Last night's Stranger

I woke up with a jolt. I slowly sat up in bed and turned to look at the clock on my nightstand. I didn’t really remember what I dreamt. I remembered that I was having a discussion with someone, it turned heated, and we started to fight. Well, they fought. I tried to fight back but my body wouldn’t allow it. I attempted to use the movements I learned in kickboxing class. I threw a few jabs, uppercuts and I even tried to throw in a few kicks but the person I was fighting with started laughing at my attempt to fight back. I must say that it was funny. You can’t fight in your dreams. Your body won’t allow it. A body safety measure, to keep you from hurting yourself in your sleep, I guess.

I was angry that I couldn’t get a “lick” in. Oh well! I’m awake now.

 I looked at my phone charging on the nightstand; it was only 2:30am. I didn’t have to worry about waking up early in the morning because I had taken the day off from work. The stress of my job was getting to me. As many times, I wanted to take off from work, I seldom did. I had lots of sick and vacation time, but I would just go into work anyway, to avoid “catching up” on tasks later.

Trying to feel normal after waking up, I looked around my room and was relieved I had cleaned and decluttered the room earlier. I can concentrate and focus better when things are in order.

I’ve always been like that. Everything had to be “just right”. I washed my bedroom shelves, shampooed the bedroom carpet, swept and mopped the kitchen floor and finished cleaning the main bathroom. I placed peach plug-ins around the house to give it a wonderful calming smell.

I was still a little anxious about the fight in my dream, so I turned on the radio to the spiritual station. Normally when I wake with a start, I’d listen to a particular preacher who would give an inspiring and uplifting sermon but this time the message was coming from one of those old-time fiery preachers. I could listen to those too but not right now. I needed to relax and not be wired up again.

 I couldn’t stay in bed. I had to get up and do something, go somewhere even if it was just to another room in the house. I stepped out of bed slowly. My feet touched the floor, and they immediately started to hurt. I slowly added more pressure so that I could stand up straight. My feet started to adjust but my back hadn’t caught up with me yet. I understood that aches and pains come along with age but at the rate I was going, I wouldn’t make it to year 58. I waddled over to the bathroom trying to wake up the rest of my body.

I used the bathroom and washed my hands. I looked in the mirror admiring how much my hair had grown since using a new hair product a few months ago. I started wearing it pulled back in a bun on a daily basis to “leave it alone” and give it some time to grow. I’m not happy about the areas that were graying but I’ll put some color in it in a month or so.

I continued to fiddle with my hair and then I heard a noise outside the bathroom window. “What was that?” I said to myself. At first, I couldn’t make out the sound but then I heard it again. The second time startled me. It sounded like a sack of wet clothes falling on the ground. I looked out the window but couldn’t see anything. My mind started thinking about stuff in horror movies. I thought to myself, “Calm down! Nothing is there. You’re imagining things. It’s probably some animal walking around”. I continued to play with my hair.

I thought to just get back in bed, but I was wide awake now and still mad about the “dream” fight. I heard the noise again, but it was faint. It could be my nephews, but I think they were with friends for the night. I was curious about the noise, so I sneaked downstairs to look out the side window near the front door.  This area was right below the upstairs bathroom window. I took my finger to lift a panel on the blinds, so as not to startle whatever IT was. With the small amount of space I was looking through, I couldn’t see very much. I sneaked over to the other side window and did the same thing. Nothing! “Let me try one more time”, I said to myself. So, I went back to the first side window and very carefully lifted the same blind panel. This time someone was standing there and was looking in my direction. It was eerie. They knew I was there and I swear they were staring at me, but it was impossible that they saw my eyes in the darkness. With their head turned towards my direction, they pressed the doorbell and then knocked on the door. Then they slowly turned to look at the door in front of them.

 I opened the door part way, the door chain was still connected, and the door opened a portion of the way.  I turned on the porch light. The person was male, but at first glance looked like a woman because of the long hair, and thin body but stubble was visible on his face. The person standing there looked homeless, tired and weak but as it leaned into the light to speak, their eyes showed something else.

His face was long and gaunt. His eyes were dark and the skin on his face and cheeks seemed to sink in like an overweight person who lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. His eyes didn’t seem trustworthy, and his spirit didn’t sit right with me.

I asked, “May I help you?”

The man said, “Hello, I was wondering if you could help me?”

I was a little scared because it was very early in the morning and I never get company, especially at this time. And of all the houses he passed on the street, he stopped at mine? Why? There is nothing special about me or my house.

I was nervous about this visit, but I was slightly irritated that someone was bothering me at 2 something in the morning. My irritation showed in the way I talked to him.

“Help you with what sir? It’s very early in the morning. What could you possibly need help with?”

“Well, I was coming from a friend’s house and I got turned around”, he said.

Now I was really irritated and had an attitude.

