Drips (66 words)
Knitting, she felt a lick
Then a sound of dripping water
She looked around
Started again with her sweater
She felt another lick
Another drip
She looked around
Nothing
Back to knitting
More drips
Once more, she looked
She got up to inspect the sound of water
And found her dog
Dead
Blood dripping into the bathtub
On the mirror it said
“Humans can lick too”
The House on Maple Street
“Bye daddy!” Julia yelled to her dad who opened the cab door. He waved to her with a warm smile. “Take care of the house and my girl, okay Eliza?” he reminded her. Our housekeeper, Eliza nodded and patted Julia’s head. She normally took care of Julia every time her dad went out to space. Now in the year 3015 it only took about three months to get to the moon, but that still didn’t make it any better for Julia when he left. The cab drove off with him in the back, as Julia and Eliza waved until the cab was out of sight in the darkness. Julia slumped back into the house and flopped on the couch then started groomed her doll’s hair. Eliza shut the door and locked it. She walked into the kitchen and shouted, “Hey Juju! Want some lunch,” then there was some clinging of dishes, “I’ll make macaroni and cheese.” Julia looked back into the kitchen, but just turned back and slumped down even more in her chair. “Not really.” She said gloomy. Eliza popped her head out of the kitchen then walked over to Julia. She looked at her hard and long, but Julia still focused on her doll’s hair. Eliza touched Julia’s forehead and gave her an eye. “Not really! Macaroni and cheese is your favorite. How could you turn that down? Are you okay?” she questioned her. Julia tossed her doll aside and looked up at Eliza with her big blue eyes. “I’m just not hungry, I guess.” Eliza put her hands on her hips and sighed.
After a half an hour of cartoons Julia grew bored of it and went upstairs to her bedroom to see if she could find something to entertain herself. As she was walking up the stairs she heard a CRASH!!! She jumped and her eyes widened. “Hello?” she said curiously turning the corner into the hallway. “I said hello?” she repeated. CRASH!!! It was coming from her dad’s office. She peeked into the room and saw her dog Sammy sniffing through her dad’s things. “Sammy!” she shrieked. Sammy turned his head her way and perked his ears up. He came full speed at her and as soon as he got to her, she was on the floor covered in slobber. “Okay! Okay! I love you too, boy!” she said pushing him away. Sammy sat there and begged. “Aw…you’re hungry,” Julia patted his head, “Well, you’re not going to find anything in there. Come on!” She led Sammy downstairs and into the kitchen where the dog bowl is. Eliza came in just in time to save Julia from being squashed by the big bag of dog food. “Hey! Let me help!” she said picking it up and setting down from Julia to open. “I found Sammy in daddy’s office sniffing for food, so I am feeding him now.” She explained to her. Eliza’s eyes got wide and she ran upstairs faster than you can say ‘Sammy is hungry’. “Hmm… well let me feed you boy.” Julia poured the food into the bowl and went back upstairs to check her dad’s office. She got to the door and suddenly Eliza came out of the room and slammed the door.
“Don’t ever go in there.” She told her.
“I didn’t do any…” Julia began before Eliza interrupted.
“I don’t care! Don’t ever go in there again! Understand?” She gave Julia a glare and Julia just nodded. Eliza stood there waiting for Julia to leave and as soon as she did, Eliza locked the door. Julia stared at Eliza as she put the key in her pocket and left. Julia was curious. Why would Eliza yell at me like that? What is she hiding in there? Does my daddy know what it is? So many questions went through her mind.
