Home Is Where The Heart Is

    The annoying beeping is heard coming from her phone on the nightstand.  Picking up the Dare, she hits the snooze button on the screen and puts the phone next to her pillow.  Closing her eyes again she cherishes the next ten minutes of sleep.  When the alarm goes off again, she opens her eyes and shuts the phone off.  Her blue eyes fully open and she looks around the two tone blue room.  Her wolf pictures surrounded her walls and her laptop sat at the end of the bed on a tv stand.  Climbing out of bed, she walks to the joining bathroom and shuts the door automatically.  Glancing at the lavender walls, she swears she is going to change the color as she brushes her teeth.  After preparing for the day, both mentally and physically, she opens the bed room door after she puts her shoulder length blond hair into a ponytail.  Stepping into the hall at the top of the stairs, she hears the tv playing downstairs and knows she is not the first one  up.  Sighing softly, she silently prays for a hint of peace for the day as she starts walking down the stairs.  As she steps on the bottom step, she sees a boy of about eight years of age with a blond mowhawk, sitting on the wooden octagon coffee table.  His sister, a couple years older than him with medium brown hair and a freckled face, was dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a black tshirt with a picture of Animal, from the muppets, playing the drums.  Both glance away from the program they were watching for a split second and glance at who was up.  Seeing it was mom, they both started asking about breakfast.

    She stood very still and closed her eyes as she mentally told herself to remain calm.  Being bipolar with four kids was hard, but she was taking it one day at a time and she often found herself closing her eyes and just breathing.  After making the pancakes, she feeds the children she sees before calling for the other two.  Making sure all four got enough to eat, she begins cleaning up the mess she had made.  Once that was done, she started with her daily routine.  She put a load in the dishwasher, a load in the clothes washer, swept the kichten, fed the dog, changed the garbage, vaccumed the living room, made the beds, cleaned the bathroom and planned something for dinner all before noon.  Once the kids ate, the two eldest children returned to their rooms and their computers, while the two youngest children went out to play.  She had the day to get everything she wanted done.  There was still alot to do, but she had three and a half hours before her husband came home and everything was put on stop until the next day.

She got everything done with a couple hours to spare.  Asking one of the older children to keep an eye on things, she walks into her bathroom and shuts the door.  Pouring herself a hot milk bath, she pins her hair up away from her neck and turns on the radio.  Once the tub was full, she stepped out of her clothing and slipped into the water.  At first it was very hot to the touch, but she forced herself to climb in just the same, knowing it would help ease the pain she will be feeling later.  Leaning back and laying down, she sighs softly when the water and bubbles cover her entire body.  Closing her eyes, she listens to the music as she lets the hot water work its magic on her muscles and the milk bath work its magic on her skin. 

"Rhonda!"

    She jumps awake and looks around dazed for a couple seconds.  Seeing her husband, she blinks a couple times.  Frank had just got home from work and he was still dressed in his jeans and black work shirt.  Frank is intimidating to look at with his military cut hair and goatee.  But one look in his sea blue eyes, and you can see that he is a good man with a kind heart.

    Shaking her head slightly, she sits up and empties the water.  "Gimmie a sec.  Let me get these bubbles off me and I will be out."

    Frank nods and walks out of the bathroom shutting the door behind him.  Sitting in the tub, Rhonda shakes her head again as she tries to get her bearings straight.  Standing up, she starts the water again and when she is happy with the temp of the water, she pulls the stopper for the shower.  Rinsing the bubbles off of her, she turns the water off and wraps a towel around her.  Stepping out of the shower, she quickly dries off and gets dressed.  Brushing her teeth again, she lets down her hair and combs it out before opening the bathroom door and walking out.  "Ok, I'm done.  Whats up?"

"Whats for dinner?"

"Chicken stir-fry over pasta with salad and garlic bread and strawberry cheesecake for dessert."

"Ok.  Wake me up in an hour?"

