Monster

Part 3

Boxes of unpacked furniture were stacked up throughout the room, beyond the cardboard columns was the kitchen. The mess of misplaced furniture occupying the vacancy made the large house seem almost cozy.

Andrea sighed, rubbing her free hand down her face. She set the keys down on the table and led Ethan, by the hand, into the house. She took a moment to breathe in the serenity of the silence, but an obnoxious voice made her jump back against the door.

"Wow you weren't kidding this house really is old. I feel like I traveled back in time to the eighteen hundreds!" A middle aged woman twirled her long hair around her finger. She sat at the kitchen table with a boy who was ferociously tapping his thumbs against a handheld game system.

"Jesus Christ!" Andrea gasped. "Sarah, what are you doing here?"

"Well it's nice to see you too." The woman scoffed.

"How did you get inside?" Andrea frowned.

"Key under the doormat?" She rolled her eyes. "Some things never change."

"You could've warned me. Sent a text, or something."

"Did you really not see my car? It's parked right outside the driveway." Sarah turned to the boy at the table and tapped her finger on his game system. "Save and quit, hun. Ethan's home."

The boy's whines were twice as shrill and obnoxious as Sarah's voice. "But, I'm almost done with the level!"

Sarah snapped back at her son, "Derek, save and quit before I turn it off for you. That thing's going to melt your brain."

"Fine!" Derek handed Sarah the game system, then turned to Ethan.

Andrea lovingly rubbed her hand across Ethan's hair. Maybe seeing his cousin would relieve some of the stress he had from school. She let him go, and the boys ran off to the backyard.

Andrea took Derek's seat at the table, pressed her palms against her eyes, and exhaled a long deep breath. "I think the divorce is really getting to him. Maybe it's because he's stressed from the whole thing? I don't know, but ever since we moved in Ethan's been having nightmares. He saw the monster in school today. It just keeps escalating."

Sarah smirked, "The real monster was your husband. Just give Ethan some time. It's only been a month since you moved in. It's weird, y'know."

"You're right. He probably just needs to get used to things. I think if we unpack, and he sees all of his furniture... and toys... He'll adjust to this place better. I've just been so busy with work. It's so hard."

"Hey, hey," Sarah rubbed Andrea's shoulder, "that's what I'm here for. Let's get rid of all these boxes."

Andrea smiled as she lifted her head. "Thank you." She got up from the table and moved to the pantry closet. "Do you want anything to eat? I'm kinda hungry."

She opened the pantry closet and fell back into a pit of distress. A couple items of food were missing. Andrea opened the fridge only to find out that food was missing from there as well.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked.

"He's been stress eating. Ethan does this when he's upset. He..."

Sarah got up from the table and pulled Andrea away from the fridge. "Why don't we start with Ethan's room? I'm sure he'll feel much more comfortable at night if his room is put together..." Sarah tried to think of what to say that could ease Andrea in some way. "And, I'll order us some pizza. I'm sure the kids will be happy about that."