me that I should have grabbed the bat. Ugh, stupid. I get to the final step, and realize I have been holding my breath the whole time. Slowly and quickly as I can, I exhale and force myself to breathe as normally as possible. As I peek my head around the corner into the kitchen, I expect to see someone, but it’s only an empty quiet space. Moving back toward the living room and down the hall toward my studio, our wedding photo catches my eye. It has a crack in the glass right down the middle and is hanging crooked. It’s the least of my concerns, so I brush it off and continue on my hunt for a possible intruder.
With shaky hands, I grab the doorknob and open my studio door inches at a time until I can slip inside. Standing in my room, back against the door, I find my easel and canvas both on the floor and paint tubes thrown all around. Frightened at the reality of the situation, I sprint out of the room and run for the front door. I hope I can get out fast without the intruders noticing.
Outside, the dew on the grass soaks into my slippers. I clutch my robe tighter and book it for my neighbor’s house, my phone pressed against my ear, praying for Marc to answer. In the light of day, I notice something on my arm. Is that paint? I slow down enough to inspect the substance. Yes, it is in fact paint streaked on my arm. When did this happen?
“Hey, babe, how’s it going?” he asks brightly through the phone.
“I think someone was in our house, but now I’m not sure because I have paint on my arms and I don’t know if it was me or not. I was so tired and… and I just don’t know.” It all comes out in a frantic rush. I’m not sure he heard a word I said.
“Babe, babe, slow down. What are you saying? Is there someone in the house? Or not? Did you call 9-1-1?”
I can hear the alarm in his voice, so I try to calm down and tell him exactly what happened.
“I don’t know. I was sleeping, but heard a bang or thud coming from downstairs so I woke up and went to check it out and my easel, canvas, and paint were all on the floor. I was about to call 9-1-1, but I have paint streaks on my arms and hands so I’m not sure if it was me that did it while I was sleeping, like maybe I sleep walked? I don’t know,” I say running my hands through my hair and beginning to chew at my nails. Nothing about any of this is making sense, and I’m starting to not trust myself.
“Okay, is anything else out of order? Doors or windows open? Anything missing?”
“No, no, it was only my art supplies knocked over.” My eyes scan the house. Half of me wants to see a figure walk by a window so I will know I’m not crazy.
“Okay, go to the neighbor’s house, I’m going to call the police to be on the safe side so they can check things out and I’ll meet you at home.”
“I’m at their house now about to knock,” I say, blowing out a breath.
“Good! I’ll see you soon.”
We hang up and I knock on their door, relieved when it’s Patty who answers.
“Autumn, this is a surprise, what can I do for you?” she asks slightly confused as her eyes look me up and down no doubt thinking I must be crazy standing in front of her in a robe and slippers.
“Hey, can I come in? I think someone might have broken into the house, but I’m not sure. Marc is going to have the police take a look and I was hoping I could wait in here until they arrive.”
“Oh, my goodness! Yes, yes come in, you poor thing,” she says waving inside and locking the door behind me. She moves to the window checking if those are locked too as if the intruder might make this their next stop. She glances over to me, fear evident in her eyes, and I feel terrible for putting her in this position of distress.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. I’m probably worried for no reason,” I tell her in an attempt to calm her. Patty gives me a warm smile and reaches for my hands, giving them a light squeeze. We hear the police sirens before I see the lights. I give her a thankful smile and head to the door to wait outside and flag them over.
Two officers get out of their vehicle, one older who looks like he has seen some things in his day and the other young, a rookie maybe. Their faces don’t give anything away as they calmly walk toward me.
“Thank you for coming. My husband is the one who called. We figured we would err on the side of caution. Be positive there wasn’t actually an intruder.”
“Ma’am, did you actually see anyone in the house?” the older officer asks gruffly
“No, I didn’t, I… I heard a noise and came down to see my stuff on the floor in my studio.” I stammer out, nervous they don’t believe me.
“Okay, well we will check it out, be on the safe side and let you know what we find if anything,” he says and signals to his partner to go around to the back of the house.
“Okay, thank you so much.” I say.
Moments after they get into the house, Marc is rounding the corner and pulling up on the curb. He jumps out and runs over to me.
“Are you okay? Did they find anything?” he asks, looking at me before pulling me into his arms.
The police officer and his partner walk back out of the house and amble over to us.
“Well, I didn’t see any sign of break-in and besides the room you told me about, nothing else seems to be out of place.” His partner notices the paint on my arms and looks at me suspiciously. “Are you sure you didn’t happen to knock everything over yourself?”
I feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment as Marc looks at me with a questioning expression.
“I’m... I’m not sure, I was upstairs in bed sleeping when I heard the crash… It wasn’t me.” But as I say the words, I realize I’m doubting myself more and more, and the police seem to pick up on that.