She nods slightly and turns off the tv as Frank slips on his machine and lays down.  Frank has sleep apena and if he doesn't sleep with his breathing machine, he stops breathing in the middle of the night.  For fifteen years, Rhonda listened to his breathing, and if he stopped, she would wake him up just so he would breathe again.  Now that he has the machine, she actually sleeps better knowing that he won't stop breathing. 

Walking out of the bedroom, she shuts the door behind her and makes her way downstairs to get started on dinner.    For the next hour, she worked on dinner wanting it to be done as Frank was waking up.  She had just pulled out the bread from the oven, when she heard his voice.  "Dinner done?"

"Yup, want to get the kids for me?"

"Yeah I'll get them."

As Frank went to get the kids, Rhonda set the table and put the food on the island in the middle of the kitchen.  She then got the chocolate milk out of the fridge and filled the glasses that were on the table.  Putting the milk back, the kids enter the house.  "Food!"

"Go wash your hands"

"But mom they are clean."  Says the eight year old boy.

Rhonda arches a brow and turns to look at the boy.  Taking a few steps closer, she inspects his hands.  She saw chalk dust, dirt, left over popsicle juice and lord knows what else.  She looked to her son's eyes and arched her brow again as she pointed towards the bathroom.  "Now!"

The boy giggles and takes off towards the bathroom.  The ten year old girl started to say something, but changed her mind instead and turned to follow her brother to the bathroom.  After a few minutes they return and sit at the table along with dad and older sisters.  Brandi, the ten year old, says grace then the food gets passed out.  Rhonda watches as everyone fills their plate.  She had to make sure everyone had enough food before making her plate.  With a family of six, and only one working, sometimes things get overlooked.  Seeing there was enough for her, she finally makes her plate and eats dinner silently.  Once everyone was done eating, she cleaned up, put the food away, and did the dishes.  Grabbing her Mt.Dew and smokes, she walks out to the back deck and sits down in one of the chairs.  Starr, her white and black husky, makes her way from the back of the yard to the deck finally stopping at Rhonda's feet.  Smiling softly, Rhonda gently pets Starr for a few moments before opening her black case and pulling out a cigarette.  Closing the case and packing the cigarette against it, she puts the cigarette between her lips and lights it.  Enjoying the cigarette for a few seconds, she opens her eyes again and looks to Starr.  Smiling a bit more, she takes the cigarette out of her mouth with her right hand and pets the dog with her left.

The night was quiet, even for a subdivision.  They had just moved into the subdivision not too long ago and everything seemed to be going fairly well so far.  She looks up to the stars and stares at them with a blank mind.  Not many could clear her mind as fast as she could.  And to be able to do it without thought, well that was just odd.  For so long she played it off as a trait of being a blond.  Alot of people bought it and everyone made jokes.  Most of the time it didn't bother her too much because she would use that time to focus on one major thing.  When she was in school, she would focus on a project or paper that was due.  As she got older, she put more focus into her stories.  Rhonda loved to write stories, and not just any stories, vampire stories.  According her nephew, she was the official vampire know it all.  A title she wore with pride.

As she sits out on her deck staring up at the stars, she wonders how many others stared up at the same stars and thought about what if.  Knowing she is being silly, she looks back to the dog and almost jumps out of her seat when she hears her husband.  "Hey, I got called in."

"What time do you think you will be home?"

"One maybe two hours."

"Alright, I will finish cleaning up then get everyone ready for bed."

"K.  Love you."

"Love you more."

She watched him until he was out of sight.  Putting out her cigarette, she pets the dog once more and checks to make sure there was food and water in the dog's bowls.  Seeing there was, she walks back inside and says night to Starr as she shuts the door and blinds.  She cleaned up what was left in the kitchen, then had all the kids get ready for bath.  The two younger ones were the hardest to get to take a bath.  They both wanted to use mommy's bathroom.  To save the arguing for another day, Rhonda walks into her room and stops them from arguing.  "Youngest first."

