Interrupted

My Life Thus Far
2009-04-29 06:23:53 (UTC)

A Bit Enigmatic

While Helena was here, I had no problem going to bed at
11pm. In fact, I went to bed when Helena did, fell right
to sleep and slept through the night. It's 10:48pm and I
don't feel at all like I'm ready to go to bed. I'm going
to try because I know it's best for me, but I'm not
entirely sure I'll be successful. Optimism isn't always my
strong suit, I'll admit. But I'll try...

I thought the thing with the stalker was all the scare I
could take when it came to Annie and her welfare, but I
was wrong. Although, I think the bastard set me up in a
twisted kind of way. If that seems a bit enigmatic, read
on, you'll understand soon enough. Last night around
7:30pm I sent Annie downstairs to take a shower and get
ready for bed. Half an hour later, I heard the shower go
off. Half an hour after that she still hadn't come
upstairs to say goodnight. I gathered Kiki's stuffed
animals, books and blankets and took her downstairs to
bed. She wanted to sleep with her sister, so I went into
Annie's bedroom, but Annie wasn't there... I went into
Kiki's room, but she wasn't there either... Then I went
into the playroom to check Kiki's tent, and she wasn't
there either... At this point I was starting to get a
little concerned. I dropped all the stuff I was carrying
and started my irrational search. I checked under every
bed, every closet, drawer, shower, cabinet, behind every
piece of furniture, behind the furnace, hot water heater.
Everywhere. I couldn't find her. Helena looked at me like
I was insane. All I could say was "I can't find Annie".
She looked at me and said "you're kidding", but I wasn't.

So, at this point I'm trying not to panic. The back door
was locked, Annie's window was open but the screen was
intact. Kiki's window was locked. The front door squeaks
when you open it, so no one could have come in or gone out
that way. We knew she had to be somewhere in the house,
but where? Helena was slightly more rational than me. She
said "okay, we're going to canvas the house one more time
and if we don't find her, then we're calling the police"!
We went through the whole house again only this time when
we got to the playroom I didn't just look at the pile of
stuffed animals in the corner, I tore into them. Why
didn't I do that the first time I checked the playroom?
Underneath Clifford the Big Red Dog (and by big, I mean
huge), was a peacefully sleeping Annie. Completely
oblivious of the temporary mental anguish, anxiety and
literal physical pain she'd caused her mother by not being
in her bed.

I picked her up and put her to bed. She never woke up and
she had no recollection of the ordeal this morning. I
didn't mention any of it to her. She's got enough anxiety
already. He's still watching her and she knows it. He was
standing on the corner when I came home from the gym today
and when Annie's bus dropped her off. That's what I mean
by he set me up. I'm so paranoid about him lurking there
on the corner every day that I'm just waiting for
something worse to happen. I'm not over-reacting. I'd told
Helena about what's been happening the day she got here
and she said it was the first thing that came to her mind
as we were searching. The fact that we're both rational
people was probably the only reason we didn't immediately
call the police. There was no way anyone could have gotten
in. Short of having a key to the back door (and every key
to the house is accounted for) or slashing through Annie's
screen (but that would have been obvious). I'll be so glad
when Snookums gets home. I can't blame my not sleeping on
this, but it certainly doesn't help matters.

Speaking of sleep, it's time for me to do that. I'm tired,
I had a good workout at the gym today. Everything is
locked up and all three children are in their beds. It's
time to retire... Ciao.




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