Disaster Day

The sky was clear and blue, so blue and empty that you could lose yourself in it. The sky told of the simple promise of good weather and no rain, but one had to wonder why the sky couldn't foretell more. Looking up at the sky now, I wished that the sky could have warned me of the day's events. If only there had been a little sign that could have clued me in to what would happen that day, like how the dark clouds on the horizon tell of the coming of a storm.

My mother had to run some errands and was getting her hair done today. This usually meant that I was left to babysit. The thought of it gave me shudders and considering my three younger, all male siblings, anyone would want to cry at the thought of babysitting all of them together at once. I, being the eldest, always had the responsibility of keeping an eye on them. Although I liked the authority of being in charge, it was a pain to look after three savage mongrels.

I had tried to convince my mom several times that my brothers were not of this world, but each time had resulted in a severe scolding. There was the eldest of the boys, Riggles, who was ten. Then there was Dridget, a seven year old. Last of all, there was Vubbles who was a measly three years old. Sure they were strange names but my mother liked ones that were unique and these boys were definitely unique. Riggles could make anyone angry in less than a second with a few words of the mouth. Dridget was notorious for causing trouble and riling up the other siblings. But Vubbles could destroy anything in a matter of minutes. Worst yet, I had to babysit them all day.

We were not a rich family, but our house was bigger than the average house. We had an upstairs bonus room, a main floor, and a basement (although it was unfinished). My brothers sat calmly on the couches in the living room, their faces molded into expressions of fake innocence that only I could see through to the demons lurking underneath. I watched them nervously and waited anxiously by the back door as my mother hurriedly flew about the kitchen, collecting her purse and phone. My brothers waited patiently for her to leave but I began to panic as she rushed past me towards the door.

“Mom! Wait! Please don’t leave me to babysit!” I called after her frantically.

“Saucy! I don’t have time for this! Watch your brothers for me and don’t be mean to them.”

“But-” I was about to reply, but after a soft smile at her boys, she slammed out the back door and into her car.

I was never mean to my brothers unless I had a reason, and I always had a reason with these monsters. I glared at them with a wave of anger that had come with the realization that I was stuck with them. The sound of my mother’s car peeling out of the driveway was like a match on a keg of gasoline. They exploded from the couch like an angry hurricane, Riggles and Dridget flying upstairs to play video games with Vubbles following closely behind. My shoulders immediately slumped and I sighed a defeated sound. They should be okay upstairs and I wanted to run to my room to grab a book to read while I kept an eye on my siblings.

I was just coming back into the living room with one of my new books when I heard a loud crash from upstairs. Dread flooded through me and I tossed my book onto the couch before running to stand at the bottom of the stairs of the bonus room. The door was shut and loud banging, laughter, and screams continued on behind it.

“HEY!” I yelled, “WHAT’S GOING ON!?”

The sounds stopped and the door suddenly flew open. Dridget poked his head out of the doorway, holding the door closed so that I couldn’t see into the room. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. It was eerily quiet up there…

“What are you guys doing?” I said coldly, my hands on my hips.

Dridget gave me a mischievous, evil grin and replied with sass, “Nothing.”

Just then there was another crash, and I came marching up the stairs, “Move. I’m coming in.”

Dridget screeched and bounced away and I was soon standing in the threshold of a cationic mess. The bed was flipped over on its side, toys from the shelves were all ripped out and strewn everywhere, the books from the bookshelf were all over the floor, the foosball table was also knocked over, and Vubbles ran around screaming and flying a toy airplane while Riggles sat entranced in front of the tv playing video games. My mouth dropped open and I did the first thing that I always did when these kind of things happened, I yelled.

“YOU DIRTY PIGS!!! LOOK AT THE MESS YOU MADE! CLEAN IT UP RIGHT NOW! MOM IS GOING TO KILL YOU!!!” I screeched, my face turning purple and I’m pretty sure my eyes were bulging out of my head.

Riggles managed to pause the video game and tear his eyes away from the screen, sneering at me, “No. We don’t have to if we don’t want to. You’re the one babysitting.”

My eyes instantly narrowed and my fists tightened, furry stealing over me, “I’m going to kill you,” I growled.

“RUN!” Screeched Dridget in his girliest voice, fake screaming as he tried to run past me.

I stopped Dridget and tried to push him back into the room but Riggles threw down his controller and added his own weight to the struggle. We wrestled in the doorway, careful to avoid the steep and dangerous stairs behind us. I was starting to win the battle. I shoved Dridget to the floor and onto his butt, making him temporarily out of action. I also managed to block another one of Riggles attempts to escape but he soon found a dirty way to beat me. He used the dangerous creature against me.

“VUBBLES! BITE!”

“Ehh?” Vubbles head snapped in our direction before he grinned and came running at me, hissing with his little fangs bared.

“No! Bad Vubbles!” I screeched, trying to maintain my grip on Riggles while avoid Vubbles’ teeth.

But it was too late. He wrapped his grubby little paws in an iron grip around my calf and sunk his teeth in, shaking his head like a rabid dog, tearing at my flesh.