Hank stuck his tongue out at his sister and hurried into the bathroom and shut the door.  Brandi sat down and watched some tv as she waited for her turn.  Once all the baths were done, Rhonda tucked the younger ones in bed and read them both a story.  She did not get very far into the story before the both of them were fast asleep.  Smiling softly, she kisses them good night and leaves the room.  Walking down the stairs again, she makes her way out to the front porch with her pop bottle and smokes in hand.  Sitting down on the little bench she has, she lights up another smoke and watches as the subdivision shuts down for the night.  One by one the house lights go off as everyone gets their children in bed.  Within twenty minutes, the entire street was quiet.  No sounds of children playing, or music drifting on the wind.  Rhonda took a deep breath and felt all the tension from the day melt away.  She was not sitting outside for very long before a stranger walked up the sidewalk and asked if she could help him.  Being the kind soul she was, she asked how she could help, but she was not stupid either.  As she stood from her seat and made her way to the door, she took in all she could about the guy.  He stood about six foot and he wore a black pair of jersey shorts along with a matching shirt.  His black hair was shoulder length and he had a pair of beautiful blue eyes.  Rhonda had to admit that the guy did look yummy, but that wasn't going to help him any.  "I know you don't know me from anyone else, but I was wondering if I could use your phone.  I broke down about a mile away and I have been trying houses the entire way."

Rhonda thought about that for a few moments as she continued to watch him.  She remembers when she broke down on her way to work, and how a guy was nice enough to drive her to work.  She nods slightly and looks to him.  "Wait here."

Slipping inside, she shuts the door behind her and walks over to the kitchen table and grabs her phone.  Walking back to the door, she opens it up but remains inside.  Slipping her hand through the door she hands him her cell phone.  The guy takes her phone and smiles slightly as he mouths thanks.  She watched him through the glass screen door as he made his call.  Clearly it was to his insurance company, and from the looks of things, it wasn't going his way.  After twenty minutes, he finally hangs up the phone and turns to face her.  Rhonda opens up the door again as he hands her the phone.  "Thank you.  My name is Stephon.  Stephon Dark."

"Rhonda."

Stephon smiles his most enchanting smile and bows slightly.  "I thank you for the rescue.  My ride will be here shortly."

Rhonda nods slightly and keeps watching him.  Seeing that he hasn't done anything towards her yet, she figured it was safe to step back outside.  Returning to her seat, she still keeps her eye on Stephon, but she is actually considerate and tries to help pass the time with conversation.  "So what are you doing out here?"

"I came here to see some friends of mine.  They said they were having a party and when I got there, there was only the three of them."

"That's not much of a party."

He laughs.  "Yeah, that is why I split.  What about you?  What are you doing home on a Friday night?"

"My husband got called in."

"Ahh.  One of those on call guys?"

"Yeah something like that.  He is kinda a big wig."

"Cool."  He glances down the street as if looking for his ride.  Not seeing anything, he looks back to Rhonda.  "Think I could trouble you for something to drink?"

"Yeah hang on."

Standing up, she makes her way back inside and gets him a glass of water.  Returning a few moments later with a large blue plastic glass, she hands him the glass and returns to her seat.  Grabbing her case, she gets out another cigarette and packs it a couple times against the case before putting it between her lips.  The flame came out of nowhere and she jumped slightly.  Realizing it was only Stephon offering her a light, she felt absolutely stupid.  Glancing at him for a brief moment, she lights her smoke quickly and nods her thanks.  Feeling a nagging sensation slowly creeping up her spine, she tries to keep a relaxed composure.  Rhonda continued to watch Stephon as she silently prayed for Frank to return home. 

Stephon returned to the steps and sat down on the top step.  He silently looked over the woman that was kind enough to help a total stranger.  She was of average build and appearance.  There was nothing exceptional about her, but something kept him at her door steps.  "What do you do?"

Rhonda's eyes register the shock for a brief second.  Shaking her head slightly, she gives the answer she has given everyone else who asks that.  "I am a stay at home mom of four kids."

Stephon hears her words, but also hears that it is not the entire truth.  He nods slightly and carefully words his next question.  "That is a full time job.  What do you do to entertain yourself?"

Rhonda tilts her head slightly and stares directly into his eyes.  "I am a hopeful writer, but I am having problems focusing on one story at a time."

"What do you mean?"

