It Was Just a Fish
I did not understand what was going through my mind at the time when I made that stupid call; maybe it was something I ate that made me go delusional. I do remember what I ate that night before, it was something normal: some fish, broccoli, and grits. That is the normal Randolph household food- fish, a vegetable and something else. I got very tired of that as a kid. I just wanted some McDonald’s or a cheeseburger where the cheese was just beginning to melt onto the burger as if it loved the burger and could not live without it. Even with the pickles and ketchup on the side. I want it sliced down the middle with a soft burger bun, and lastly the bun had to be pressed down so the cheese melts onto the bun too, that is just the way I liked it. I know it is a Whitney way to make food.
It was an evening in the spring about five years ago. I was doing my homework for math class because that was always what I worked on. Math by far was my favorite subject. I was working on how to graph a line with the slope intercept formula. It was so interesting to me, just like everything in math was. Since I was not into coffee then, I was extremely tired. As I was writing down the points I found, using the equation that my teacher gave us in class, I felt myself dozing off. My eyes started to close. I woke myself up. So I shook myself a little bit and continued to work on the problem. I had to get my homework done, but I couldn’t stay awake for the sake of my life. I laid my head on the table so I could take a nap for a few minutes. I looked at the clock; it read 3:03.
I heard the garage door go up. I sprung up out of my sleep! I looked at the clock and this time it said 4:17! My mom walked in the door, looked at me and looked at the clock.

“You have to finish your homework and stop sleeping,” my mom said wisely.

“Mom, I did not think I was going to sleep that long, but my body did not wake up. I was only going to sleep for a few minutes,” I replied.

“Well, just get your work done, so you can relax and rest after,” she said.

She placed her pocket book on the counter and waited for my dad to come upstairs.

“Whit, Mom and I are going to the furniture store, we will be back in a little bit. Make sure you get your work done,” my dad said.

I never did like staying home alone, even though that was only my second time. I always thought someone was going to snatch me up and take me into this foreign land somewhere.
My parents walked out and the garage door went down.
BANG!
I had no clue what in the world that noise was, but it freaked me out. My heart started to beat really fast. I thought someone was in the house.
BANG!

The heard the noise again. I thought to myself, I had to get to the phone, but it was so far away. I panicked I thought someone was going to grab me and shoot me right while I was in the process of getting the phone. I had to have a better plan. I thought of so many things that I could do to get that phone! Maybe I could crawl to the phone, so if someone is in the house and looking at me, they will not be able to see me. Maybe I could sprint to the phone and while I was sprinting back I could dial 9-1-1, instead of dialing once I got back. Well, no that plan would not work. I could sprint to the phone and then dial, do not even worry about sprinting back; that could waste about ten seconds. The plan could fail if I press the wrong buttons though. The numbers are 9-1-1. I thought to myself that is not so bad. What if I had pressed the numbers next to those numbers, I mean I do have big thumbs.
I just went for it. I did not even follow my plan. I ran to the phone and dialed 9-1-1 and quickly hung up the phone after like three seconds.

I didn’t know whether the police could still receive a call if I quickly hung up. I was doomed. I started to pace back and forth, trying to think of what I can do and what do I tell them. Do I tell them that someone is in the house? I looked out the window and I saw the police car drive up!

THE POLICE WERE THERE!

The policeman walked toward the house looking around the perimeter. He knocked on the door. I didn’t know what to do so I slowly opened the window…

“Hello… Officer. What is going on?” I said fearfully.

“I am going to need you to open the door. You called the emergency number.” Said the Officer

“I just heard a noise, but everything is okay sir… I think…” I said, furrowing my brow.

“What did you hear?” He said as if he was trying to fix a situation that he didn’t have all the facts about.

“Sir it is fine, really. It was an accident.”

“Are you sure? Miss we can check it out.”

“Yes I am sure. Sorry about that.”

I walked back to the kitchen table and attempted to finish my homework and not focus on what just happened.

Bang! The noise came again.

I was thinking to myself that I could fight this person off by myself, because there was really someone in the house. I walked upstairs. I remember the movies and they always had a weapon just in case. I grabbed my textbook and walked upstairs. I heard the noise again! I quickly looked into the room where the noise was escaping from. I see the large fish my dad bought in the fish tank hitting the glass. I knew that could not be were the noise was coming from. I heard the noise again! Looked right at the fish and realized the fish was making the noise from hitting the side of the fish tank. The fish was about 11 inches wide. I thought I really have to stop being paranoid.