Chapter Thirteen
Intruder
When I woke up, Nicole's hand was across my face. I gently pushed it off and she turned over on her side; falling off the bed in the process.
To my surprise, she began to snore loudly. What a heavy sleeper...
I quietly sat on the side of the bed and stretched. The sun was shining brightly and my day seemed to be starting fairly good. I smiled and got up and tip-toed to the door, even though I was positive Nicole wouldn't hear me even if I stomped as loudly as I was able to.
I made my way to the kitchen slowly. I grabbed a pan out and place it on the new stove my mom had purchased. She replaced almost everything else in the kitchen. But no where else. She liked the way the house was when we first saw it and she set her mind on keeping it that way.
I made a batch of pancakes and by the time I finished, Nicole was slouching in a chair at the table. I smiled at my new friend and handed her a plate. We ate after we exchanged our greetings of good mornings.
I was wide awake and looking forward to the day ahead. Nicole, on the other hand, seemed tired and in need of another night's sleep.
By the time noon had come, Nicole's mom came to pick her up. Nicole hugged me tightly before she left. I watched her leave from the window beside the front door. With my mom at work, I was all alone in the big house.
At least, that's what I thought before I heard an unexplained noise.
My curiousity getting the better of me, again, I had to go check what it was. I hurried up and waited to see if the noise would appear again. (I seem to be doing this a lot: Listening around for a noise that I somehow needed to find where it was coming from.)
Sure enough, I did hear it again. It sounded as if it were coming from my bedroom. When I entered my room, my window was wide open. My closet door was just closing at the same time.
I flinched. I wasn't expecting any visitors, was I? Ha ha. "Who's there?" I called. Of course, the intruder didn't answer. I didn't know what to do now. I had about three desicions I had come up with.
The first: I could call the police and let them know about the break-in. It seems logical, and I was leaning toward this desicion more than the other two.
The second: I could find something to defend myself and look to see who it was. It could've been somebody I knew from school, but i didn't know that much people. This desicion was probably not the best, but it was better than having someone I knew get arrested for my benifit.
And the last: I could just leave it be. I could let whoever it was know that I wasn't going to do anything about it. I didn't have much very important items in my room, anyway. I could just lock the door, and just wait until they leave.
I pondered on which desicion to choose, obviously knocking out the last one.
I was feeling mighty brave, so I grabbed an umbrella and approached the closet door carefully. Yes, I picked desicion two. I was about a foot away now. I inhaled deeply through my nose to calm myself down. My mouth started watering.
This smell was familar. I inhaled it again, closing my eyes to focus on it. He smelled so good!
I opened my eyes and smiled. "Mason, what are you doing here?" I threw the umbrella back to where I picked it up.
He opened the closet door a little and flushed. He smiled sheepishly before he answered. "I, uh, wanted to se you," he said. He stood up in front of me.
"There's a thing called a front door, you know? Why didn't you answer when I asked who was in there?" I asked.
"I panicked. I thought somebody else was entering this room besides you."
"Well, it was me that showed up. And it was you that i was about to call the police on. How did you even get up here?"
Mason grinned at me. "The window."
Oh. Well, that explained the window being wide open. Wait... how did he even know that this was my room? And how did he get up here, when my room was on the second floor? I asked him.
"I just picked a room. I didn't know this was your's. And there's a ladder out there," he explained.
"So, what was the reason for you coming here?" Besides wanting to see me, but I didn't say it out loud. I was already nervous enough that I almost had to sit.
"I'm afraid that we started off on the wrong foot. Well, I thought so. I just wanted to get to know you better and vice-versa." He held his hand out, carefully took mine in his and shook my hand. "My name is Mason Anderson."
When he released my hand, I stared at it as if there was an expensive ring sitting on one of my fingers. I didn't know what I was doing or what to say. His hand on mine had been so warm and soft. I just wanted to reach out and intertwine my fingers with his. "Uh. My name is Emily Silver," I said weakly.
"Emily. That's a beautiful name." He smiled at me when I looked at him.
Oh, boy. He had such a great smile. "I haven't seen you at school. Don't you go there?" I asked absent-mindedly. I guess that's the only thing my mind could come up with to say. At least it was better than something like, "When I was little I use to eat dirt." (I never did understand why I did that.)
For some reason he seemed stunned. He actually had to think about it. He sighed before he answered. "Yes. Yes I do," he said. He smiled that same smile he had on his face earlier and stared into my eyes. "Let's go," he suddenly said. He pulled at my hand, but I didn't move from my spot. I was completly dazed. He turned back to face me and looked confused for some reason. "Don't you want to come?" he whispered while he furrowed his eyebrows. He stared deeper into my eyes. "Let's go," he said again and tried to pull me toward the door. I didn't move again. I couldn't find the strength to move my legs forward. he turned back to me to study my face. "You're so... strange," he muttered in amusement while he cocked his head to the side. I didn't understand why he'd said that.
"Thanks. It was nice meeting you, too," I said sarcastically.