“What my partner means is, we have to ask all these questions to make sure we have all the information and will be able to rule things out,” He says it professionally enough, like he’s been through this many times, but his eyes tell me he doesn’t entirely believe me. “Are you on any sort of medication, ma’am, that might make you a little fuzzy? Or perhaps you haven’t been sleeping well and you might be confused?” the older officer asks, pulling a notebook out of his breast pocket. The younger officer, however, continues to stare me down.
“No. I mean, I used to take sleeping pills years ago. I was going to take one tonight because, yes, it’s true I haven’t been sleeping well, but I swear, I didn’t take any this afternoon.”
“Okay, well maybe you took one and don’t remember doing it? Or maybe you were simply more tired than you think and don’t remember making the mess yourself. In any case though, I’ll ask around and see if any of your neighbors have seen anyone wandering around that they don’t know.”
“Thank you, officer!”
They go back to their cruiser and we watch them disappear down the road before I build the courage to face Marc.
“I swear, I don’t think it was me. I don’t know why I have paint on me, I wasn’t even in that room today. I came straight home and went to bed.” I don’t tell him about the shoe incident.
“Shhh it’s okay, let’s get inside and have a look. There’s no one in there now.” His voice is calm as he says it, but I can see the hint of doubt on his face before he can shake it away.
We walk through the house and notice nothing else out of the ordinary, like the officer said. Marc helps me pick up my things in the studio, noticing the spilled paint is, in fact, the paint on my arms. Maybe I did do it. I haven’t had any sleep for the past two nights now. Marc thankfully doesn’t question me any more about it.
“I’m going to get cleaned up before we have to pick up the girls,” I say, not being able to look him in the eyes.
“Sounds good, I’ll meet you in the car then,” he says, and abruptly turns on his heel and walks out the door.
Once in the car, he finally turns to me. “How about we order some pizza for dinner tonight,” he asks as I put my seatbelt on, his voice is calm now, void of any judgment.
“Yes, I think that would be good,” I say, pausing before saying my next thought. “I’m really sorry you had to leave work early for nothing.”
“Are you kidding? Of course, I left. This is a huge deal. Your safety is my number one priority, Autumn. Let’s not take the sleeping pills tonight though on the off chance you took them already and don’t remember. Deal?”
I nod my head in agreement and angle myself toward the window, transfixed by the trees we pass, lost in my own thoughts.
As everyone eats their pizza, I zone out. Only the feeling of Marc’s hand squeezing mine brings me back, reminding me I’m not alone. I put on my best smile and join in the conversation. Deep down though, I’m still scared and nervous about everything that happened. Between my dream and everything since, it’s not looking too good.
Now that the girls are asleep, I decide it would be a good time to include Marc on my idea.
“We should look into getting a security system,” I blurt out from the bathroom as I finish washing my face.
“Yeah, we could do that,” he tells me. “I would feel a lot safer if we did, especially with you alone in the house for most of the day.”
I climb in bed and feel his body heat radiating off of him. I already feel safer.
“I would too, let’s do it.” I let myself sink into the warmth of his body, and let my eyelids slowly close.
I’m awaken from my sleep with the tiniest of whispers.
“Mommy?” I force my eyes to open, still groggy, but I see Ada standing next to me.
“Hey, sweetie, what’s wrong?” I ask as I sit up, fear hitting me in the chest.
“I’m really hot,” she says in a sleep covered voice.
“Okay, sweetie, are you feeling sick?” I ask as I move the back of my hand to feel her forehead.
“No, just hot.”
“Okay, come here and sit by the fan for a bit,” I say as I walk over to the fan in the corner with her. “Feel better?” I move her hair away from her face and gather it in a bun, allowing the breeze to cool her faster.
“Yeah, that’s better.”
“Okay, go sit up by Daddy and I’m going to go turn the air on, okay?”
She mumbles okay and I set her on the bed in case she falls back asleep before heading downstairs to turn the air on. I flip the panel down and see the heat is set to 78 degrees. What the hell? This was not set to this yesterday. It’s one thing after the other, jeez. I turn it back to air and set it to 68 degrees. When I get back upstairs, Marc is coming out of the girls’ room.
“Did you put her back to bed?”
“Yeah, why was she in our bed?”
“She was hot and I put her in bed so I could turn on the air.”
“Yeah, why is it so hot in here?” he asks, wiping the sweat off his brow.
“When I went to check, it was set to 78 degrees. You didn’t set it to that for some reason, did you?
“Nope, not me. You know I’m always hot; I would have the air on all year long if I could.”
“Hmm weird,” I say mentally adding this to the ever-growing list of unexplained occurrences.
3
In the kitchen, finally alone. I enjoy some hot coffee and research security systems. I’m in the midst of making a pro/con list to determine which one would be the best for what we would need and fit our budget when I hear the doorbell ring. Downing the rest of my coffee, I walk over to the door wondering who could possibly be stopping by this early.
When I open the door, there’s no one there.
Hmm that’s weird, I swear I heard it ring.
