Home Alone (3 page)

"Alright," she said, sliding a kitchen chair over to the door. "But when we hear Mom and Dad pull in, we have to hurry up and move this stuff. We don't want them to think we were afraid."

"Why not?" Alec asked, a good question for an eight-year-old. "We
are
afraid. Even Dad would be afraid if he were here."

Winnie smiled, trying to picture her dad piling stuff in front of the basement door. "I don't think so," she said, pulling a chair from Alec's hands. "I think this is enough stuff. No one is going to be able to open that door with all this junk piled here."

Alec had placed two sofa cushions, a loaf of bread, and an umbrella stand in front of the door. Winnie laughed when she saw the bread. "Is this for when the monster gets hungry?"

Alec only scowled back at her. "Every little bit helps," he growled at her teasing.

They went back to the kitchen and stared out the window. The next bump from the basement sent them closer together. Winnie wished whatever it was would simply disappear. Although the noise was probably nothing, the sound made her more nervous with every bang.

The man on the radio was fading in and out. Winnie grabbed the silver box and tried to find a different channel. She wished for music — anything to take her mind off the storm, but every station she found was a crackly voice warning listeners of the weather.

"Hey, what was that?" Alec yelled, still glued to the window. "Something just flew by."

"You mean like a bird?" Winnie asked, joining her brother at the sliding glass doors.

"No, a big white thing. It almost looked like a ghost."

Winnie frowned. "Alec, first you hear monsters, now you see a ghost. I'm beginning to think you watch way too much TV." The words were hardly out of her mouth before another thing flew past them.

"See!" Alec yelled, grabbing his sister and pointing to the swirling objects outside.

"I saw it, too," she said, wondering what the large white blob was flying inches from the glass.

"Maybe we should stay back from the window," Winnie said, taking her brother's hand for the second time that afternoon.

"Wait!" he yelled, tugging his hand from his sister's hold. "I want to see if that thing is still down by the water."

Alec strained his neck and stood on his tiptoes. He bobbed his head up and down, trying to see what he had noticed before. "It's gone," he said, rather disappointed.

"That's fine with me," Winnie said, noticing the storm sounded and looked as if it were getting worse. She turned and faced the middle of the room. She hadn't noticed how dark it had become over the last several minutes. She glanced at her watch. 6:30. If it had been a regular trip to the store her parents probably would have been home by now. But as she peeked back out at the driving rain and darkness, she began to wonder how they were going to get home at all. For the first time that day, she was feeling real fear.

She looked over at her brother. He was still feeling the excitement of it all. Part of her wanted to shake him and tell him to start worrying about what they were going to do. The other part, the responsible one, knew better. If he got scared, too, then she could have a real problem on her hands.

"Hey, Winnie, come here!" he said, still gawking at the storm raging outdoors.

"What now?" she asked, taking her place by his side.

"I think I see someone."

Winnie could feel her heart begin to race.

"Where?" she asked, finding this whole situation very hard to believe.

"Over there. Right past the shed."

Winnie followed her brother's finger. It led past the swing set and down to the water. When she finally figured out where he was pointing, she gasped.

Her hand covered her mouth to hold in the words of fright that dangled on her tongue.

"Do you see him?" Alec asked, wanting his sister to believe him.

Winnie could only nod. She was afraid to take her eyes off the figure… afraid that it might disappear or, worse yet, come toward the house.

"Who do you think it is?" Alec asked, trying to squirm his way back into position at the window to see.

Winnie finally found her voice. "I don't know," she whispered. Their house was very secluded, and she had never seen anyone around before. And now with this storm going on, she couldn't imagine anyone wanting to be out in this weather unless they were… were what?

"Is that door locked?" Winnie asked, wanting to be ready if the figure scurried up this way.

Alec checked the lock on the door. He nodded his head and gave the door a pull. "No one getting in this way. We better check the other doors though."

"Good idea," Winnie answered, heading for the front door. "You check the garage entrance, and I'll check out front."