“AHHHH!!!” I yowled, releasing Riggles to pry away this beast from my leg.

“ HA HA! ESCAPE! RUN DRIDGET!” Riggles cackled, flying down the stairs with Dridget and Vubbles right behind him.

I whimpered angrily and lifted my pant leg to examine my wound, cursing at the deep blue and bruised bite marks I saw there. Although, I was soon called back to my duties by the sound of mad giggles and slamming doors. I rushed down the stairs, careful with my sore leg, to stop these tyrants from destroying the house. When I reached the living room, toys were already thrown everywhere and Riggles and Dridget were throwing a football back and forth. One of Dridget’s throws missed and the football smashed into some picture frames, knocking them to the floor, cackling laughter following after.

“STOP THROWING THE FOOTBALL IN THE HOUSE!!!” I yelled just as it slammed into the window and blinds.

The boys abandoned their ball and ran screeching down the hall, “SHE’S BACK! RUN!”

I was about to chase after them when I noticed that one was missing, and the pantry door was shut with the light on inside. Vubbles. I strode towards the door and pushed it open, finding Vubbles on the floor with ribbed open bags of marshmallows and chocolate chips, their contents everywhere. His mouth was also stuffed with them and he shrieked when he saw me, trying to pull the door closed and hide behind it.

“OUT!” I ordered, grabbing his wrist and yanking him out.

“NO!” He began to scream and cry, stopping his feet and pursing his chocolate smeared lips.

“You’re a bad boy! No more!” I scolded, shutting the pantry door.

“NOOO!” He screamed even louder, “Vubbles not bad boy! SAUCY IS!”

I sighed in frustration and left him to throw his temper tantrum on the floor while I gathered all of the phones in the house. Once I had them all, I hid them in a drawer where the boys wouldn’t find them. Things were about to get ugly and I didn’t need them calling mom and tattle tailing on me.

Just then Dridget opened the combining door to the kitchen and dining room and poked his head out, making a face at me, “Nah nah, nah nah nah! You can’t get us!”

He was in Mom’s no kid zone rooms! “Come back here you little brat!” I hollered, tearing after him.

I made it into the room and froze at the sight I saw. Riggles and Dridget were jumping on Mom’s nice and expensive couches! She would kill me! Riggles laughed a savage hyena laugh and threw one of the pillows at my head, missing and knocking over a glass candle lantern which shattered against the floor. Glass shards flew everywhere and horror filled Riggles eyes, a look a fear passing between him and his brother.

“You are so dead,” I said, anger written all over my face.

A strange look suddenly passed over Riggles face before it was replaced with a look of panic, “Dude! Vubbles! He’s outside and going towards the canal! He could fall in and drown!”

Riggles finger pointed outside the window behind me and I gasped, “WHAT!”

I flew to the back door that led off the deck with Riggles and Dridget close on my heels. I flung it open and rushed outside, my head frantically swinging back and forth as I scanned the area for my youngest little brother. I couldn’t see him anywhere! He’d already fallen in!

“DO YOU SEE HIM!?” I shouted over my shoulder to the boys.

There was no reply and that was when I head the giggle of my sibling, who was supposed to be drowning, right behind me. I spun on my heel just as the door was slammed in my face and heard the definite sound of a lock clicking into place. Riggles, Dridget, and Vubbles all evilly laughed at me through the glass on the other side. I tried the handle, locked.

“HEY! LET ME IN!” I screamed.

“NEVER!” They yelled back, pointing and laughing at their clever trap that I had fallen into to.

I had to get back inside. I tore around the side of the deck to the other back door but they beat me to it. It was also locked and they sneered at me through this door too. I had three other doors to try, the garage and the front. I tried both of these doors and they were each locked in turn. There was one last way I could get in and that was if they didn’t see me.

Sneaking out of sight and around the front of the house where I was sure that the boys were frantically looking out the windows to find me. I made it to the basement windows at the front of the house where I had left one unlocked just in case of emergencies like this. I placed my palms against the cool glass and gently pressed and slid the window open. Squeezing through the narrow opening, I jumped down to the dusty cement and shut the window behind me. Somehow my situation oddly reminded me of a part in the movie Lilo and Stitch.

I crept quickly down the dusty hall, unfinished sheet rock all around me. I let myself in through the basement door and eased it quietly shut behind me before making my way up the stairs. The upstairs hallway was devoid of little demons and I made my way to my room without being seen. There were a few things that I needed before I executed my assault. Little did I know that I had set of the silent alarm downstairs that they had turned on.

With a roll of silver duct tape in my hand, I made my way toward the kitchen where the monsters’ loud ruckus gave their location away. I calmly peeked around the hallway and into the kitchen and living room, calculating which one would be the easiest to catch first. Croutons, their strange regular snack, littered the floor and Riggles and Dridget jammed away on their devices playing Clash of Clans. Vubbles sat entranced on top of the coffee table watching his favorite tv show, the Octonauts, which was blaring loudly. The crouton bag lay discarded closely by me and Vubbles was the easiest to trick… My first target now acquired, I set to work.

