The Vulture

Todd fell into his chair with a sigh. The chair sagged beneath him and an odd smile of nostalgia curved his lips. The worn leather creased and cracked in all the places he remembered, forming to his body like it had for years. He pressed the power button on his computer and the device came to life with a sad hum. Todd let his senses remember the familiar smells, sounds, and sights his cubical had to offer. It had been two months since he had sat in this seat, and it was bittersweet that he was returning to work and bathing in the iridescent lights.

Bitter, because he was leaving his wife and newborn daughter at home. Parental leave had been a dream for him, and welcoming his first child into the world had been an emotional rollercoaster he could have never prepared for. The last two months had been full of sleepless nights, midnight fits, and so many diaper changes, but watching his daughter rest made it all worth it.

He smiled to himself again; His first-born child. The thought of her soft cheeks and tiny, fragile frame made him glow with pride, and he remembered the small picture frame he had brought in his backpack. Gingerly pulling the photo from his pack, as if it was the baby herself, he gently nestled the silver picture frame next to a photo of him and his wife on their most recent vacation.

Todd suddenly felt a pang of sadness as he reminisced over the photo of his sleeping child. Everything had been so new for the last two months, and now that he was sitting in his boring office again it felt cruel that he was subjected to normality again. He missed his family dearly but as he began to log into his computer he suddenly smelled something sweet.

A pair of soft arms wrapped around his shoulders and Todd was embraced from behind. At first, he was shocked, but the familiar smell and feel of her soft forearms made him blush.

“Hey cutie,” the woman giggled, her lips grazing against Todd’s ears as she spoke, “The moment I heard you were back I had to see you.”

Todd swiveled in his chair to face her, “Molly! It’s so good to see you again.”

Molly backed up a few steps so that Todd could look her over. She stood in the opening of his cubical holding a black Tupperware container in one hand. She wore black high heels, a form-fitting dark grey pencil skirt, and a neatly pressed white button-up dress shirt. Todd tried not to notice that the top of her shirt exposed her chest in a flattering way, and instead looked up at her strawberry blonde hair fixed into a neat ponytail.

Her eyes lit up as she watched Todd’s eyes wander, “You miss me?”

Todd’s blush became a deeper shade of red, “Only a little. How have you been? How has the office been?”

“I’m mad at you,” Molly said with a huff and placed her free hand on her hip.

“What?” Todd responded with surprise, “Why?”

“I’m mad because I haven’t seen that baby of yours!” Molly stepped towards him and placed her binder down, “I need a picture, stat!”

Todd was happy to oblige as he gestured towards the photo on his desk. Molly approached and leaned over him so that she could look closely at the picture. As she put her hands on his desk, Todd noticed her body was dangerously close to his chest. His eyes rode the arch in her back. Her perfume filled his nose and the warmth of her skin radiated through her clothing.

While Todd had loved being home with his family, toward the end of his parental leave he could feel the cabin fever setting in. He had felt a sense of longing for his commute to work and even dreamed of the crappy coffee from the break room. However, more than he was willing to admit, he was excited to see Molly again.

“I love this photo,” Molly picked up the frame and stood straight, “You need to bring her into the office sometime. I just want to squeeze her little cheeks!”

“She’s only two months old,” Todd became defensive before smoothing his tone again, “Maybe eventually, but not now.”

Molly didn’t let the silence last long before she pushed the black Tupperware container towards Todd, “I made this for you. Eat up, it’s your favorite!”

He accepted the container with surprise and when he cracked the lid off, a happy plume of steam escaped, “How did you know I would be back today? I didn’t tell anyone but the higher-ups.”

“I just had a feeling,” Molly winked before absently chewing on the end of a pencil, “Good thing you came today, or else it would be sitting in the fridge until you showed up.”

Todd inhaled the sweet aroma that drifted from the container and felt an odd and familiar sense of comfort; It had been a while since he had felt this relaxed. Inside, warm biscuits waited for him. Todd had never been a cook, which meant that any successful baking attempt never ceased to amaze him. Molly was a cut above the rest. Her baked goods enchanted his taste buds and held his mind hostage. A container of cookies or brownies never made it past lunch, and it seemed to take all of Todd’s willpower to avoid eating them in one sitting. These biscuits would be no exception.

“Well,” Molly reminded Todd of her presence, “I’ll let you get to work. After two months you’re going to have a lot to catch up on.” With a wink and a wave goodbye, Molly exited Todd’s cubical, the tapping of her high heels echoing through the silent office.

Before he knew it, he was chewing on a biscuit. His eyes rested on the photo of his infant daughter. Maybe he could bring her to work, he thought for a moment, just for a little bit. Todd physically reacted to those thoughts. Those thoughts felt foreign in his brain, like someone else’s intrusive thoughts.

A ding from the computer whipped Todd into motion and he was reminded of all the work ahead of him. Setting the biscuit down momentarily, he began to sift through his inbox. He sighed before looking at the photos of his family.

Today would be a long day.

Dinner had been prepared, then devoured, and the dishes were rinsed and stashed away in the watching machine. Todd reached for the towel and dried the pan in his hands while he listened to the lullaby his wife hummed. It was a tune she had always hoped to sing to her children because her mother had sung it to her as a child. He smiled at the sight of his beautiful wife cradling his newborn child in her arms, enveloped in the peace she had created.

“I’m glad I was able to return to work,” Todd began, “but I missed you two incredibly.”

Emma smiled, still rocking back and forth, “Believe me, we missed you. After two months of us being together every day, I had gotten used to you being by my side.”

