Tame Chapter 1

I grabbed my bag out from under my bed and shoved a few things that I thought I might need to take with me when I stayed the night over at Dan’s house.

Heather’s house was the only place I had ever stay the night at. I had never slept over a male’s house and was unsure of what I should bring. Dan was a good friend of mine so I was certain that spending the night at his house would be fun.

I watched television to keep me occupied while waiting for Dan to pick me up. When seven o’clock rolled around Dan didn’t show up. I thought about calling him, but decided that I would just have to be patient with him.

It was nightfall when Dan showed up forty-five minutes late. When I climbed into his car he quickly apologized for his tardiness by saying that he had a hard time getting out of the house. His mother and sister were on the verge of fighting each other so he and his father had to keep them apart to prevent any violence from escalating.

I told him that it was okay, but I was curious as to what kind of conflict Mrs. Mebay and Kimberly could be having. The only time I had ever saw them together was when I had dinner with Dan a few nights ago. Kimberly had been wearing earplugs while her mother spoke. I was under the impression that there was tension lingering between the family members.

On the ride to Dan’s house he turned the radio up and we sang along to some of the songs we knew the words to and the ones that we didn’t know we made up our own lyrics. It made the car ride fly by.

Dan pulled into his driveway and together we climbed out of his car. The street he lived on was dark, but each of the houses on the block had lights on that caused the street to glow.

“This should be fun,” I said as we made our way up the walk way.

“I hope so,” Dan said uncertainly. “My mother and Kimberley aren’t very close, so when they get into arguments they’re always serious and scary. I was heading to pick you up and my sister was literally on the verge of smacking my mother. I had to help my dad break them apart.”

“That sounds terrible,”

Dan turned the unlocked door knob and together we entered the house. As soon as we walked inside I spotted Mrs. Mebay lift herself off a couch in the nearby family room. She made her way down the hallway toward us.

“Hello Mrs. Mebay,” I said politely. “It’s so great to see you again.”

Mrs. Mebay stopped a few feet in front of me wearing a suspicious look on her face. I could tell from the way that she was looking at me that there was some hostility lingering inside of her that was being caused by my presence. This wasn’t the same woman I had had dinner with a few nights ago. She seemed less welcoming and more cynical.

Mrs. Mebay allowed a smile to spread over her face that was so fake it made her appear even more hostile.

“Hi Amalie,”

“Uh, Mom,” Dan corrected her. “Her name is Amanda.”

Mrs. Mebay flashed her son a disapproving glare as if him correcting her was far more rude than her mispronouncing my name. She directed her attention back onto me.

“Amanda, since you’re staying the night here I’d like to set up some ground rules. ” Mrs. Mebay narrowed her eyes at me and came right out and said what was on her mind. “I expect you to keep your filthy hands off of my son.”

Even though this remark was directed toward me, Dan appeared to be more caught off guard than I was since I saw out of the corner of my eye his mouth drop open. I stared at Mrs. Mebay uncomfortably allowing an offended look to sweep over my face.

“I don’t want any hanky panky in this house,” Mrs. Mebay continued as she rested her clenched fists on her hips. “Do you understand?”

“Mom, Amanda and I are friends,”

“That’s what I told my parents about your father and look what happened. Nine months later Kimberly was born.”

Dan covered his face with his hand as an attempt to conceal the embarrassment he was feeling. I glanced down the hallway and spotted Kimberly climbing down the stairwell with an agitated look on her face.

She walked right by us, open the front door, and stormed outside with the door slamming behind her. Mrs. Mebay raised an eyebrow and then walked between Dan and I to get to the door.

She stepped out onto the threshold and yelled outside.

“Kimberly where do you think you’re going?!”

In response, I heard the engine of the car start and the squealing of tires as Kimberly drove off. Mrs. Mebay stared out into the darkness. I turned around startled to see Mr. Mebay now standing in front of us. He must have slipped into the room when I was watching Mrs. Mebay.

“Welcome,” was all he said.

It was the first word I had heard him say ever since I had first met him. Dan took my arm and led me toward the basement to escape his family drama.

When we were in the basement Dan apologized to me for his family’s behavior.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he slid onto one of the couches. “I’m afraid that they’re always like this.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I then asked. “So what do you want to do?”