I peek my head out and take one last look around before heading back to the counter to grab my phone and pick up where I left off with my research, but it’s gone.
What the hell? I know I left it right here.
I look around the counter, on the floor, under the paper even, but still, nothing. I feel like I’m losing my mind. Okay, just breathe. I take a second look before searching the rest of the kitchen. Still not seeing it, I make my way to the living room where I spot it almost immediately. How did it get over here? The hairs on the back of my neck stick up and paranoia starts to set in. I quickly spin around expecting to see someone behind me, but no one is here but me.
I feel silly, but also unsettled so I sit with my back against a wall, having full view of both rooms and frantically search the security system, wishing it was already installed.
Ding dong.
Okay, I know I heard the doorbell this time. I hesitantly get up, phone clutched in my hands. I expect to find no one at the door again, but when I open it, I see my neighbor Patty standing before me. Exhaling a sigh of relief, my body relaxes and I tuck my phone in my back pocket.
“Hey Patty, did you happen to swing by a few minutes ago?” I ask as I move aside to let her in.
“Oh no, it's my first time here today. Why do you ask?” she says with a cautious look on her face.
“No, reason,” I tell her, closing the door. “Can I get you a cup of coffee, or some iced tea maybe?”
“Iced tea would be great, thank you, it’s a scorcher out there today,” she says as she sits at the kitchen counter.
I grab two glasses out of the cabinet, fill it to the brim with my homemade iced tea and bring it over to her.
“What can I do for you Patty,” I ask, sitting next to her and taking a sip of my iced tea.
“Oh, I was only wondering if they caught the intruder you had. It had me and Dave up all night worried.” She reaches for her iced tea and practically downs the whole thing in one gulp.
“No, the cops said they found no sign of forced entry, but I haven’t been sleeping too well so I think I may have overreacted to the situation and I made something of nothing. I feel really silly about the whole thing. I’m sorry for scaring you both.”
“Oh! Well, that’s great news. The cop asked us if we saw anyone out of the ordinary around and we both said no.” She takes a final sip of her tea and I notice the striking contrast of her bright pink nail polish on her alabaster, aged spotted skin. Her matching skin tight, low cut tank top and short shorts are something I would be too embarrassed to wear. Patty is nearing her fifties now and tries to dress like she’s a teenager. She still works out on the regular, so she can definitely pull it off though.
“Yeah, to be on the safe side, we are looking into getting an alarm system though.”
“Oh, that will be nice as long as it doesn’t go off all hours of the night and wake Dave and me. Our former neighbor, Carol, she had one and it malfunctioned all night long. We couldn’t get a lick of sleep,” she says as she waves her hand dramatically.
“Don’t worry. We are doing our research to find a good one and get it installed right.”
“Okay, well thank you for the iced tea, dear. I better be heading back,” she says standing up.
“Okay, Patty, thank you for dropping by.”
I walk her to the door and give a small wave before closing the door behind her. Checking the time on my phone I realize I need to eat some lunch before I have to go pick the girls up again. The fresh air calls to me and I decide to eat outside. That mixed with the sunshine is a sure fire way to clear my mind before I have to head out.
I pull up where all the parents are supposed to line up and notice Marc’s car two vehicles ahead of mine. Why is he here? I turn the car off, head over to the driver’s side window, and tap on the glass.
“What are you doing here?” he asks as he rolls down the window.
“What do you mean? I always pick the girls up.” I am equally confused.
“Well, you texted me that I needed to pick the girls up today. You said you weren’t feeling good and wanted to sleep.”
“What? No, I didn’t,” I say as I reach for my phone, but sure enough there’s a text to Marc sent from me only an hour ago asking him to pick the girls up. I immediately think of when my phone was misplaced and I couldn’t find it.
Is someone messing with me, or did I text him and forget? I decide not to mention the possible mix up to him for fear of sounding crazy yet again.
“Ugh, I’m so sorry, I don’t remember sending this at all. I was preoccupied with researching security systems, and Patty stopped by. It must have slipped my mind that I texted you.” As I say the words, I can feel the blood rise to my cheeks giving away my embarrassment.
“It’s okay, babe, not a big deal, we can start our night early since I’m already here.” There’s slight irritation in his voice, but he hides it well.
“Let’s go grab a bite to eat and we can catch a movie after.”
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll follow you then,” I tell him, trying to keep my voice light, but all I feel is guilt and worry that I’m losing my mind. I look up to see the girls running toward their dad’s car.
“Daddy!” the girls scream in unison.
“Hey, monkeys! Who feels like eating dinner out?”
“Ooooo! Me! Me!” Ada says with delight.
“Yummy!” Anna says handing her backpack to her dad. “Can Sarah come with us and then have a tea party after? Please?” she asks, batting her eyes and fully sticking out her bottom lip. It’s so adorable you will give her whatever she asks for.
Suddenly, we see a girl with cute blonde pigtails wearing a nice summer dress walking over to us with her mom. This must be their friend Sarah.
