Quarantine

Adalynn was eight years old and was easily entertained for the most part. She sat in front of the TV watching a cartoon with talking animals. Her stuffed-animal dog laid on its side next to her. She heard the voices of her parents coming into the room. She looked over to see her mom talking about some man running on the street.

“From what Meredith told me, there is nothing to worry about. She talked to Mayra Evans shortly after the incident,” Rachel Sanders said in a calm voice to her husband Nathan.

“Yeah, I guess you are right,” Nathan replied. He looked at his watch, hoping that Baden would get here soon. This was their date night, and Baden was the babysitter when they went out to the little restaurant on the edge of town. “I wish that we didn’t agree to letting Baden live with that brother of yours.”

Rachel sighed and mouthed, “Not now.” Her finger pointed out that their youngest daughter was listening to them. She agreed with him about letting her move in with her brother even though Baden was doing better in school. Rachel still didn’t understand the reason why her oldest child wanted to live with Thomas.

Nathan shook his head and smiled over at Adalynn. “How’s my little girl?” he said, shrinking to her level. “The show any good?”

Adalynn looked at him and nodded. She was more observant than they realized and knew that they didn’t like that Baden moved. She didn’t even like it, but she was glad that her sister would still visit them.

A knock on the door made Nathan stand up and go to answer it. He smiled seeing that Baden was actually early this time. “Baden, I’m glad you could do this for us,” he said, smiling widely.

“Yeah, well. You asked me to be here once a month or so, and here I am,” Baden replied, trying to be funny.

Nathan stepped aside as his wife checked over her list. Rachel always made a list for Baden when she came to babysit. It was usually the same, but Rachel still wrote it out. “Make sure Adalynn gets to bed on time, and you can order pizza or have something from the kitchen,” she said. “I will left forty dollars in the kitchen for the food.”

Baden nodded. “Alright. You can trust me, Mom,” she said like she always did.

There was an awkward silence between them. The distance between the three of them was something that couldn’t be overlooked when they were together. Baden knew that they were going to try to convince her to move back here, and she didn’t really want that.

Adalynn watched the three of them stare at each other in silence. She knew that it would be best that she should stay silent, and not say anything. She played with her fingers, not really sure why she felt so awkward. It wasn’t her fault for the silence, but she wasn’t completely sure what was going on.

“Well, we should be home around eleven. There is some money for pizza on the kitchen counter,” Adalynn’s mom said, breaking the silence in the room. She stepped towards the door and to stand next to her husband.

Nathan smiled and told Adalynn and Baden that they would be back as soon as they could. The two adults walked out of the house, leaving the two sisters alone in the house. Baden made sure the door was locked before turning to Adalynn.

“So you wanna stay up watching movies?” Baden asked, pulling out a few movies from her purse. They were all rated PG, and their mother couldn’t complain about it even if she wanted to. “You will just have to do your homework first.”

Adalynn jumped up to her feet and ran over to her bag. “I already finished it, see?” she said, pulling out the pieces of papers.

Baden smiled as she looked over the paper. She didn’t mind babysitting her younger sister. She even liked being around her sister now that Adalynn was both older and Baden didn’t have to see her every day. Baden wasn’t really one for children and most definitely didn’t plan on getting pregnant anytime soon.

“Can you tell me about the old man?” Adalynn asked, remembering her parents talking about it when they got home.

“There’s nothing to say,” Baden replied, putting a movie into the player. “Just some old guy escaped the nursing home.”

“But that doesn’t happen here,” Addie argued.

“Addie, it happened today. There’s nothing to know besides that. I was there,” Baden said, ruffling the young girl’s blonde hair. “Nothing worth talking about.”

Baden was lying, and it was very clear to Addie. Before anything else could be said, Baden walked into the kitchen to see how mch money was left for them. She called the local pizza delivery place and ordered a pepperoni pizza and bread sticks.

Baden still thought about what happened and still didn’t know what to think about it. Adalynn was right though. That nursing home never had any escapes from any of the residents. Baden would know since that was where she worked normally. It was a small job where she just sat at the front desk.

Addie wanted to know more about the old man, but she realized that she wasn’t going to get anything from her parents or her older sister. She knew that no one else was going to tell her. She sighed in defeat and followed her sister into the kitchen.

The two sisters both watched the cartoon movies until a few minutes before eleven. Baden tucked the younger girl into bed and made sure she was asleep. She pushed the movies back into her bag, knowing that Rachel would have preferred Adalynn to do something more productive. She scratched through the list of things to do as if she actually did it as she threw out the trash.

Her parents both walked in as she went to put her shoes on. “Adalynn is bed, so I’m gonna head home now,” she said.

“It’s late, Baden. There are blankets and a bed in your room,” Nathan said, pleading with his oldest daughter.

“It’s fine, Dad,” she replied. “Uncle Tommy’s place isn’t that far away, and I’m not all that tired.” She didn’t give them another chance to talk. She got up and walked out to her car with her purse over her shoulder.