My house looked dark from the outside. Rain was pattering down hard, making the windshield on my Mom’s car blur, but I could see Dad drumming his fingers on the passenger dashboard. The vacancy startled me then, but when I look back on it now, having nobody except a black lab seems simple. Mom honked the horn, startling me.
“Alice ​Xania​ Mashkiel, I can’t leave until you’re inside the house,” Mom scolded through her window, breaking out the middle name. “Remember to text me if something is wrong.”
I wished my parents my love and winked at my third-grade sister who was lip-syncing to the car stereo sarcastically, and pounded in the garage code, and entered the house, already repeating what I was doing here alone.
“ I am here because I am mature enough to be home alone. I know the dog’s needs and can microwave a container of macaroni. Everything will be fine.” I feel more optimistic already, for at least I wasn’t at the Child Care Center, waiting for my parent’s workout to be over. The main reason I wasn’t with my sister at the Center was because being eleven made me the oldest child there by far.
I draped my drenched poncho over the sink, holding out my hand to accept my youngest dog Maggie’s kisses.
I ate my dinner probably too fast for my own good, but I didn’t care. Being home alone was fun- even in the rain! After scrubbing my dishes, I collapsed on the sofa. The hard drizzle had evolved to a downpour, which had developed into a massive thunderstorm! Drowsy, I grappled the television remote and pasted my eyes to the screen.
I must have been halfway through my first show, when an odd buzzing noise sounded from the television. My hand trembled and I muted the television.
BOOM BANGITTY BOOM BOOM! An ear-splitting bolt struck, chortling multiple times. The buzzing was louder now, as if the television was freaking out. With one more indescribable thunderbolt, the television went black and the lights faded. Perfect, the power was down. I shivered, sensing my way around the house, and amazingly, every flashlight in the house was out of battery. Sighing, I gathered four flashlights and loaded them with batteries. My flawless night was obviously over.
I heaped quilts on myself and read with one of my recently charged flashlights, not comprehending it. The thunder was still roaring and the rain was plummeting faster than ever. Maggie cautiously licked my palm. Randomly, I remembered something.
“Remember to text me if something is wrong.” ​ Mom told me to text her if something went arrighi, and to me, this was an emergency. I raced upstairs to message her. As soon as my phone was in my hands, I heard my parents enter the house.
The remainder of the night flew by, including apologies and far fetched tales about all of the equipment powering down. As I hugged my parents, I realized love was wireless and its light will always shine.