Todd dried his hands and approached his wife, matching her rhythm so that he could sway with his family. Emma’s gentle blue loving eyes seemed glued to the child’s face, and her soft complexion and freckled cheeks smiled. Todd reached up and gently wrapped his wife’s red hair in his hand, “I love this braid, you really pulled it off.”

“It’s a French braid. I thought I’d try something different today,” Emma replied softly as she laid her head on his chest.

The three of them danced in soft silence, admiring the tiny facial features of their newborn child. Todd couldn’t help but beam with pride. Fatherhood had been an amazing journey so far, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like when his daughter turned one. How would things change when she was five? Would he be able to endure the teenage years?

“Was it nice to see your friends from work again?” Emma broke the silence.

Todd nearly choked on his saliva as his thoughts immediately returned to Molly. He quickly pushed the images of her aside and cleared his throat, “I saw a few of them today. They were excited to hear all about the first two months of being a father.”

“That’s good,” Emma smiled, “How about we get this little baby to bed?”

Todd rolled like impatiently in bed. Ever since his child was born, he had lost his ability to fall asleep quickly. As long as he could remember, sleep had never been an issue for him. His wife often brought up her frustrations that he could sleep in any position on any surface. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was out.

Not anymore. The added stress of another person in the house daunted him. Before, he just had to worry about him and his wife. To pass the time he would daydream scenarios of armed intruders breaking into his house at night. In his mind, he would battle valiantly to defend his property and possessions. Now, he was worried about his daughter. Instead of bunkering in the master bedroom, he would need to traverse across the house to get to her. What if an earthquake shook the house at midnight? What if there was a fire? These thoughts swarmed his head and made it hard for him to sleep.

He looked towards the baby monitor on the nightstand. The red letters “ERROR” flashed across the screen. Todd grabbed the device and began to fiddle with it. Emma and he had read reviews online stating that this model was the best of its kind, yet once they set it up in their house it had trouble connecting to the camera they had placed in the nursery.

Grunting, Todd took this as a perfect excuse to get out of bed and go for a walk. Careful not to wake his wife, who needed the sleep more than he did, Todd gingerly stepped across the carpet and slipped out the bedroom door.

The house was dark, being illuminated only by the small green lights from the smoke detectors above him. He listened to the silent house just to be sure his daughter wasn’t upset and then continued his midnight stroll down the long hallway that spanned across the length of the house.

Just as his hands gripped the silver door knob, the device in his other hand chirped. The connection was back again and he could see his daughter sleeping soundly in her cradle. Todd lost his ambition to check on her and feared that if he opened the door it would wake her up. After two months of parenthood, he had learned that there was never a good enough reason to wake a sleeping baby.

Todd moseyed back to his bed and laid down once more, cursing at the realization he was less tired now than he had been before he got up. Sleep seemed even more distant now, and there was nothing he could do but close his eyes and pretend.

His thoughts reminisced the day. Being back at the office had been good for him. His routine had come back far easier than he had expected and throughout his shift, he had fallen back into the swing of the work day. Not to mention, the joy he felt when he opened the front door to his house after an evening commute was immense.

The baby monitor chirped and Todd reluctantly opened his eyes. Disconnected again. He lazily reached out towards the device, but before his fingers made contact the video was reestablished.

The screen showed a grayscale video of the nursery as always, with everything in the room so still, it could have been mistaken for a picture. His daughter was still sleeping in the crib, unmoved from where his wife had put her down.

Todd rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he noticed something strange. Something slipped across the floor. A dark shadow slithered in a petrified room. The sheen from what seemed like scales shimmered in the moonlight, and Todd’s sense of danger pricked the back of his neck. He threw the blankets off of him and dashed across the floor. Before he had tip-toed down the hallway, but now he sprinted.

His body collided with the nursery door and his hands chaotically felt for the doorknob, twisting it to no avail. The door could only be locked from the inside, and every time he twisted the handle it fought back.

Forgetting about the handle, Todd backed up and threw his shoulder into the door. The wooden threshold resisted. He threw his body at the door once more and still did not gain entrance. Just before he tried again, he blinked and was somewhere else.

Panic still careened through his veins, however, he was back in his bedroom. His bed was not in shambles as he had left it, and the door was closed. In his arms, however, was his child; asleep and content. The baby monitor chirped once more signaling that the camera was still unreachable.

Todd took a deep breath. Everyone was asleep except him, and all was right. The thoughts of snakes in the nursery began to fade away like the rest of his dreams. Todd groaned. Ever since the child had been born his dreams had become terrifyingly vivid, and it seemed as though he was perfectly capable of sleepwalking now.

Quietly, he walked back down the hallway towards the nursery. He half expected the doorknob to be locked, but when he twisted the handle it squeaked with delight and the door opened willingly. The room seemed perfectly intact, however, Todd still kept a keen eye on the floor in case there really was a slithery intruder.

Trying not to let any noise of old age slip from his lips, he lowered his daughter back into the crib. She did not react to her new placement and her soft breathing was the only thing audible in the silent room.

As Todd lowered her into the crib he felt a cold chill race up his spine. He jumped at the sudden gust of frigid air and looked around to spot what had graced him, singling out the bedroom window that was cracked open. He didn’t remember opening the window.

Quietly he shimmied the window close, shutting the winter air out. Todd turned and put his hands on his hips, looking over his domain with pride. He knew it was a dream, but in a way, he felt proud of how fast he had sprung into action. Not to mention, he also closed the window, which added to his “good dad” tally. Yawning, Todd realized that his exhaustion had returned and he headed back to bed.