She laughs softly and shakes her head.  "I have a thousand and one stories floating in my head at one time.  To focus on one story at a time is time consuming and eventually painful."

"How can that be painful?"  He sounded truly curious.

"I forget to do things and I end up hurting myself."

"How?"

Rhonda laughs.  "Not like you are thinking.  I just forget to eat every now and then.  Nothing major I promise."

"Ah.  So you have a hard time focusing.  Why don't you have like journals for each story?"

Rhonda nods slightly.  "I have about twenty journals in the house that are about two inches thick."

"Is that helping?"

Rhonda shakes her head no silently.  "I start one on Monday, by Wednesday I am working on another."

Stephon stares at her wondering just how many stories she had.  "What are your stories about?"

Rhonda grins slightly as a slight sparkle lights her eyes.  "Vampires."

Stephon was silent for a few seconds.  "Vampires?  Why vampires?"

"I have always had a sick obsession with them.  I think it was the fangs and the whole biting thing."

Stephon laughs finding her words funny.  "I take it you like to bite."

"You can ask my husband that."

Properly put back in his place.  Yes the more he talked to Rhonda, the more he wanted to know.  She was answering all of his questions without any issue, and she was keeping him company.  "Ok so vampires.  Tell me about one of your stories."

"You don't want to hear them.  They are more ideas than they are stories."

"Ok so tell me about your favorite."

"Why do you think I have a favorite?"

"Oh come on, every writer has a favorite."

Rhonda smiles slightly and looks to her lap.  "Her name is Snow and she is beautiful and kind and giving.  She has pale skin and long white flowing hair.  Her eyes are a crystal blue and her skin is like a breakable doll.  She is a vampire, but she is different from the stories mortals have heard.  Her friends are her family and she has a large family.  They don't drink her blood and she don't drink theirs.  Snow doesn't know nor does she care about sides.  She calls her friends family no matter where they stood."

"Sounds like a good story."

"No it don't.  I forgot over half her history and everything is a jumbled mess."

Stephon looks at her for a few moments before finally speaking.  "Can you tell a story?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can you tell one of the stories.  Some people have a hard time writing their stories, but can tell them without problems."

"I don't know I never really tried.  No one really wants to hear my stories around here."

"I would love to hear your stories.  And I could help you get them out of your head and down on to paper.  If you would like to that is."

Stephon has Rhonda's attention.  She licks her lips slightly at the idea of actually getting her stories out there for others to enjoy and maybe help Frank out with the bills and stuff.  But what was the catch?  There is always a catch and it was probably one she couldn't afford.  "What's the catch?"

Stephon looks at her a bit longer than proper.  "No catch.  Your husband can even join us if he so wishes."

"You can bring it up to him when he gets home."

"So you are not interested in my proposal?"

"I didn't say that, but there is always a catch to an offer like that."

"I like to repay kindness given."

"All I did was let you use my phone."

"You also gave me water and pleasant conversation to pass the time."

"You will have to talk to Frank.  He might not like this."

They both fall silent and Rhonda keeps glancing to the street, waiting for Frank.  Fifteen minutes passed and Frank finally pulled up to park in front of the house.  Relief washed over Rhonda as she stood up and walked over to her husband with a smile and love in her eyes.  She hugged Frank tightly and when she felt Frank's arms wrap around her, she whispered as fast as she could.  "I let this guy use my phone and he is waiting for his ride."

Frank looks to Rhonda and makes sure everything is ok before looking to the guy.  "What's his name?"

"Stephon Dark."

Frank walks up to the porch with Rhonda a couple steps behind him and greets the stranger on his porch.  "Hello."

Stephon sizes up Frank and figures it best to remain polite.  Offering Frank his hand.  "Hello.  Stephon Dark.  I assume you are Frank?  Rhonda has spoke so highly of you."

Frank glances to Rhonda as he shakes Stephon's hand.  "Yea, she tends to do that.  What brings you here?"

"Well as I was telling your wife, I was invited to a party by some of my friends only to find out it was a complete bust.  I left taking the back roads home and didn't see a turn until it was too late.  I have asked every house to use their phone and your wife was the first kind soul to let me use it."

