A Christmas Carol

Chapter Two

               I abruptly sat up in alarm when I heard a loud crashing sound, suddenly unaware of my surroundings and what was going on, when I remembered my mom’s phone call an hour or so earlier. I glanced at the TV, which happened to be the source of the noise that woke me up with a jolt and realized that sometime about halfway through the movie I must have fallen asleep.

               I heaved a sigh of relief, my eyes, which were still adjusting to the dark room lit only by the glow of our big TV, darting from the movie that was at its climax to the window that overlooked the backyard. My eyes scanned our yard for any telltale sign of anything that was out of the ordinary, but I came up with nothing and relaxed back into my spot on the couch.

               Well, all seemed to be well for now, thankfully. No suspicious activity on this property.

               After I stayed sitting there for a few minutes to wake up, I stood up, the blanket that had been previously providing a fuzzy shell of protection for my body now cast aside, and walked into the kitchen to get a drink of water. I could hear on the TV that Kevin was just about to be finally reunited with his family and sighed heavily.

               I grabbed a full bottle of water from out of the refrigerator and chugged half of its contents down before setting it back on the shelf. Dragging my fuzzy-sock-clad feet along the white kitchen tiles, I made my way over to the window, peeking out of it to see if there was any sign of snow even though I already knew what the outcome would be.

               I checked, and sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed.

               No snow. Still.

               I shook my head in disappointment and trailed my eyes over to my dad’s little work shed in the back of our yard, when something strange caught my eye. I leaned in closer, my nose pressed against the frosty glass and my breath condensing on the window, causing a foggy barrier to make it difficult to see. I used the sleeve of my sweatshirt that I had put on shortly after I got home from school and rubbed the glass so I could see and leaned in again, this time holding my breath so the window wouldn’t fog up.

               I scanned our yard, unable to detect anything to be concerned about. Maybe I had been imagining something. I mean, it’s probably my fault for watching Home Alone when I was actually home alone.

               I was just about to give up on my spy mission, ready to accept the fact that I had probably just been seeing things, when a dark shadow slowly emerged from behind the work shed once again. I felt my heartbeat go into overdrive and my pulse rage. Although I couldn’t see the figure that the shadow belonged to, it was definitely a person. It had to be.

               I saw a dark figure peek over in the direction of our house from the side of the shed, and another shadow suddenly stretched out beside the first shadow, meaning that there were two of them. At least.

               That was all I needed, and I was out of there. I quickly ducked away from the window, ran to the living room to grab my cell phone and house key and practically sprinted to the front door, slamming it behind me with a vigorous force. I clumsily jammed my key into the lock and turned it, pulling it out as quick as humanly possible, and tore through the yards until I reached the Henley house next door, my thumb jabbing the doorbell repeatedly.

               Please answer, please answer, I silently prayed.

               As soon as the door flung open, I visibly relaxed. “Thank God,” I muttered quietly. But as soon as I looked up, I decided that maybe I took my ‘thank God’ back. Instead of coming face-to-face with Mr. or Mrs. Henley, it was their seventeen-year-old son, Noel, that my eyes rested on. My shoulders instantly sagged a bit.