The Blizzard: Chapter One

The Blizzard
By: Cassie Little

Chapter One: The Babysitter

Jeniffer walked to the front door of the house and rang the door bell. Today she was babysitting for the Whitman's. They were going to some fancy restaurant for a business meeting. The door opened and Mrs. Whitman greeted her. She was putting her earrings in.
"Hello Jeniffer!" she said, sounding relieved.
"Hi, Mrs. Whitman, I'm sorry I'm late, but I had soccer practice and it ran late."
It was true. In fact, Jeniffer was still in her uniform and cleats and was clutching her practice bag and a soccer ball.
"It's okay."
Jeniffer stepped in and dropped her bag by the couch. She took her cleats off and put them by the door---she didn't want to scratch up the hardwood floor.
"Now I want the kids in bed by 9:00 and I think our son will be home by 10:00."
"You have another son?" asked Jeniffer.
"Yeah. And the good thing is that he's the same age as you, so you'll have something to do besides make dinner and do your schoolwork."
Mr. Whitman came down the stairs just then and handed Mrs. Whitman her purse.
"Thanks, honey." she said. "If the storm picks up," she said, turning back to Jeniffer, "we'll be home earlier than 11:00."
The snow that all of the weather stations had called, 'just a flurry,' had turned out to be a lot more than, 'just a flurry', in fact, there was already a foot and a half of snow outside.
"Okay." said Jeniffer.
Mr. and Mrs. Whitman both put on their jackets and Mr. Whitman opened the door for Mrs. Whitman.
Before she walked out she said, "Emergency numbers are on the fridge! Call us if anything happens!"
And they were gone.
Jeniffer grabbed her soccer ball and kicked it into a clothes hamper hanging on the door to the laundry room. A few minutes later Mrs. Whitman's kids, Eddie and Ella (who were twins), came down the stairs talking about food. Jeniffer guessed that this meant that they were hungry. She followed them into the kitchen. Eddie wanted S-Car-Go and Ella wanted Caviar. For a couple of four year olds, they were the most difficult people that Jeniffer had ever met. By 7:30 they had decided on macaroni---something that Jeniffer could actually make. But as soon as it was ready, they changed their minds and wanted a frozen pizza. Jeniffer was getting irritated by now, and as soon as she put the pizza in the oven Eddie and Ella decided that they weren't hungry and that they were going to go to bed without any dinner. As Jeniffer stood there with her mouth wide open they went up the stairs and climbed into bed. Jeniffer followed them after a minute and tucked them into bed. Afterwards she went downstairs and ate the pizza and put the macaroni in the fridge.
She went into the living room and sat down on the couch. She found the remote on the coffee table and turned the T.V. on. She felt herself slipping off to sleep. Her eyes closed and she wasn't aware of Monica yelling at Rachael. . .
About an hour later someone jerked open the front door and slammed the door, waking up Jeniffer. She sat up and bumped her head on the coffee table. While she was sleeping she must have rolled off the couch and under the table. She heard someone laughing and stood up. There was a boy her age standing in front of the door. His jacket was covered in snow and his shoes were wet with melted snow. He hung his jacket on the coat rack and took his shoes off by the door. Jeniffer was sure that she didn't know him, but he looked really familiar.
"Now that was funny." said the boy. He walked over to Jeniffer and shook her hand. "My name is Kyle."
"Oh. You're Mrs. Whitman's son!"
"No. I'm the King of England." he said sarcastically. He sat down on the couch and flipped through the channels. He finally settled on SpongeBob.
"What time is it?" asked Jeniffer, taking a seat in the armchair beside the couch.
"It's 10:30. I got home late because the storm was picking up."
Just then there was a loud crash. Jeniffer rushed to the window and looked outside. A tree had fallen in the front yard and the snow was close to four feet deep now. Kyle was at the window next to her and was also looking outside. There was a noise upstairs and someone screamed. Jeniffer and Kyle ran up the stairs to the kids room. Papers were flying all over the room. Little pictures of stick figure family's were bouncing of the walls. Eddie and Ella were standing at an open window trying to close it and were screaming, "Our pictures, our pictures!"
Jeniffer and Kyle ran to the window and struggled to close it. When they finally got it closed, they were panting.
"The wind opened it!" shouted Ella, shivering under her blankets.
"Yeah! We were just sleeping and papers started flying all over the room!" said Eddie.
Kyle walked over in-between the two beds.
"Do you guys want to come down and sleep on the couch and wait for Mom and Dad to come home?"
"Yeah. . ." they both said.
Kyle picked them both up, one in one arm, one in the other, and carried them down the stairs into the living room. He put them both on the couch. They fell asleep immediately. Kyle walked back over to the window.
"The storm's picking up. Mom and Dad should be home soon. Are they supposed to drive you home?"
"Yeah, but my Dad said that if the storm picked up, he'd come early and get me, Ella, and Eddie. And you, if you were here. Your Mom and Dad said that was okay."
"Maybe we should call them."
"I guess. The numbers are on the fridge."
Kyle walked to the phone and dialed his parents cell number. It rang twice and then they answered the phone.
"Hello?" said his Mom.
"Mom?"
"Yeah. . . me."
"Where are you?"
"We. . . left restaurant."
"Are you coming home?"
"Going. . . store."
The phone was about to go out.
"It's almost 11:00, though! And the storm's getting rough!"
