Lesson 4 Burglar – Character Thoughts

I basically fell on my bed that night and didn’t even take off my t-shirt.  Dad brought me home cause I said I wasn’t feeling well and went back to the party.  I just needed this day to end.  I didn’t even eat anything even though Mom sent some bbq chicken home with Dad for me to eat later.   I just threw it in the frij and barely made it to my bed before I crashed with my shoes on. 

I must have slept cause I was having that old dream again – the one where I’m stuck at the bottom of the well and no one can hear me and I can’t climb up cause the walls are too slick and the water begins to rise and I can’t swim and then I’m drowning.

My own voice woke me.  I must have gurgled something out.  I put my hand on my head to clear it and felt all the sweat.  I was still panting and breathing hard.  If everyone is going to leave me, well, so be it.  It’s ok to be a complete loner isn’t it?  A complete nerd.  Bill Gates was a nerd and look at him now.  Tomorrow I’m gonna look up and see if he had any friends in high school. 

If Brian wanted to steal my girlfriend, so be it.  I’ll walk away, I sure will and then become the richest man in the world and then they would be sorry.  But wasn’t there a guy code that you weren’t supposed to steal your best friends girlfriend?  Anyway, I hadn’t said two words to her, but I don’t think that’s important between best friends, is it?

By now, I was awake and took off my shoes and clothes and put on my PJ’s.  They were blue with stripes.  I had made Mom get rid of the ones with the planets on them and the dinosaurs.  I mean, I’m in high school.

The kitchen lit up when I opened the frij door to get my chicken.  Mom had been right after all and I did get hungry after my little nap.  I put the chicken on a plate and into the microwave when I heard a noise.  I naturally glanced at the clock on the microwave.  Interesting that they would have come home so early.  It was only 6:35 pm.  When they were at Aunty Gertrude’s, they don’t come home until late even on a school day. 

I ignored the sound and pushed the buttons to heat the chicken and went up to my bedroom to eat which I’m not supposed to do.  But I’ll clean it up and no one would know any better.

Before I closed the door to my room, however,  I heard a harsh clinking sound, like the sound our window makes when we open it.  It’s an old house and I know all the sounds it makes.   Then I heard a thud.  Now, for sure, Mon and Dad would not be using the window to come into their own house. 

I walked out of my room and down the hallway towards the sound which had been coming from the living room.  When I got there, I ran back as soon as I could.  Because climbing in from the open window of the living room was a man dressed in all black. 

I ran back to my room and closed the door quietly.  This was all wrong right?  What was happening?  I opened the door slightly so I could see and hear better but the thumping of my heart was so noisy, I couldn’t hear anything.  I leaned against the wall and took deep breaths. 

OK, Jimmy. Calm down. It was like that time during the Calculus test when I went blank and couldn’t think, even though I was ready with all the studying I had done. I had to calm down and take a deep breath like Dad had shown me. 

“Take stock of the situation, son,”  Dad always said.  “Take stock of the situation and the answer will come to you.”

The situation now wasn’t good.  I was alone in the house.  There was a burglar inside or worst, a killer.  There was no lock on my bedroom door.  I started to panic again.  Then I heard something fall, like metal and I jumped.   That must be the mask that Mom had bought from the antique store last summer.  It looked like a African priest.   OK Jimmy, take stock.

If the sound I heard was from the mask falling, then the burglar was at the end of the living room and the beginning of my hallway, the one that leads to my room.  The sweat came back, and I think I was shivering, but I think it wasn’t shivering, but trembling. 

Be as quiet as possible, Jimmy.

I looked around the room for something, anything to help me.  My eyes fell on my window which faced the street.  I tip toed over to it and tried to open it without making any noise.  I mean, that was going to be impossible because, like I said, the house was old and I knew opening it would not be quiet. 

Just as I got to the window, I heard footsteps.  They stopped outside my door.  I saw the knob turning and I didn’t care anymore if the noise was like a bomb.  I pushed the window up and started to climb out.  I screamed when the door to my room opened and was kinda paralzed to come face to face with the killer. 

The door opened wide and it was Mom.  Mom!  She looked at me with shock.  There I was, one pajama leg out the window, and screaming.

“Honey,” Mom said looking concerned.  “What are you doing?”