Frank passed that wreck on the way home and after hearing the story, he looks Stephon over slowly, searching for injuries.  "You were in that wreck down the street?  Dude you should be in a hospital."

Stephon lowers his eyes slightly.  "I jumped out before it hit the tree.  Thankfully no one was around.  I assure you, its just a few scratches."

Frank nods slightly not seeing anything wrong with him.  "So how long do you think it will be before your ride gets here?"

Stephon shakes his head.  "Honestly, I am unsure.  But after speaking with your wife, I have found a way I could repay your kindness."

Frank shakes his head.  "Don't worry about it man."

"Oh no, I insist.  Your wife has a wonderful mind filled with stories that I would very much like to hear.  You see I am in search of some new material to publish.  Rhonda has been gracious enough to tell me about her stories, and her inability to focus.  I think I might actually be able to help her and get her writings published."

Frank stands there for a few moments silently.  He knew Rhonda had been working hard for so long to try and get her stories written.  Looking to Rhonda's timid yet hopeful face, he looks back to Stephon and nods slightly.  "Why don't you come back tomorrow and we will sit down and talk about it.  I want proof of who you are and work you have published and where.  If I am going to agree to this, I am going to make damn sure you don't fuck my wife over."

Stephon smiles slightly and nods respectfully, admiring Frank for his protectiveness and passion.  "Understood completely Frank.  If you wish I can also bring along a business partner."

"No, papers will do just fine." 

Stephon nods slightly and notices a car pull to a stop in front of the house.  He waves slightly and looks to both Frank and Rhonda.  "I look forward to our next meeting.  Until tomorrow."

Frank and Rhonda watch Stephon leave before turning and walking into the house.  Locking everything up, nothing was said until they were back in their bedroom.  Rhonda sits on the corner of the bed in front of her laptop and watches as Frank walks to the other side of the bed.  "Well?"

Frank looks to Rhonda and shakes his head.  "I don't know baby.  I don't like the fact that he was here when I got home, but I understand why you did it.  I will do a little checking out tonight and we will see what he brings tomorrow if he shows up."

"But what if he is on the up and up?"

Frank looks to her knowing what she is asking.  He sits down and looks into her eyes for the longest of times.  He could see her hope of writing.  He could see how bad she wanted this, but he also saw how scared she was.  "If he is on the up and up, then he will probably be around alot at night."

Relief washed over her face.  "Really?  If it is ok, I really want you there too.  I know you don't like stories and stuff, but I just would feel alot safer if you were right there too.  I will set up something so you could even play on the laptop if you want."

Frank can't help but smile.  "If you want me there, I'm there."

Rhonda smiles and wraps her arms around Frank's neck.  She kisses him softly for a few moments before turning out the light.


The next morning, the sun was shinning in her window which lit up the room.  Waking to the bright light, she groans softly and covers her head with the blanket.  She did not want to get up at all.  Without even leaving her room, she heard the tv downstairs.  She knew they were up and they wanted food.  She had to get them fed and out playing so she could clean up the house, just in case.  Growling softly, she tosses the blanket aside and sits up.  Crossing her legs in front of her, she scoots to the end of the bed and turns on her lap top.  While it boots up, she gets her medicine bottle.  Opening the bottle, she takes out the pills and pops it into her mouth.  Swallowing the pill, she closes the bottle and sets it down before typing her password into the laptop.  Cracking her neck and stretching her body, she slowly starts to wake up.  When the computer is fully booted, Rhonda rests her hand on the mouse and brings up the search engine.  Typing in Stephon Dark, she does a search of her own.  As she waits for the search to complete, her phone vibrates, letting Rhonda know she has a text message.  Laying back on the bed, she grabs her phone and unlocks the screen.  Seeing it was Frank, she smiles softly and hits the view now button on the screen.  "Morning."

Rhonda's smile widens as she hits the reply button and starts typing.  "Morning baby."

Hitting the send button, she keeps a hold of her phone as she waits for his reply.  Soon enough she got it.  "So I did some checking on our visitor last night."