Later in the week Julia had attempted to find that key and find out what Eliza could be hiding, but it all ended in her getting sent to her room. RING!!! RING!!! Julia watched as Eliza picked up the phone and answered with a “hello”. “No James Buckingham it’s here right now. May I take a message?” Now is my chance! Julia thought while tiptoeing up the stairs and into Eliza’s room. She scanned the room searching under the bed and in the nightstand drawers. Fear overwhelmed her because of the thought that Eliza could come through the door any minute. Julia got on her hands and knees, searching for the key to her dad’s office. The sun that was peeking through the curtains caught light on something that was shinning in Julia’s eye. The key! It’s… She thought, but was interrupted by footsteps coming up the stairs. Quickly Julia grabbed the key and rolled under the bed just as the bedroom door opened. “Hmm…” Eliza said to herself. Julia was busy shoving dust away from her face that she didn’t even notice Eliza threw her shoes under the bed until they hit her in the head. “Oww…hmph…” Julia covered her mouth. She could see Eliza’s feet wander around the room suspiciously, but she just ended up leaving the room. Julia sighed in relief and got out from under the bed. She checked Eliza’s room to make sure that nothing was out of place and left to her dad’s office. The office door was thick and made of wood with a gold handle. She stuck the key in keyhole and turned, suddenly the door opened, she didn’t even have to push. “Whoa.” Julia said in a whisper to herself. She walked in ever so quietly and looked around. There was a desk with a big monitor on it and a picture of Julia from a camping trip at Lake Tahoe. “Hey, there’s Lake Tahoe.” She reminded herself and then the windows locked down by big pieces of metal. The desk flipped over and monitors with big flashing buttons replaced it. Soon the whole room was locked down and covered in different types of technology. “Um,” Julia stammered. “Uh…” Then the biggest monitor in the entire room came down from the ceiling and a big muscular guy was on it. “What have you done Buckingham? Were not ready for you yet! The house is going to launch in…” and numbers on the screen counted down from ten…nine…eight. Julia panicked. “Daddy,” she screamed. “Daddy!” Six…five. The sound of jets started. It grew louder and louder. The house rocked a little and Julia could faintly hear Eliza calling her name. Three…two…BOOM!!! Julia raced to the window as Eliza came panting in the room. “I…I told you never…ever to come in here!” she reminded Julia, but she wasn’t even paying attention. All Julia was thinking about was where were they going. Suddenly the house shifted to the left so Eliza and Julia along with the rest of the furniture went flying to the left. “Oof!” Julia grunted as she was thrown against the wall. Then there was a howl. “Sammy!” she yelled for him to know they were here. Eliza just stood there, Julia could see the intensity in her eyes or maybe it was fear. Everything was rattling and things from the shelves were falling. Julia looked over at the items crashing on the floor. They couldn’t do anything, but stand there and wait for it to be over. All of the sudden there was a crash next to her and she felt lucky that it didn’t fall on her until she saw it had fallen on Eliza. “Ahhhhh!” Julia couldn’t move she just got stiff all over. Tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn’t whale out. Now what am I going to do? I can’t stay by myself here. She thought.
After fifteen horrifying minutes an idea finally popped into her head. She keep her body pressed against the wall and inched herself to the doorway. The house was on a slant so she would slide on the hardwood floor from the office doorway into her bedroom. Julia sat on her butt and let her body glide across the hallway and into her bedroom. She kept her legs in front so her feet hit the back wall on her bedroom. Carefully she got up and jumped onto her futon bed, which had the side where you stick your feet off the couch facing the wall. It made a good area to keep her from being hit by something that might slide towards her. Getting comfortable she heard her name. “Juju,” someone was saying. “Help me.” Scared she didn’t dare to turn around, she just sat there with face tucked into her knees. “Juju…please,” Julia began to cry, what could she do. Even if it was Eliza, it’s not like she could slide back to her because the house was slanted on the opposite side. The voice stopped and eventually Julia fell asleep.
Julia woke up to the sound of air blowing hard at the windows and she felt very cold. She rose from where she was and realized that they weren’t at a slant anymore. Rubbing her arms for warmth didn’t help. She looked outside to only see sand and others people’s homes at a far distance from one another. The sky was very dark and stars seemed closer than before. They cover the sky like a polka dot dress. Julia jumped off her futon bed and walked out to the hallway. Everything was back in place. Pictures were at the right angle furniture set properly in rooms. Eliza! She thought. She raced over to her dad’s office and tried to open the door, but it was locked. Sammy came racing upstairs, so Julia came up to pet him, but Sammy ignored her. “Sammy?” she said worried. Sammy just scratched at her dad’s office door. Julia raced downstairs to see Eliza and there she was making something. “Eliza? What happened? I mean the house.” she asked. Eliza ignored her too; she just kept cooking over the stove. Suddenly her dad came through the door and Julia’s face light up. “Daddy!” she yelped and ran up to him, but he just hung up his coat and sat at the table waiting for the food that Eliza was cooking. Julia sat across from him and stared in his eyes as he read the paper. She couldn’t take it, first Sammy, and then Eliza, now her own dad. So she swiped at the paper, but the weird thing is that her hand went right through it.
