Climber, a WeWrite Freewrite

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This Week's Prompt:
Home Alone
by @zeldacroft

An inky air crept through the twilight hours, and now pressed against the windows of the house. Inside, Nathan aimlessly flipped through the TV channels, the living room calmly lit. He was getting impatient.

A thump, thump down the stairs made him jump, but he managed to keep his composure. His mom hurried into the room. Her oversized coat and mittens signaled she was ready for the autumn chill outside.

“Alright, I’m heading out,” she said. “I’ll probably be gone for a few hours, so call me if you need anything. Remember there’s leftovers in the fridge, and try not to just watch TV. You know that book from—”

“Mom,” he interrupted.

“Yes?”

“You’re going to be late.”

“I am, aren’t I?” She agreed, but ran over to kiss his forehead anyway. “I’ll lock up, be sure to stay safe.”

“Yes, Mom.” He rolled his eyes. Their corner of suburbia had always felt like the most boring. Nothing bad could happen here.

As soon as Nathan heard the front door close, he leapt up and looked out the window. The streetlights cast heavy shadows on his mom’s car as she drove away. When she was out of sight, he whipped out his phone and texted his best friend, Mark. “It’s time.”

Mark had gotten his hands on some horror games, including the much coveted Bloodhunter 4, but his family wouldn’t let him play.

Nathan wasn’t allowed to either, so tonight was finally their chance. Impatience turned to excitement as he switched the TV to his Xbox. Mark lived on the same street, so it wouldn’t take long for him to get there. After gathering soda and snacks from the kitchen, he heard a sharp knock on the door.

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My Continuation:

"Oh MAN! My mom had her eagle eyes on in the kitchen and my dad was staring out the big window in the living room like he always does, so I had to climb out my window, up a tree and over the fence to get here! Let's get this party started!" Mark brushed leaves off of his clothing and onto the floor. There were leaves in the cuffs of his pants, in his pockets, and in his hair. He tracked a quite a few leaves into the house on the bottoms of his shoes, plopped down on the couch still in his coat and shoes, and waited for Nathan to get the game going.

"Wait a minute man! My mom will for sure know something went down while she was gone if she finds all these leaves in here! We have to pick them up before we start or we'll forget." Nathan started to pick up leaves. Mark rolled his eyes and reluctantly got up to help..

"And take off your shoes man! You know shoes are not allowed in my house! What is with you?"

The boys got right to playing the game after that. They'd lost a lot of precious time picking up yellow and red-speckled ovate leaves from the floor, off of Mark's clothing, and from all over the couch. They didn't even think to wash their hands so they picked up the controllers, and went right to work on that game and those snacks.

The boys were busted for this transgression within a few days when both they and all of their parents developed nasty rashes that can only have come from the poison ivy climbing up the tree Mark had to go up to get over the fence between the two yards.

They were still grounded on Halloween.

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This is my entry to https://steempeak.com/wewrite/@freewritehouse/we-write-11-home-alone-last-week-s-winners-announced

Since it was written as a freewrite, it is also my entry to @mariannewest's freewrite challenge https://steempeak.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-728-5-minute-freewrite-friday-prompt-climber I don't know how long I wrote because I set the timer and started writing, then got interrupted and forgot to start the timer again when I got back to this story. It wasn't much longer than five minutes though, I promise.

These are two great challenges for a fabulous community, @freewritehouse! Come write with us!

All images are my own unless otherwise stated.

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