___________

Dan and I spent several hours watching various movies that his father had purchased with the intention of watching with his entire family, however Kimberly’s abrupt running out and his mother’s crabby mood corrupted Mr. Mebay’s plan’s of having a nice Saturday movie night with his family. To compensate for this, Dan I were happily watching all the movies together.

We watched various movies together ranging from comedies, romance, and to horror. It was a lot of fun and a few times Dan input his outrageous commentary into the events that were happening in the movie which made it all the more fun. It really helped take my mind off Mr. Richwood and all the troubles that were taking place in my life.

After we watched our second movie we wandered upstairs into Dan’s kitchen to search for something to eat. Dan had told me that his mother was suppose to cook dinner, since I their guest was staying the night, but she had been too moody and we were left to find whatever was in Dan’s kitchen to eat.

I didn’t mind it so much. We searched through the cabinets and refrigerator taking any chips, cookies, sodas, or sandwiches that we saw appetizing and made our own little meal out of the assortment of food. It was against the rules to eat in the basement, but Dan said he didn’t care and we took the food into the basement and watched another movie while devouring the junk food.

After the third movie, I realized that it was after midnight. Dan vanished upstairs for a moment while I gathered all our trash together in a neat pile. I had managed to eat my food without leaving a mess, but Dan on the other hand had spilled food all over the floor that I was left to clean up.

When he returned five minutes later I asked him if he had any ice cream. I wasn’t sure why, but I had a sudden craving for some ice cream.

“Ou, sorry, my Mom doesn’t like having ice cream in the house,” he flopped down on the couch. “She’s afraid that if it’s in the house she’ll eat some and then gain weight.”

“That sucks,” I said out loud. “I have a craving for some ice cream.”

“We could run to the mini mart and buy some.”

“But it’s after midnight,” I said hesitantly. “Won’t your parents be mad?”

Dan shrugged as if it was no big deal. He appeared to be relaxed while lying on the couch with his feet resting on the coffee table in front of him.

“It’s only a few blocks away. This neighborhood is safe and my parents are asleep. I’m sure that if we walk there it will only take us ten minutes to get there and then ten minutes to get back.”

I thought about it for a moment. I wasn’t really confident about going out after nightfall. Dan appeared as though this was no big deal and that his parents could care less. I was afraid that we were going to do something that would only further agitate Mrs. Mebay. She already had a slight grudge forming against me and I didn’t want to make her detest me even more than she already did.

I thought about it for a moment and Dan’s rationale slowly began to convert the way I was thinking to fall in his favor. I considered that it might be fun and this is what caused me to give in.

____________

We quietly made our way up the basement stairs. Once we reached the top, Dan motioned for me to head toward the front door while he went to his bed room, upstairs, to grab his wallet.

The house was dark and we relied on the glow coming from the basement at the end of the hall to guide us. We didn’t want to risk turning on any lights and waking Mr. and Mrs. Mebay.

I made my way to the front door and watched as Dan disappeared upstairs. I was wondering where Kimberly was at. She had never come back home and it was after midnight. I wasn’t sure if her parents were concerned or if they were use to this kind of behavior from their daughter to the point that it no longer bothered them.

Eventually Dan returned holding his wallet in his hands. He silently unbolted the front door and we slipped outside without making a sound. I watched as Dan closed the front door behind him, not bothering to lock it since we were only walking a short distance.

The night sky was robbed of any stars, but to compensate for their absence the moon was full and selfishly hogging the space in the night sky. I could hear the dim chirping of crickets in the distance along with the humming of the night atmosphere.

Together we walked down the walk way and made our way onto the street. Dan didn’t want to use his car because he feared the lights or the engine would alert his parents. Besides, it was too beautiful of night to waste driving when we could walk and enjoy nature together.

I waited until we were out of earshot of the house to start a random conversation with Dan. I started off talking to him about the moon and slowly our conversation led to Heather.

“I want to thank you again Amanda,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to talk to Heather if it wasn’t for your help.”

“Don’t sweat it,”

“I’m going to miss our lesson though. Maybe I’ll need your help again in the future.”

“Of course, feel free to come to me any time. I won’t mind helping you.”

I wasn’t sure why, but there was something inside of me that was considering telling Dan about Heather’s taming idea for Mr. Richwood. I was quick wane this idea from my mind because I knew revealing this to Dan would be a recipe for disaster.

