Chickensquawk by River Jordan

I’d arrived home late the night before.  Gina, Nieves and I had gone to the late show at the movies and then out to eat afterward with other friends.

Dad was awake even though it was 2am. “What time is it?” he asked.

“Not sure, Dad”

“Get to bed.”

“Yessir” I did my nightly ablutions and was in bed within 30 minutes.  I was so tired I fell asleep immediately.

I’ve always been a light sleeper and in the mornings I would usually hover in that space between sleep and full wakefulness.  That next morning I realized that the back door (which was in my room) was ajar.  I wouldn’t say that I was afraid or startled because a lot of times Mom would step outside to smoke a cigarette.  But I was concerned since it was still before dawn.

I didn’t get up out of bed just tried to see if mom was outside.  Usually I’d see the red tip of the cigarette as she inhaled.  But tonight there was no sign or scent that meant she was outside smoking.

Deciding to investigate, I threw the covers back toward the wall since my bed was flush with the wall. 

At that moment a blood curdling squawk ripped through the room; followed immediately by my blood curdling scream.  I jumped right out of bed at the same time that the most frightening horribly monstrous completely evil creature thrashed underneath my blanket.

I looked around for a weapon but all I saw were shadows creeping toward me, disguising themselves as piles of clothing or tennis shoes. 

Suddenly I was running for all I was worth, faster and faster as the creature let off some evil floating things into the air.

By this time everyone was awake and piling toward my room.  “Daisy, what is wrong with you?” my mom yelled.

“Arrhhh, ahhhh, uhhgghhh,” was all I could say.  My incoherence seemed to strike their funny bones as Darla and mom began to laugh. 

The world must be going insane, I thought.  My incredulous expression met theirs and I followed their gaze toward the bed. 

There, calmly making its way off my bed, was a big fat white chicken!  Of course it would be a chicken, I thought.

Soon everyone was laughing and I had to laugh, too.  My poultry bed mate strutted out the back door calmly and then was gone.

We laughed until tears streamed from our eyes.  Them going on and on about how freaked out I looked and how I’d been running in place so frantically.  Yeah.  Real funny, but I know the real truth…

The frightening horribly monstrous completely evil creature was REAL and just changed its form to safely escape me.  Word of my being a bratty warrior princess had finally made its way into the Netherworld.  I had prepared myself to face the creatures of the dark but maybe I’d have to work on my game face a little.  No more running in place screaming like a banshee, just not really warrior princess actions. *smiles* *winks*

The ENd