"We. . . groceries. . . Be back. . . 11:30."
"Hurry Mom."
"We. . . at. . . store."
"Hurry Mom." Kyle repeated.
". . . love you."
"Love you too Mom."
There was a pause on the other line, and then, "Oh my God!" and someone screamed.
The phone line went dead.
"Mom! Mom?! Are you there?!"
Kyle put down the phone and walked to the door.
"Where are you going?" asked Jeniffer.
"To find my Mom and Dad. Make sure the kids don't get scared while I'm gone."
"But you can't go back out there! You could get really hurt!"
"Oh, please. I'll be back in less than an hour."
Kyle opened the door. He barely made it half a foot and a tree fell right in front of him. He jumped back. The tree barred his way from going anywhere. The snow was already deeper than it was before. The storm was getting really bad. Kyle came back inside the house and closed the door. His shirt had been torn where a branch and caught it. He clutched his arm like it was going to fall off.
"Did you get hurt?" Jeniffer asked walking over to Kyle.
"I'm fine. Just get the antiseptic off the counter in the kitchen. I used it this morning on Eddie."
"Okay." Jeniffer went into the kitchen and grabbed the antiseptic. She brought it to Kyle and he rubbed it on his arm.
"Thanks." he said. There was a loud noise outside. Jeniffer and Kyle ran to the window. A car had pulled into the neighbor’s driveway (the snow on the road wasn't as bad because the snowplow had just come through, but Jeniffer didn't think that it would come through anymore, seeing as the snow was still coming down hard). The car had swerved too early and hit a tree. Three people climbed out of the car: a woman, a man, and a girl that looked Jeniffer and Kyle's age. They ran into the house and lights flickered on all over the house. Jeniffer was surprised that the power hadn't gone out yet. Ella and Eddie shot off the couch just then. They ran over to the window and saw the crashed car. They started crying hysterically. Kyle tried to comfort them, but it was no use. The lights in the living room started to flicker on and off. Ella and Eddie started to cry even more. Kyle took them back to the couch. It took a while, but he finally got them to go to sleep.
"You might want to put a bandage on that." Jeniffer said quietly, still looking out the window. She pointed at his arm.
"That's the least of my worries right now." he said, walking over to the window beside her.
"I'm sure your parent's are fine."
"Yeah, that phone call didn't sound so great."
"Do you mind if I. . . try to. . . call my parents?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry. I should have asked if you wanted to use it earlier."
Kyle handed her the phone and she dialed her phone number. Her Dad picked up the phone.
"Hello? Dad?"
"Jeniffer!"
"Where are you?"
"Coming. . . get you."
"Dad, hang on a minute."
"What do I tell him?" Jeniffer said, turning to Kyle.
"Tell him that he can't go out in the storm---that you're staying here tonight and we'll bring you back as soon as the storm's over."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, it's no problem."
Jeniffer put the phone back to her ear.
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't come over. I'm staying here tonight. Mrs. Whitman is going to bring me home when the storm lets up."
"No. . . can't. . . by yourself. . . during storm. . ."
"Dad, I'll be fine. I stay at friends houses all the time."
"Okay. . . be safe."
"Okay, dad. I love you."
"I. . . you too. . .Bye."
"Bye Dad."
Jeniffer hung up the phone. Now she knew how Kyle felt. She was worried about her parents and her little brother. Suddenly she felt tears well up in her eyes. She sat sown in a chair in the living room as the tears rolled down her face.
"What's wrong?" asked Kyle in an annoyed way.
"My brother. . . he has diabetes. He was supposed to get insulin at the hospital today, but my Mom. . . decided not to go because of the storm."
"He'll be fine, I'm sure."
"If his sugar drops below fifty, he has to use the insulin. But he only has enough for one shot. And he. . . he only has a few test strips left."
"This storm isn't going to last that long. They never do."
"Yeah, but what if it does? How long are we going to be here?"
"You're blowing this whole thing out of proportion. This thing's probably going to blow over by tomorrow."
"You're right. I'm probably just overreacting. What time is it anyway?"
"Almost 11:00."
"I'm really tired. Where can I sleep?"
"In my parents room because it really doesn’t look like they're coming home tonight."
"I'm sorry. I really am."
"They'll make it. Wal-Mart's not such a bad place when you think about it."
Jeniffer laughed.
"Oh, and will you take Jennifer and Eddie with you? They'll get scared in their own room and mine is too small. Do you mind?"
"Of course not."
Jeniffer walked over to the couch and picked up both of the kids. Jeniffer carried Eddie and Ella up the stairs and into Mr. and Mrs. Whitman's room. The lights began to flicker again and Jeniffer heard Ella whimper and curl up tighter in her arms.
"Shhh. It's okay. We're going to bed now."
Jeniffer put them in the bed and looked around the room. There was a large dresser on the wall beside the door. Mrs. Whitman's jewelry box was lying open on the dresser. Jeniffer walked over to it and saw that there was a folded piece of paper lying on the very top. There was a knock on the door. Jeniffer tip-toed over to the door, careful to not wake up Eddie and Ella. She quietly opened the door. Kyle was standing in the second floor landing with a shirt in his hand.
"I thought you might want something to wear to sleep in. It's one of my shirts."
"Oh, thanks."
"No problem."
Kyle started to walk to his room, but turned around.
"Oh, and Jeniffer?"
"Yeah?"
"Good night."