As both of the children reached their checkpoints a blast of thunder shook the house. Winnie trembled in her shoes unsure of whether she was simply that scared or whether the ground was actually quaking beneath her.

"Winnie!"

The girl knew her brother had to be scared to death. As tough as he pretended to be, she knew thunder was the one thing that sent him for Mom.

"I'm here!" she called out, running toward the garage entrance.

By the time she got to Alec, he was petrified. "It's okay, Alec. It's just some thunder."

"Just some thunder?" he practically screamed. "That sounded like a rocket blast! Winnie, when are Mom and Dad going to be home?"

Winnie gave her brother a pat on the back and moved around him to turn on the hall light. It was getting too dark in the house to see well. The added light may make her brother feel a little less scared.

"I imagine they'll be a little bit longer," she answered, debating whether to tell the truth or lie for the sake of her brother's feelings. "I think driving has to be pretty nasty right now. They might just sit and wait out the storm at the grocery store."

"But why don't they call if they are doing that?" he asked, his voice still shaky from the clapping of thunder.

"Well…" Winnie moved toward the phone. She, too, was hoping her mother would have called back by now. She picked up the receiver and held it to her ear. The look on her face said it all.

"The phone is dead, isn't it?" Alec asked, almost in tears.

Winnie nodded her head, holding back tears of her own. Why wouldn't cell phones work here? If only her parents hadn't picked a home so far back into the woods! And why did her mom pick this day, of all days, to leave them alone for the first time? Winnie took a deep breath and tried to think. What would her mother say if she were here?

"I'm sure the telephone repairmen are working on it right now," Winnie said as calmly as she could. "Come on. Let's turn on the rest of the lights. It's getting dark early."

She and Alec moved through the house together, turning more lights on than they ordinarily would dare. Their dad was a stickler for saving energy, so they usually limited their lighting. Winnie joked about how their dad would probably faint when he pulled in the driveway and saw all the lights on. Alec laughed, adding to the image with his own silly comments. The combination of their laughter and bright lights now shining through the house, probably would have been enough to ease the tension of the two if it hadn't been for what happened next. For with the next clap of thunder, the very next flash of lightning, every light in the house went out, leaving the children standing alone in the darkness, wondering if this terrible day could get any worse.

Alec was hanging onto Winnie so tightly she was sure there must be grooves in her skin from his fingernails. And yet, somehow just the closeness of her brother was too comforting to ask him to let go.

"Winnie, I'm scared," Alec stammered, hardly able to say the words. "What happened to the lights?"

Winnie was standing perfectly still, trying to decide how to handle the situation. "The wind must have knocked out the lines somewhere," she said.

"What are we going to do?" Alec asked, the fear coming through in his voice. "I can't see a thing!"

"Let's think," she said, trying to sound like a person in charge. "Where do we have flashlights?"

Winnie could easily picture the kitchen drawer in their old house in Pennsylvania that stored the flashlights, candles, and matches. But since they'd been here, keeping track of her own belongings as they were unpacked was hard enough. Winnie had no clue where her mom and dad would have put these emergency tools.

"If we kept them in the kitchen in the old house, that's probably where they are here, too," Alec volunteered.

Winnie was impressed Alec had not only gotten past the immediate fear of the darkness, he had also given the problem some thought and come up with a reasonable answer.

"Follow me," Winnie said, keeping Alec's hand in her own. "I think we can feel our way back to the kitchen. And I bet we can figure out which drawer to look in, too."

They felt their way carefully back to the kitchen, bumping into a few things, but moving surprisingly well in the dark. By the time they reached the room, Winnie already had a few ideas about where to look.

With their second attempt, Alec and Winnie discovered a flashlight. Winnie turned it on, using it to search through other drawers for items helpful in a blackout.

"Should we light some candles?" Alec asked, finding a few lying loose in the drawer.