Rhonda couldn't help but laugh.  "I am doing the same thing."

"LOL  Well he sounds like he is on the up and up.  No record, hell not even a ticket."

"Really?  Ok give me a little bit and let me see what I can come up with on the internet."

"K.  let me know."

"Will do.  luv u"

"luv u 2"

Setting her phone down on the tv stand, she returns to her search.  Clicking on the first link she saw, she looked it over checking to see if it contained the information she wanted.  When she sees that it doesn't, she closes the link and returns to the search.  After about twenty minutes of searching, she finally found what she wanted.  Reading it line for line, she finishes the page fairly quickly.  Finding that Mr. Dark was actually telling her the truth, she grabs her phone and starts typing once again.  "Found it.  Link in email."

After sending the text, she copies the link from the web browser and pastes it in her email.  Sending it to Frank's email account, she climbs out of bed and walks to the bathroom.  Taking care of business, she walks back to the laptop and glances at it as she picks up her phone.  Seeing that Frank sent a message, she opens it up.  "Ok.  He sounds legit."

Rhonda stood there and stared at the phone.  Those four words made everything inside of her seem to stop.  The thousands of stories that bombarded her mind all the time, went silent.  The kids were not so loud, and she actually felt calm.  Cassie, Rhonda and Frank's second child, stood in the door way to Rhonda's room and stared at mom for a few moments.  "Mom?"

Hearing another voice, Rhonda actually jumps and spins around.  Seeing Rhonda pale, Cassie looks at her a bit worried.  "Mom?  What's wrong?"

Rhonda just kinda stares at her for a few seconds and shakes her head slightly as she mentally returns to reality.  "nothing.  Umm, I am going to need your help today.  I have to get the house clean, all of the house."

"Who's coming over?"

"Umm..a guest."

Cassie looks at her a bit confused, then nods slightly.  "Alright, let me go tell everyone I will be busy today."

Turning slightly, Cassie walks back down the hall to her room.  Cassie was a good girl and at sixteen, she really didn't give Rhonda grief.  Returning a few moments later, she watches as Rhonda picks up the last of her room.  "Ok mom, what do you want me to do?"

Rhonda looks up at her, her eyes slightly crazed.  "I need you to clean up the main floor.  When I get down there I am going to wash the carpet so if you could, start in the kitchen.  I am going to finish up here and get the rooms cleaned up."

Cassie nods slightly and heads down stairs while Rhonda walks to Hank's room.  There wasn't too much to do in Hank's room, just a quick pick up.  Putting his toys in his toy box and organizing his remote controlled cars, she then makes the bed and turns on the fan.  Walking out of Hank's room, she walks down the hall to the next room.  Reaching in and turning on the light, the olive green bathroom lights up.  Just the color made Rhonda sick.  Making quick work of the bathroom, when she was done, she turned off the light and walked out of the room shutting the door behind her.  She glances at Cassie's room and finds it satisfactory before looking to Brandi's room.  Surprisingly enough, Brandi's room was actually clean.  Nodding slightly, a soft smile crosses Rhonda's face as she turns and walks back down the hall towards the stairs.

"Everything looks good guys."

Rhonda called out as she walks down the stairs. Reaching the bottom step, she is surprised to see everything done.  She stood there stunned, unable to say anything.  Rhonda looks to the three children standing before her and just smiles.  Brandi was the first to speak.  "We wanted to surprise you."

Cassie smiles and looks to mom.  "I kinda overheard last night."

Rhonda's brows arch as she looks to Cassie.  "Oh did you now?"

Cassie thought she was in trouble and her smile quickly fades.  "You were talking right under my window mom.  And the walls are not very soundproof around here."

Shaking her head slightly and unable to stop smiling, she walks up to the kids and gives them all a hug and a kiss on the cheek.  "Thank you guys.  You are all awesome."

The children hugged her in return.  Hank and Brandi then asked if they could go play and Cassie asked if she could return to her room.  Rhonda nods slightly and watches them all scatter.  Sighing softly, she looks around at her spotless house before grabbing her cigarettes and walking out to the deck in the back yard.