The Intruders

Kenneth got into bed at around midnight and lay on his side with his eyes shut tight. His mind wandered into the one place he didn’t want it to go, but knew that it would. He saw memories of his ex-wife, a beautiful blonde that the girls in Hollywood visit plastic surgeons to look like. She had it all naturally. One day about six months she up and left while Kenneth was out of the house. She gave no explanation whatsoever, and Kenneth hadn’t seen her since.

Kenneth opened his eyes fearful of the time that had elapsed since he got into bed. Just after three in the morning. He sighed deeply and climbed out of bed. He flipped on the light and squinted while his eyes adjusted. He ran his hand through his dirty blonde hair and then made his way toward the kitchen. In the kitchen he grabbed a bottle of vodka from the freezer and fixed himself a glass with two ice cubes. As he sat at the kitchen counter sipping his drink, he heard voices echoing throughout the house. A conversation was taking place and the voices were so omnipresent that Kenneth nearly dropped his glass.

“Hello?” he said, his voice rose just beyond conversational.

He downed the rest of his drink and sat the glass down on the counter. He crept slowly from room to room, flipped on the lights, and repeated, “hello? Who’s in there?”

There was a man’s voice and that of a young girl.

“You’re too old for this, sweetie.” The man said. “Why not share with your little cousin?”

The sobbing girl could barely form her words. “Because it’s mine” she wept, “and I want it!”

“But you never use it anymore sweetie, and think how happy it would make your cousin.”

Kenneth had checked every room and found no one. He looked up at the ceiling, “HELLO!” he screamed. He ran to the front door and checked outside, but there was no one in sight. The voices suddenly stopped, but that was no relief to Kenneth because he knew what he had heard. He returned to the kitchen and poured himself another drink. He decided to wait up until the voices returned.

Two hours later it was beginning to get bright outside. The bottle was almost empty and Kenneth could barely keep his eyes open. He swallowed what was left in his glass and stumbled back to his bedroom. Within moments he was in a deep sleep.

“Hey peewee, what are you doing in here? Is that your new toy? Wasn’t it so nice of your cousin to give that to you? You should write her a thank you note.”

“Shhhh daddy, he’s sleeping?”

“Who’s sleeping, my love?”

“Ken.”

The little girl pointed inside the window of her dollhouse to a dirty blonde figurine asleep in the bedroom. Then she pointed to the kitchen where a bottle and glass sat on the counter and said, “look daddy, he doesn’t like doing the dishes either.”

“No, I guess he doesn’t.” The man said. “Where’s the Barbie, peewee?”

“I don’t know, I think Sarah lost it before she gave me the house. She said there was no Barbie.”

“Well that’s too bad, isn’t it peewee? Poor old Ken has to be in there all by himself. Tomorrow you and I can go get a Barbie to keep him company. Would you like that?”

The little girl’s eyes lit up, a smiled curled onto her face, and she let out a piercing screech. “AHHH! Yes daddy, I would love that!”

Back in his bedroom, Kenneth was awoken by the sound of a deathly screech, “AHHH!”

“They’re back” he whispered to himself. He grabbed a baseball bat from out of the cupboard and began to search the house. “Hello? Where are you? ANSWER ME!”





640 words