Winnie gave it some thought. Her mother had always lit several of the waxed tapers and placed them throughout the den when there had been power outages in Pennsylvania. Then they would build a fire for warmth and sing or tell stories to pass the time. Although they always groaned when the electricity went off, somehow, their time together in the den, sitting by the fire, just talking, always made her feel safe and cozy. She thought back to those times and wished she felt like that right now. Instead, she felt unsure and worried — very worried about the night ahead of them in this storm of storms.

"I guess I better light a few," she said, trying to sound more sure of herself than she actually was. She took the candles from the drawer and put them in their holders. Carefully, she lit them one by one, giving them each to Alec to place about the room. She could see his mood had already lifted, simply by having the light in the room. She had to admit she was feeling better herself.

"One more," he said, coming back to his sister. She looked about the room, pleased with how they could easily see every corner of the kitchen. "One more won't hurt," she said, thinking about the darkness they had experienced only moments ago. She lit the last candle with extra caution, knowing her mother would be proud of the care she was taking with each one.

Now able to see again, Winnie glanced at her watch and found it had been nearly two hours since her parents had left. How different the afternoon had gone from what she had expected. And yet, somehow she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment in her actions. She had eased the fears of her little brother, dealt with the noise from the basement, which was still making its occasional bang, and whisked away the darkness with a half dozen candles. Her parents could not have expected her to act more responsibly.

"Now what?" Alec asked, placing the last candle near the window.

"I think we ought to look around for some food," Winnie said, trying to keep her brother's mind off the current situation.

"We already did," Alec whined. "We don't have anything good."

Winnie ignored his comment and went to the snack cupboard. "It may not be your first choice," she said, throwing an opened bag of chips up on the counter, "but we do have food here."

Alec went to the table, the half-empty bag in his hand. "When are Mom and Dad going to get here? I don't think I can wait much longer for supper."

Winnie walked to the window and looked out once again at the rain and windy conditions. She was wondering the same thing. But she also was mature enough to realize that if this storm kept up the way it was now, there was little chance her parents would be home any time soon.

"Winnie?" Alec wanted an answer.

"I…I don't know when they'll be here," Winnie answered as honestly as she could. "I'm sure they are trying to get home as quickly as possible. It's just that…" Winnie stopped, wondering how truthful she should be with her brother.

"It's just that what?" Alec asked, stopping his munching while waiting for her answer.

Winnie walked away from the window and over to the table where Alec was sitting. "I just think that we have to be prepared to be here alone for a while." She watched her brother for some reaction. "If the power is out here, that may mean there are problems in other places too. There could be an electric line across the road or streets that are blocked…"

Winnie was doing her best to tell Alec the facts without causing too much alarm. She knew he needed to believe things were going to be okay. She needed to as well. Winnie was relying on her own calm voice to give her strength.

"But if they don't come home tonight, what are we going to do?" Alec asked, close to being in a panic.

"Try not to worry," Winnie said, touching her brother's shoulder. If he had been a year younger, she would have put her arm around him and given him a hug. But lately, he was in that stage where he wouldn't even let his mom hug him unless she took him off-guard.

"We are going to be fine," she said. "We have candles, a flashlight, food, and it's not even cold." Back home in Pennsylvania, this only happened during snowstorms. Not having to worry about freezing was a big plus here in Florida.

"We may get bored, or even a little scared, but we are going to be okay." Winnie wanted to mention that they should be worried about their parents if they wanted to worry at all. They were the ones out in this horrible storm. But she didn't want to scare Alec anymore than he already was. She went on with her speech, talking about her parents, still at the grocery store, stocking up on food like everyone else. She even commented that they might need to spend the night there, making jokes about how much they would eat through the night.

Alec laughed a little. Winnie felt satisfied knowing that she had at least calmed her brother for the moment. She grabbed a couple chips for herself and sat down next to him. The rain pelting against the windows sounded louder than ever, and the wind was banging things around outside. The only good thing that had happened in the last few minutes was the thunder had stopped.