He love Heather too much. If I told him this, then there was no doubt in my mind that it would hurt him badly. I was still harboring anxiety that Heather was only using Dan for her entertainment. There was something very unsettling about this possibility. I confirmed that to ease my apprehension I was going to have to talk to Heather directly about her intentions.

When we arrive at the store, we found the clerk inside was half asleep. The bell that sounded upon our entrance into his desolate store awoke him immediately after his body reacted with a quick hypnotic jerk.

He watched us through drooped eyelids as we wandered toward the freezers located in the back of the small store. Dan and I choose between the flavors and picked out two quarts of ice cream, one was vanilla and the other was chocolate.

The clerk wrung up the two quarts and Dan paid him with a solid ten dollar bill. We then made our way outside and made the journey back toward the Mebay house.

As we were walking, Dan had us take a different street to his house because he wanted to show me Northern Avenue Swamp.

Northern Avenue Swamp was located across a heavily populated street. The land surrounding the swamp was lined with several trees that had thick branches covered with leaves that made the piece of nature look so heavy that they drooped downward into the swamp.

The land leading into the swamp, sloped downward creating the impression that it was part of a small hill. Despite the fact that it was dark, I could see that the small pond was filled with dark, murky water that gave the area this ominous appearance.

“They say that the ghost of a man who use to live near the swamp roams it at night and if he finds anyone near it he tries to pull them inside.” said Dan.

We were standing in the middle of the empty street, a safe distance away form the landscape that lead into the swamp. I studied it carefully and then directed my gaze on to Dan to voice my opinion.

“That sounds kind of creepy.” I commented.

“We should check it out,” he suggested.

“No way, I’ve watched enough horror movies to know that’s not a good idea.”

“What’s wrong? Are you a chicken?”

“No, I’m a human being.”

“Chicken,” Dan teased. “Chicken, chicken,”

I narrowed my eyes at him and dared him to call me a chicken once more. When he did, I reached onto the road to grab the nearest object, which happened to be a small stone and then I tossed it at him. It bounced off his clothing causing the least bit of pain toward him.

“Was that suppose to hurt me?” he asked as he began to balance the two quarts of ice cream that he was holding on top of his shoulders. “If so, I sure didn’t feel anything. Chicken, chicken, chicken.”

I spotted a heavy rock on the side of the road that had the potential to shatter glass if thrown properly. I ran over to pry it from the mud in the ground. I picked it up and began to toss the heavy rock up and down in the palm of my hand as I slowly began to approach Dan.

“Hey,” he asked. “What’s that dangerously, large object that you have in your hand?”

I caught the rock and clenched it in my fist. I held it up to show Dan and one look at the rock caused him to take off running in the direction opposite of me. I began to chase after him holding the rock in my hand.

Dan was pretty fast, but I managed to keep up with him, with both of us laughing along the way. I had no real intention of throwing the rock at him, but I wanted to show him that I was serious.

When we reached his home, we managed to sneak inside the basement without being detected by his parents. Together we ate the two quarts of ice cream. A few times I spotted Dan sticking the spoon he ate off of into the bucket.

“Ew,” I said to him. “Don’t do that. It’s nasty.”

He laughed and then did the exact same thing that I had told him not to do again, right in front of me just to reveal his defiance toward my authority. The two us somehow managed to eat the two quarts of ice cream together and once we had consumed all the ice cream we were greet with a rapid sugar buzz that sent us on a hippomanic frenzy.

To get all the energy out of us, Dan and I were running around his basement fake fighting with one another. He was practicing some fighting moves on me, while I, who had no knowledge of any particular fighting styles, made up my own attacks.

When we were fake fighting, we weren’t too aggressive, but at the same time we weren’t too passive either. The sugar from the ice cream gave me this amazing adrenaline rush that provided me with a ton of energy.

Eventually the sugar began to wear completely off and we were ready for bed. It was after four in the morning. Dan had given me Kimberly’s old sleeping bag to spread out on the basement floor. Since the floor was made of a cushioned type of carpet it felt like lying on a cloud.

“Goodnight,” I said to him half drowsy as I crawled into the sleeping bag.

“I was going to sleep in my room,” I heard Dan say as I nestled myself between the warm covers. “But I’ll sleep on the couch down here to keep you company.”

“Thanks,”

Dan turned the lights off and I heard his footsteps cross the room as he climbed onto a couch nearby me. It was a really fun night and I was glad to have a friend like Dan.