“You got turned around? You’re telling me that you left your friend’s house…..at this time….and they didn’t give you directions? They couldn’t give you a ride? Don’t you have a phone? You can’t call someone?”

Then I realized this guy was lying.

“Yeah, I just got turned around”, he said. I looked him up and down. A bag of clothes was sitting at his feet-on the ground. The clothes looked damp.

 “Sir, you’re not far from the main road. All you have to do is keep walking up that way”. I pointed over the door chain to his right. If you head that way, you’ll get to where you need to go. The fire station is just a couple of blocks down after making a right turn at the main road.

The man looked up the main road and turned back to look over the door chain.

“I hate to be a bother but is it possible I could come in and make a call? I don’t have a phone”.

“No sir” I said. “It’s very early in the morning and….I don’t know you!”.

After I said that, the stranger put his head down, paused for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. He looked me in the eye and said, “I’m so sor….”, but before he could finish his sentence, a hand was placed on my shoulder and gently pushed me to the side. I was startled and jumped a little.

My nephew and his son had come into the kitchen. I completely forgot about them. I thought they were with friends but they had been in the basement this whole time. Usually when I come from upstairs, I can see light seeping through the creases in the steps, but I hadn’t even noticed when I came down this time. I looked out the side window and saw that my nephew’s car was there. I didn’t even notice when I looked out the window just a few minutes ago. Probably because I could barely see between the blind panels. In looking this time, I could see that he parked further into the driveway than normal.

My nephew stood at the door, talking over the door chain and my younger nephew was standing behind me, talking to me-letting the stranger know that there was another person in the house.

My nephew said very strongly, “Sir, is there a problem?”.

The stranger said, “Oh no sir, I just got lost and was asking for some help. That’s all”. As he said this, he was looking to see where I was standing but couldn’t because it was dark and I was hiding behind my nephew.

My nephew then said, “Well like my Auntie said, the main road is right up the street and if you turn right, you’ll see the fire station not too long after. You can’t miss it!”, my nephew said with a stern voice as if reprimanding a child for getting in trouble.

“Okay, thank you sir, I appreciate it! Sorry for bothering you”.

My nephew didn’t say anything else to him. He just closed the door slowly and locked it.

“His spirit was not right” my nephew said softly.

“I wonder if he went to anybody else’s house?” my younger nephew asked, while looking out the side window.  

“Do you see him? Where is he now”.  I asked.

“He’s walking towards the main road. He keeps looking back though”, my younger nephew replied.

“Well, he can look back as long as he keeps walking ahead”, I said sternly.

“I’m so glad you both were here. You scared me at first though”, I said to my nephews.

“We were playing video games” my nephew said. “All night”, I asked.

“Naw, we played earlier but fell asleep and then woke up and started playing again”.

“Well, I’m glad you all came up because he was creepy”.

I asked my younger nephew if he could still see the stranger. He looked out the window again and said, “Naw, he’s gone”.

“Good!”, I said.

“I’m going back to bed and watch a little t.v.

“Okay, Auntie” my oldest nephew replied.

“And thanks so much, you guys! Thank you!”, I said.

“No problem, Auntie!”, they both said.

I woke up a few hours later with the t.v. watching me. The clock said 6:30am. I slept very well within that short amount of time. Apart from talking to my nephews this morning, I really didn’t remember getting back in bed.

Now it was time to get out of bed and get the day started. I really didn’t have anything planned for the day, but I did want to go for a walk before the weather got muggy. I put my feet on the floor and as I’ve done for the past few years, I slowly added pressure to my feet and stood up. I was slightly bent over and held on to the bed—giving my back time to wake up. I waddled to the bathroom to get ready for my morning walk.

Within an hour, I left the house, walked past my nephew’s car and down the driveway and turned right. I was so busy fiddling around with my earbuds that I totally missed the police car lights. There were two police cars in my neighbor’s driveway and two on the street. The ambulance was parked on the street, in front of my neighbor’s house who lived seven houses down.

I really don’t pay attention to things like I used to; it’s got to be due to age. Seems like I would have heard the police cars and the ambulance earlier. Maybe I did but didn’t pay any attention to it.

I crossed the street, not wanting to be a part of whatever was going on at my neighbor’s house. I felt bad that I was going for a walk, but I need to stick to my routine. I said a little prayer for my neighbor and her family hoping that everything was okay. As I passed the house, I saw the paramedics taking the stretcher into the house. The police were standing at the door, and I heard a female’s voice talking and crying to the police. What she said wasn’t clear, but I could make out, “and he wanted a ride”. I took a quick glance at the house, but I dared not stop. I just kept walking. I didn’t feel right playing my music right now, but I got to get through this walk. I gathered my thoughts and put my ear buds in.

I know that my nephews will find out what happened later and tell me all about it. I started to get butterflies in my stomach, and my anxiety started to rise. This is not a close-knit neighborhood, but people still talk. My nephews know more people around here than I do. They’re bound to hear something……especially about last night’s stranger.