Unanswered

The Grass is Green

I forced a laugh through my fake smile which came off as too obnoxious. Lara looked at me with a perplexed face as she realized that her joke wasn't even that funny.
"So have you made yourself at home yet?" Lara inquired as she hung up her coat and helped my mom carry more bags into the house. A shiver ran up my spine as I remembered hearing an audible whisper coming from somewhere in the house.
"Oh boy, ya know what, I feel like this is a great place to call home!" I retorted far too sarcastically.
"Go to your room," my mother hissed through her gritted teeth. She eyed me with a furious look that made me feel like a bug under a microscope.
"Oh Jen-Jen please, she's just being a kid." My mom seemed to ease up after Lara called her the stupidest name I've ever heard in the history of stupidity.
I cleared my throat and mumbled under my breath,"Oh my apologizes Jen-Jen, I did not mean to disturb the peace." That certainly triggered her and I literally unleashed the beast.
"Your attitude is completely unbearable! You always feel the need to answer with sassy comments! Give me your phone." I actually stopped breathing for a moment when she threatened to take my phone. I tucked it deeper into my pocket.
"No, give it to me Ariella Marie!" Ouch the full name. I reluctantly handed over my phone even though I knew there was no wifi, but at least I could have something to do. "Now go upstairs and just sit in your room."
I slowly turned away from them and subtlety stomped up the stairs, but not loud enough to get in trouble again. I walked into my room, closed the door shut behind me, and just slumped into my bed. Since there was nothing else to do, I got up and extensively searched my room. The walls were a lavender color which actually wasn't too bad and the closet was a decent size too. I walked over to the only window in my room and saw a completely open field that seemed to stretch on for miles. There were no trees as far as I could see besides the few sparse ones in the front. The grass was quite long and unkept as if the house was vacant for years and long vines grew sporadically up the walls of the house.
"Well, there's nothing much to do in here," I pointed out as I constantly tugged on the sheets on the bed making sure they were neatly folded. I walked outside my room to see if my mom brought any of my things over and was greeted by an empty house.
"Mhmm, thanks mom. No goodbye, no 'Hey we will be right back.'" I reluctantly crept down the creaky stairs again and saw no bags in the front room.
"Huh, where did they put the bags?" I asked as I searched the kitchen. As I was about to give up and return back to my boring room, the front door opened.
"Hey mom look I'm really s-" I stopped as I turned around and realized that no one was at the door. I walked over to it and peered outside into the front yard. Mom's car was gone, but Lara's car was still parked in the driveway.
"Okay, I guess they just didn't close the door on there way out." I closed the front door and proceeded to lock it since I wouldn't know when they'd be home. I went back into the kitchen and looked at the time displayed on the microwave and realized it was already 7:30. The fridge was pretty much empty except for a small quart of milk and half a stick of butter, but the pantry had a few bags of chips and a case of water on the floor. I grabbed a couple bags and took a water and decided to just eat in my room.
The chips had already been opened and they were all stale but it didn't really matter anymore because I was so hungry.
After I finished eating, I climbed under the sheets and chose to take a nap since there was nothing else to do. As I was dozing off I heard the front door open downstairs. I sighed and threw off the covers, preparing my apology speech that I've used one too many times. I went towards the front of the house and stumbled backwards as the front door was yet again wide open. Hesitantly, I approached the door and pushed it forward to see that both locks were broken. How did I not hear any of this?  It immediately hit me that someone probably broke into the house and I sprinted into the bathroom to hide. I slammed the door behind me and locked it shut and started to move a shelf over in front of the door. The window was too high for me to reach and I didn't want to move the shelf again just in case they managed to break the lock. The bathroom had a smaller closet inside filled with towels, but I threw them all out onto the floor and hid inside. It was pitch black in the closet and the only source of comfort was the slight haze coming through the cracks of the door due to the setting sun. I slowly rocked myself back and forth as I began to cry and eventually found myself drifting off to sleep...
I woke up to an unrelenting pounding on the door which made me hit my head on the back wall of the closet.
"Leave me alone! We above nothing here you want!" I screamed as loud as I could between sobs.
"Ariella what happened!? Come out now!" My mom yelled even louder to be heard over her pounding fists. I sat up and stopped crying and realized that whoever was in the house is probably gone now since my mom doesn't seem worried. I left the closet and began pushing the shelf out of the way creating deep scratches on the wooden floor. I unlocked the door and my mom took me in her arms. She too was crying but I was fresh out of tears from my two hour long sob session.
"Are you okay honey?" My mom inquired as she checked for any bruises or cuts. This time I refrained from my usually salty remarks and vowed to take it down a notch when it came to my sarcasm.
"Yea mom, I'm fine. I'm just a little shaken up, that's all."
"What even happened? We came inside a couple minutes ago and saw the door wide open. I thought maybe you forgot to close it so I just didn't think much of it. But then I went to wash up before bed and saw that the door was locked. I started banging on the door but I didn't get a reply." Tears started to stream down her face as she pulled me into another hug. I didn't even bother explaining any further that I thought they didn't shut the door and just sat there in my mom's embrace. That night I slept with my mother and I wished I'd never wake up the next morning...

***Sorry for such a late update! No one really commented on the first chapter so I was confused on whether not to continue... Please comment and give your feedback! 👌🏻
~Tori :)