I silently dragged the bag closer to me, taking out of handful of croutons and waiting a minute before chucking them into the room. I shied back a bit but Riggles and Dridget didn’t look up. Vubbles caught sight of the croutons and effortlessly hopped down to scoop them into his mouth. My plan now set in action, I laid down a trail of the morsels that led into the hall. Taking up position behind the bathroom door, I waited for my prey to approach.

The sound of crunching croutons increased and it wasn’t long until I saw a grubby little hand snatch up one of the last croutons in front of me. I lept out of my hiding place and snatched the little creature into my arms. He squealed, but only for second until I clamped my hand over his mouth and ran into my parents room. I threw him onto the bed, wiping the slobber off my hand before shutting the door behind us. He screamed at the sight of me and tried to escape off the other side of the bed but I was too quick. I caught a hold of his leg and dragged him onto a blanket that I had laid out beforehand.

I clamped his arms against his body and began to roll him tightly up in the blanket so that only his head was out. Once he was fully wrapped in the blanket I wrapped some duct tape around him, securing him in. The classic burrito blanket trap, very hard to escape and impossible to get out of when duct tape was involved. He squirmed and thrashed on the floor to no prevail, his screams almost earsplitting but I didn’t try to quiet him. Faze two of the plan.

I hid in the closet across the hall and waited for my bait to do his job. Sure enough, the sounds of Riggles and Dridget’s foot steps pounded hurriedly down the hall, drawn by the distress of their partner in crime. They were too slow to realize that their burritoed accomplice meant my presence before I sprung out of the closet and onto Dridget. Pinning his writhing body to the floor, I duct taped his hands together behind his back as the chicken Riggles fled the room screeching. I moved onto his feet and soon they were duct taped also, he was now another hostage of mine. Despite his pleas, I placed a piece of duct tape over his mouth to quiet his annoying voice. Now I only had one more to catch.

Of course I was going to free them before Mom got home, this was only to keep them out of my hair and stop them from destroying the rest of the house. I had an inkling that Riggles was hiding in his room and I took up my next hiding place in the dark recesses of my room next door. Surprisingly I didn’t have to wait long before his door opened slowly, the sound of it creaking on its hinges loud compared to the quiet of the house besides Vubbles’ whimpers and Dridget’s muffled yells. Riggles poked his head out slowly, like a mouse peeking out of his hole, before he began to step timidly into the hall. I was like a lithe dangerous cat, and the last of my prey crept into sight before me.

I sprung with a wild screech escaping my lips and Riggles ran like he had caught fire. His high terrified girly screams pierced the air and he flew into a closet before I could catch him. I slammed against it trying to get to my prey that was just on the other side of the door. He held the handle so that I couldn’t open it, and I yanked it up and down on the other side in a desperate attempt to get it. Finally giving up and deciding that I would wait for him to come out, I took up hopefully one last hiding place around the corner. The handle jiggled, but didn’t move and soon Riggles was screaming. Alarmed, I quickly tried to open the door. The handle moved up and down, but would not open the door.

“Let me out!!!” He screeched, “I can’t open the door! LET ME OUT!!!”

“I’m trying!” I yelled back, “The handle won’t open the door!”

I began to panic. If Mom came home to find her son locked in the closet I would be dead and I would be even more dead if we couldn’t fix the door handle. I glanced out the window where the afternoon light was slowly fading as the sun set, Mom could be home any minute. Sadley, that was the least of my problems.

Suddenly the front door slammed open and three armed policemen with their guns pointed at me barged into the house, “PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!”

I quickly threw my hands above my head as cold panic rushed down my spine and tears pricked my eyes in fear. I hadn’t done anything! The men’s eyes widened at the sight of Vubbles and Dridget tied up in the room behind me and the sound of Riggles locked in closet. They approached me slowly, with their guns more focused on me and ordered me to get on my knees. I was getting arrested. With the realization and acceptance of what was happening, my mouth began to quiver and my tears streamed more freely.

“You don’t u-understand, I live here! I haven’t done anything wrong!” I pleaded as two of the officers split up to search the rest of the house and the other approached me menacingly.

“QUIET!” He barked at me, “EVERYTHING YOU SAY CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU!”

I whimpered quietly, flinching as he roughly snapped cold silver handcuffs over my wrists.

Riggles voice echoed dimly from the closet next to us, “Saucy? HEY! What’s happening!?”

I wasn’t sure which wave that swept through me was stronger when my mother walked through the front door and into her house just as the cop yanked me to my feet, relief or dread. Her eyes were wide in fear and they quickly flitted about the house. When they landed on me, the cop, my brothers, and the pounding against the closet door they narrowed in anger that scared me witless. I could feel my mother’s cold eyes silently condemning me to severe punishment. The cop next to me even slightly trembled in fear against the glare of my mother even though he had faced multiple men in far dangerous situations.
I hung my head in defeat, I was done for. So much for trying to end the terrible reign of my siblings, I should have just stayed locked outside. This was definitely a day of disaster. It took a lot of explaining to get everything cleared up and by the end of the night and an earful of yelling and eternity’s supply of grounding, the idea of a quiet and lonely jail cell seemed quite appealing.