Inconsistencies

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

Phone calls. Bank account. Paperwork. Arrangements. Bills. Utilities.

“Bazi! Did you hear me?”

“Oh…wait. What?”

“Urn? Thoughts?”

Bazi glanced around at the myriad sizes, colors, and designs. Just another decision they would have to make. “Why don’t we wait to choose one until we know for sure what we’re doing? Remember, she said we could decide to bury her, scatter her, plant her with a tree, whatever we thought was best, so let’s wait to pick one.” Jade and Tessa could see the logic, so they agreed and all continued on with other decisions to be made.

Eventually, the arrangements were set. A blur of faces and memories encompassed the two exhausting days of services, and in the end, Bazi and her sisters were no closer to closure than when it had all started. Surreal. That word kept coming to mind. Everything still felt so surreal. Especially now since her mom’s ashes would be residing with Bazi and Don until they all decided what to do.

The occurrences started small over the next couple weeks, but could easily be explained. The garage door stuttered before eventually opening. Oh, did I double-press the button? The dishwasher turned on randomly. Guess I just bumped it. The bathroom light flickered to a pink-ish color. The bulb must be going bad again.

It wasn’t until Bazi was cleaning one day that she gave any thought to the previous oddities. Scrub, scrub, wipe.

🎶 It’s hard to argue with a compliment.

What does it take to be content?

Do – irt... – run… ev– known?🎶

Confusion instantly etched on her face, Bazi stepped out of the bathroom and stared suspiciously at her phone across the room for a few moments. Plugging her headphones in again, Bazi went back to…Splash, scrub, flush. Wipe, spray, wipe, rinse.

🎶Being with friends means you’re not alone

Can you count… th.. like –mi.. tho…🎶

“Nonsense…” Bazi made her way over to the table, quickly checking the phone, charger, and how close it was to the homepod, but nothing seemed to be amiss. She reluctantly went back to cleaning but with a gnawing thought that she couldn’t quite grasp.

That night, Bazi debated telling Don about the jumpy music and some of the other unusual occurrences that she had come to question, but the time didn’t seem right, and eventually she just drifted off after an hour or so.

********

This was a new experience for Patrice, to say the least. No house to take care of, no job to go to, no grandkids to watch. What should I be doing? Little things. She’d make sure the door was locked, the lights were turned off, the refrigerator was closed. Not extremely fulfilling but enough to feel useful.

Although she was not a cat person, Patrice began spending time with Zab while Bazi and Don were at work. She never quite understood the fascination with cats but came to enjoy running her fingers through his velvety fur, and she liked the way he glanced at her with his knowing stare.

It seemed as though this would be her new existence while waiting for the girls to decide what to do, which she had ultimately come to terms with. Until, of course, that unexpected moment when she would have the chance to make a difference again.

Patrice could sense that Bazi wanted to say something while she and Don got ready for bed, but Bazi's hesitation made her pause. Patrice sighed heavily knowing she couldn’t interfere and knew Bazi would bring up her concerns when it was necessary.

Knowing that they were settled for the night, Patrice left them to slumber away. She could never have expected, though, what would transpire just hours later.

********

Moving towards the porch, trying not to engage the camera, they crept slowly. Why do so many of these houses have security measures? This neighborhood is nothing special. Although there was some doubt, the experienced thief did not retreat but instead pushed on. He worried about Nico but had hopes that he could keep him under control until the plan was complete.

You’ve done this many times before, this is nothing new. Pick the lock, steal the electronics (maybe the jewelry, too), and be out without detection. Travis sensed the air of success even before he began to pick the lock. After a few minutes of work, he felt comfortable enough to stand and stretch before returning to the mission at hand. His stretch, though, revealed WAY more than he had anticipated.

********

Zab was the first to react, but Patrice wasn’t far behind. After a shared heart-skip, both were down the stairs in an instance. Their collective stare was intense and focused on the front door as that punk with the gun was continuing to make progress on the lock. All Patrice could do was to sit and watch with horror, knowing she was helpless. As her frustration boiled over, Patrice let out an earth-shattering scream that no one but Zab would ever hear.

Except…the smoke detector.

The obnoxious warning brought the slightest smile to her face, and with tears forming in her eyes, Patrice looked up to see the burglars’ wide-eyed reactions. As the realization flashed in their eyes, Patrice recognized the shift in their confidences. The main thief stumbled backwards into his accomplice while still staring wildly at the door. It only took a few seconds for him to regain his composure, though, before sprinting into the early morning light, leaving his companion gaping on the porch.

Patrice, followed by Zab, flew to the third floor in time to catch the tail end of Bazi and Don’s conversation.

“I know it’s happened randomly before, but I don’t remember the alarm ever going off this early in the morning,”

“It hasn’t, from what I recall. Also, did you happen to check the camera?” Don asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Not yet. Why?” Bazi grabbed her phone to open the app. “What ti-?” But Bazi didn’t need to finish her question. As she scrolled to the 6:09 AM video, she somehow knew in her gut what she would find. The two figures crept slowly up to the door, one obviously more in control of the situation than the other. The leader immediately got to work on the lock while his accomplice watched over his shoulder and occasionally peered around the decreasing darkness of the neighborhood. Bazi glanced over briefly at Don.

“Keep watching,” was all he said.

After several minutes of struggle, it seemed as though the burglar was becoming more confident in his attempts to break the lock. He even stood up to stretch at one point. His confidence, though, was short lived as it would be completely disrupted at 6:14 AM. Unaware that her mom had witnessed this same occurrence just minutes earlier, Bazi watched the video as the thief’s expression changed rapidly with the unexpected, but familiar sound of the smoke alarm. Seeing them fumble over themselves, and eventually retreat, allowed Bazi to finally breathe normally again, which she hadn’t realized was a problem until that moment.

In the drawn-out minutes that followed, Bazi recapped all that had transpired over the last couple weeks, and finally understood what had ultimately caused the inconsistencies.

“Mom…” almost as if Bazi had expected a response. The flicker of the bathroom light, not recognizable by Don, was almost nonexistent to Bazi as well, but she caught it from the corner of her eye, and just knew.

People say you can’t hear a scream in the vacuum of space…fortunately, my mom and I know better now.