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I don’t know what happened, but I was so tired. More tired than I’d ever been in my whole life and that’s saying a lot being my mom always thought I looked tired after baseball practice when she came to pick me up most days.
I was also hungry. Like very hungry. Starving, but I didn’t feel like getting something to eat and it’s not like I could either. It was too warm and I was too listless to really think about it, thoughts I would normally have drifted away like sand as I tried to grasp them.
I was at my friend’s birthday party or at least, that’s what I mostly remember. It was at a new place, kind of like an old one that had been in the area once before, similar to some of the other ones that were dotted around town.
It was honestly really fun, all our little league teammates were there, some of our classmates were too, there was a really large cake and everyone got goody bags and pizza and there was singing and…gosh, I don’t know what else, but I know there was a lot of good things.
I know that at one point, we decided to play hide and seek among the arcade machines, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was sort of like one of those small arcade areas you’d find in a strip mall. The corners were always so dark after all despite the lights, so if you stood still long enough, someone could pass you easily.
The backs of the machines were also far away enough from the back of the walls that you could crawl behind them without disturbing the wires and hide there for a good amount of time, at least until your knees hurt or your head did from all the noise.
That’s where I hid. I picked the one closest to the doors to the kitchen, so when the servers came out to give out pizza, the door hid me from the view of everyone. I couldn’t help but laugh, hearing the whines of my friends when they were caught, but smugly stayed low to the carpet as I could hear them still around me. It was when the noise died down that I got a little bit miffed, as I figured that they must have stopped and gone back to the party.
Looking out of my spot, I noticed that everyone was crowded around the centre of one and resigned to follow them, but I only got about halfway before I felt eyes on my back and turned around. One of them was there. One of the puppet things that wandered the place. I always found most of them really creepy, but right now, the one watching me seemed okay.
He was one of the nicer ones, funnier than the others. He had a hand puppet that had a silly, shrill voice, but still, they were funny. Made the place feel less like a little kid’s place and more like kids my age could go there and still be, you know, cool.
He was standing over by the janitor’s closet at first, but then, when he spotted me, he moved towards the door that led to the kitchen before he stood next to another door, labelled as the supply room, before his hand stretched out towards me and beckoned me.
I wanted originally to go back to my friends, but given that they couldn’t care less where I had gotten to, I was still a little mad, so I walked up to him. He was really tall, taller than my Dad was, so I had to crane my neck to look up at him, but he just grinned down at me with that painted face of his before his hand, the one not adorned with his hand puppet, pushed the door open and led me in with a hand on my back, cold and metal, but gentle like my Mom’s when she’d put me to bed when I was like 4 or 5. I…don’t really remember what happened after that.
Just that one minute I was standing, the next I was so sleepy that I just wanted to have a nap and I was curled up somewhere, the feeling of fans blowing on me and feeling sorta safe, sorta…not. I don’t think that makes sense though. None of this does.
I also remember once, a long time ago, that I wanted to go home. That I was scared. That I wanted to see my parents, my friends, my family. That I was hungry, thirsty, afraid and alone and it was unfair. It was a horrible dream. Thankfully, I don’t have it anymore.
I know I’m home, so wanting to go home never made any sense. Plus, if I was really so hungry and thirsty, I would have gone to the kitchen. Mom hates me stealing food out of our fridge as is sometimes take my Dad’s lunch on accident, but still.
I’m not scared and I have my friends here. Lots of them. Some of them I haven't seen in forever. Take Susie for instance. I’m sure my brother had a crush on her. I thought her family had moved away, given I hadn’t seen her or her little sister Samantha at school, so I was really happy to see her. She was sad at first to see me, as were some of the friends that she introduced me to, like Andrew and Gabriel and the rest- but she’s happy to see me now.
Speaking of Susie, I could hear her close by, I could hear everyone close by. For some reason, I’m thankful that there are no new voices this time. Guess it must already be time to get up. I didn’t know Mom had invited them over again. Guess she’s kinda happy about me getting some friends finally, given I didn’t really have many at first.
Dad must have already left for work and she’s already gone, I know that as she’s always gone before I get up in the morning now. I’m kinda sad I missed them again, but hopefully, I’ll see them tonight after I come home from playing with Susie and the gang.
I can hear someone calling out for me and soon, I’m awake and everything’s in yellow tones as I squish my sneakered feet into the carpet of home. It’s a bit too bright at first, but my eyes adjust to everyone running around after a while. What’s weird is that I feel extremely sad for the longest amount of time, like something really bad has happened and I’m not aware of it.
I’m swept up in a game of chase by Andrew and the feeling is gone as fast as it appeared, however, so I don’t dwell on it for long as I’m too busy grabbing and dodging other kids to really remember exactly why I was feeling that way.
It doesn’t matter now. Nothing does. I’m just happy to be with my friends. Here, at home…
…I am home, right?