A Stroll

Alone.

She sat in her office chair, blankly staring at her emails and the google document she had open. She was mentally exhausted from all the work, she glanced at her second screen eyeing the time, 3:32pm, August 2nd, Wednesday. She was supposed to be doing her assessment for school, but she couldn't bring herself to focus let alone get her brain to think. Swiftly, she paused the music she had playing and she clicked off her document she was supposed to be working on and got a video of a comedy act on her second screen to take her mind off things. She watched, laughing at the jokes and smiling at the not-so LOL ones if you could put it like that.

After a couple videos, she exited her full screen and paused the video, leaving it for the next time she needed a break, she would be able to finish it then. She worked her way back to her document on her first screen, staring at the page and watching the words, she tried reading the incredibly long paragraph again but couldn't, her brain was mush when it came to her schoolwork. So she decided she would just continue tomorrow morning before the school day, besides it wasn't like it was due tomorrow or the next day. She had time and she knew she could complete it with ease, she just wasn't in the right mindset right now. She jumped onto OR3 and started reading her recent book she was looking at, it was based off the Dream SMP, a Minecraft series she found incredibly interesting. She quickly stopped reading and leaned forward to use her mouse, she clicked on her tab with her music and pressed play as she relaxed back in her gaming chair and resting her headphones over her ears. She began the story and she read while humming to the music playing through her headset.

Time passed and she took a glance at the clock again, 4:12pm. Probably best I go on a walk now, before it gets too dark, she thought. She got out of her chair and taking out her headphones to blast the music that was playing through her laptop. She got changed into a sage green sweater with black ripped jeans and plain white joggers. She quickly put up her hair into a ponytail and let the tiny pony just barely hit the back of her neck. She grabbed her earphones and put her phone in her pocket and just as she left she grabbed a mask from the dresser beside her door, taking a moment to look at her picture of her family when she was young. She was so happy then, so full of life, what happened? She shook her head and closed the door, rolling up her sleeves as she looked around for her dog. "Pumpkin?!" She called. Looking underneath the table to see if she was resting on the cool tiles. She glanced in the open kitchen, seeing if her dog was sniffing for leftover food crumbs in the narrow kitchen. Looking around calling her dogs name again she made her way through the lounge room to her parents room. She knocked once, louder than she anticipated but whatever, there was no answer from inside. She knocked again, thinking they didn't hear the first, which would be interesting, no answer again. Slowly she opened the door to find no one inside. She closed the door and walked back towards the back of the house, passing her room she opened the back door. "Pumpkin! Come!" She called. She made a confused face, Pumpkin was a good dog, she was a Labrador cross a golden retriever, and she was well trained and extremely loyal. She wouldn't ignore her owners under any circumstance. She took out her phone calling her mother,

ring... ring... ring...

She made another face, curiously she took her phone away from her ear and listened to the familiar ringtone. She jogged slightly to the other side of the house again, looking at the couch in the lounge room hearing the ringtone loud and clear again, she looked on the seat. Her mother's phone sat lazily, vibrating along to the ringtone, she canceled it and put it on the coffee table and sat where it was originally. She called her father this time. She dialled and waited, silently praying she wouldn't hear another ringtone as it called up.

Silence... she smiled. Good.

Then he answered, the voice of her father being transferred through the voice to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Uh hi Dad!"

"What's up munchkin?" She heard her mother say, she must be on speaker.

"Hi mum, I was just wondering where you were."

"Oh sorry! We left a note on the fridge saying we were going on that walk that we mentioned earlier. Sorry, did we freak you out I a bit?" She asked, slightly chuckling.
She cringed, she had been left alone by herself in the house plenty of times, it didn't freak her out but it was the fact they left so suddenly that got to her.

"No, I was just weirded out on how you left so quickly and making no sound too." She responded truthfully, she was like that, getting worried for the people she cared about even when it was almost 99% of the time she didn't even need to worry. She didn't trust anyone regardless of whether or not they were classified as family, so she was constantly worried about everyone and what they were doing.

"Oh okay," her mother said. Laughing a little more, it always drove her crazy when her mother laughed at ridiculous scenarios.

"We also have Pumpkin too in case you are wondering." Her father replied, almost sensing her ever-growing frustration and proceeding to piss her off more.

"Oh cool, see you when you get home." She put her phone in front of her with her finger gently hovering over the hang-up button as she faintly heard her parents say goodbye. She pressed it and got up, quickly walking back to her room as if the situation would get better as soon as she closed the door.