Missing.
I heard the door open, very very softly. I was in my brother's room. Both myself and whoever who opened that door, knew he was asleep. Both of us were very discreet with what we were doing. The person closed the door and left and I continued looking for the CD I wanted to listen to. After my extensive and mostly silent search, I was rewarded with the CD I wanted to find. It was slightly dusty. I opened the door, as softly as I could and saw both my parents standing outside. Both of them looked somewhat shocked to see me.
My Dad recovered first and said to my Mum, "You idiot! She's right here!"
My Mum looked at him and then myself.
She was smiling, "I really thought she was missing!"
"Elljay has gone miiii-siiiing." My Dad poked fun at my Mum.
"I looked all over and I couldn't find you...! I went in your elder brother's room, then your second brother's... asked him if he saw you. If you were in his room. He said no. Where were you?" My Mum demanded to know.
"I just came out of big bro's room, Ma." I told her.
Seeing that she was understandably puzzled, I explained that I was standing right at the side of the room, where she could not have seen me.
"I woke your Dad up for nothing." She shook her head and walked away with My Dad. In his trademark grumpy voice, he continued to cajole and harass her and she continued to be amused at her own folly.
~
My Mum truly believed that it was an emergency; sometimes she doesn't even wake my Dad up when we're three-quarters certain that there's a rat about. My Dad is way too grumpy for shabby or merely fledging disasters. She must have believed that I was truly out of the house. And indeed, in that tiny span of time when she was sure I wasn't around, in that short-lived universe, I was absent. She believed she had the evidence that I was not around and she was worried. When she saw me again, when both herself and my Dad registered my "renewed" presence, I felt our worlds collide. The two ends of a bridge snapped together and I crossovered. And Mum smiled, a very radiant smile, as our worlds merged together again... and as I "came back home".
My Dad recovered first and said to my Mum, "You idiot! She's right here!"
My Mum looked at him and then myself.
She was smiling, "I really thought she was missing!"
"Elljay has gone miiii-siiiing." My Dad poked fun at my Mum.
"I looked all over and I couldn't find you...! I went in your elder brother's room, then your second brother's... asked him if he saw you. If you were in his room. He said no. Where were you?" My Mum demanded to know.
"I just came out of big bro's room, Ma." I told her.
Seeing that she was understandably puzzled, I explained that I was standing right at the side of the room, where she could not have seen me.
"I woke your Dad up for nothing." She shook her head and walked away with My Dad. In his trademark grumpy voice, he continued to cajole and harass her and she continued to be amused at her own folly.
~
My Mum truly believed that it was an emergency; sometimes she doesn't even wake my Dad up when we're three-quarters certain that there's a rat about. My Dad is way too grumpy for shabby or merely fledging disasters. She must have believed that I was truly out of the house. And indeed, in that tiny span of time when she was sure I wasn't around, in that short-lived universe, I was absent. She believed she had the evidence that I was not around and she was worried. When she saw me again, when both herself and my Dad registered my "renewed" presence, I felt our worlds collide. The two ends of a bridge snapped together and I crossovered. And Mum smiled, a very radiant smile, as our worlds merged together again... and as I "came back home".