Unexpected

The Offer

When the next Wednesday rolled around, I found myself in the odd predicament that I was actually going to be alone for an entire afternoon by the looks of it! My grandpa usually went to the firing range to shoot on Wednesday, but since my disappearance and all throughout my recovery so far he'd stayed with Grams and I instead. Today, however, we insisted that he go out again. He told us he'd have his phone with him if we needed anything and that he'd be home in time for dinner before Grams all but chased him out the door. Only after Grumps was gone did my grandmother realize she had been planning on going to the next town over to visit a long-time friend of hers that afternoon. She was just picking up the phone to call off when I finally interjected.

"Grams, you should go!"

"And leave you alone? Not likely."

"I'm a big girl, Grams, I can handle myself and you need some time away. You and Grumps have been cooped up around the house for far too long trying to take care of me. I'll be fine."

It took a lot of coaxing, bit eventually Grams' car was pulling out of the driveway and I was alone. For a second I didn't know what to do with myself, I hadn't been allowed to be in the house alone up to this point! After a bit of shuffling around the house I figured out what I wanted to do, the one thing I was all but forbidden to do. Cook. There's just something about not being allowed to do something that makes you really want to just go and do it anyways! I also just so happened to not have eaten lunch yet and I was hungry.

Turning up my music much louder than my grandparents liked I started pulling ingredients from the fridge. Ever since my grandmother had come home from grocery shopping a few days before with a pack of fresh jalapeno peppers, I'd been longing to make cheesy bacon jalapeno poppers! They'd make a great lunch! Nodding my head to 3 Doors Down and Cascada, I started whipping up a three cheese mix, then I chopped jalapenos in half and gutted them to Owl City. Belting out to Skillet's song "Kill Me, Heal Me", I scooped generous globs of cheese into the halved jalapenos and to Disney Aladdin's "Never had a Friend like Me" I wrapped each pepper half in uncooked bacon. It was quite a struggle for me to get the two trays of jalapeno poppers from one side of the kitchen to the other where the oven was considering that I still needed crutches to walk at this point and my one good leg was growing tired from having to hold up my weight by itself. With the oven heated up and my poppers baking I moved back into the living room and sat down with a tired 'plop'.

Checking my phone I found, to my amusement, that both of my grandparents had sent me texts asking how I was. Really, I'm twenty two! I think I can handle being home alone! I was about to send them messages back saying just that when I sighed and deleted the message. They were just worried about me; after having their only grandchild be kidnapped they were bound to be a bit over protective. Typing a couple of texts to them I told them that I was fine and that they should enjoy themselves before leaning back and closing my eyes. Even though I barely did anything because of my leg I was constantly tired. After I had started coming off my pain meds that had knocked me out at night, my nightmares had returned. I dreamed of ugly, grey Chitauri shooting at me, of falling from a great height over the destroyed city, of my grandparents being caught in the explosion I had set off during the battle, of nurses with glowing turquoise eyes and large syringes, of Loki being pounded to death by an enraged Hulk, of Loki on an executioners stand, of a bright light and medical implements tearing at my skin trying to figure out my abilities. Needless to say, my sleep was not very restful and I was constantly waking up in the middle of the night sweating or with tears pricking at my eyes. Maybe I'd try going to bed early tonight, try to get some restful sleep before the nightmares caught up with me again.

I was just about to get up to check the poppers when there came a knock on the door that froze me where I sat. I wasn't expecting any company. No one had called or texted me saying they were stopping by. I checked my phone again, no missed calls, no messages. Maybe it was a FED/EX or UPS truck or something. My grandmother was in the habit of ordering things online.