XAVIER

It was the first of October, and fall had just begun. Usually around this time of year in the south the leaves start to change from green to orange and brown colors, the sun hangs lower in the sky and the nights are usually longer.It’s the time of year when strange and interesting things begin to happen.Ella sat at her desk finishing a phone conversation with a close friend. “So, I guess you made it home safe right El” said the voice on the phone.“Yes girl” Ella replied sounding exhausted. “I just sent the babysitter home, I had to pay her more for coming home later than planned, but I don’t care we had fun for your birthday last night.” Ella continued. “We sure did” replied the voice, “ “I’m sorry to keep you out until this morning, I know you needed to get home to get Xavier ready for school but I didn’t want you to go” Ella was barely listening she was so tired, “Hey Zuri, it’s ok I enjoyed your company besides I don’t get to go out much anymore anyway since I have Xavier, you know” “Yea, I understand” replied Zuri as she began to yawn herself. “Is it time to get Xa up for school?” Zuri asks, still yawning. “I’m about to get him ready for the school bus now and then I’m going to crash, later girl” Ella said as she hung the phone up before Zuri could even reply. She knew Zuri would understand, “hell she was tired herself…” Ella thought to herself as she lay her head down on her desk for a few minutes. She knew she had about an hour before Xaviers school bus would arrive and she could have him ready and eat breakfast in 20 minutes. “…it’s either pop tarts or cereal this morning…” Ella thought to herself in anticipation of the breakfast she planned to prepare for Xavier upon waking him. No sooner than she begins to fall asleep she heard a voice, “Mommy, you’re back?!” Xavier had woken up early and come upstairs to see his mother laying with her head on the desk, he had been waiting for her all night, she promised she would be home before he was asleep, and she had just arrived this morning. He was still rubbing his eyes as he approached her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hi mommy” he said with a sleepy smile. Ella lifted her head and smiled back, “Hi baby, Sorry I’m late, I was having too much fun with Aunt Zuri for her birthday, are you mad at me?” Ella asked, making a silly sad face trying to make Xavier laugh and it worked, he gave her a giggle. “No, I’m not mad” then Xavier hopped up with an excited smile, “Do I have time for pancakes?” Xavier had just turned six years old and discovered pancakes last year, he’s been asking for them every morning. Ella was preparing to tell him the breakfast menu she had decided upon as she was falling asleep earlier but looking into those big beautiful brown eyes of her son she couldn’t resist him. “Yes, you have time for pancakes baby, but you need to eat them quickly so that you can get dressed for school.” Ella said as she headed towards the kitchen to prepare the pancakes. “Oh, and cartoon too?” Xavier quickly added. Ella turned around with a smirk and looked at her son, he continued to smile at her. “Yea, why not, let’s make it a party” Ella replied sarcastically. Xavier ran to turn the TV on and sat patiently waiting for his pancakes.Ella finished the pancakes, added butter and cinnamon sprinkles on them just the way Xavier likes them. She brought him the pancakes, “here you go baby eat up” Xavier begins stuffing the pancakes while watching cartoons and taking his clothes off directly in front of the TV. “He’s good at multi-tasking” Ella thought to herself as she watched him dress himself. “Good job now, go and wash your hands before the bus comes.” Ella commands. Xavier starts running down the hall to the guest bathrooms to wash the syrup off his hands, Xavier is always happy to wash his hands because he likes to play in the water. “Did you have any homework?” Ella yells out to Xavier because she knows she didn’t check his bag. “No, not today” Xavier replied.He comes out of the bathroom, dries his hands, Ella helps him into his jacket, he grabs his bag, and they walk outside to wait for the bus. The wind blows and Ella wraps her arms around herself. “it’s quite chilly today” Ella thinks to herself. Soon the bus arrives, and Ella give Xavier a hug and kiss before seeing him onto the bus, she speaks to the bus driver and turns to head inside. “Finally, I can get some rest.” Thinks Ella as she watches the bus pull away and she begins to head inside. She closes and locks her door and goes directly to the restroom. Sitting, she thinks back on her night with Zuri and smiles, still tired she continues to sit although she has been finished for about two minutes now. She hears her cell phone ringing on her desk. “Oh shoot” Ella says out loud. “I’m coming whoever you are” Ella didn’t grab her cell phone when she came inside, she hadn’t planned on receiving any calls. Ella cleaned herself and shuffled slowly to her desk to check her phone, it had stopped ringing by now, but Ella didn’t care. “Who are you?!” Ella said to herself as she plopped down in the chair at her desk grabbing her phone and entering the passcode to check the call. “UNKNOWN” was on the screen as she checked for messages or text messages. “Great, waste of time” Ella said to her self-feeling frustrated and tired, she felt that everything was keeping her from her sleep, so she turned her phone to silent and lay her head down right there on the desk falling asleep immediately.After what felt like hours, Ella lifted her head, her body feeling stiff from sleeping in the chair. She knew she had to get up and get into bed, she couldn’t get comfortable at the desk. “How long was I out?”she thought to herself, grabbing her phone to check the time as she stood to stretch. Glancing at her phone Ella choked as she realized two very strange things. First, although it felt as if she had slept for hours, it had only been thirty minutes, second, she now had forty-five missed calls from “UNKOWN” it seems someone really wants to speak to her, but they never leave a message. “Oddly I’m not as tired as I was a few minutes ago but I should still lay down” Ella thinks. She walks to the kitchen to get a glass of water before heading downstairs to her bed. She stops by Xavier room and smiles at the messy bed and room he left behind as she thinks to herself, “funny, he normally sleeps in my room, so he never cleans his room.” She continues down the hall stopping by the thermostat to increase the heat in the house, again she thinks to herself, “It’s a chilly day today for this time of year” Wrapping her arms around herself as she anticipates the housewarming up, she heads downstairs to her bedroom looking forward to her king-sized bed and comforter. Because Xavier comes to sleep with her most nights anyway, she bought a bigger bed, and she doesn’t regret it.Coming downstairs she begins to yawn, as she approaches her bed, she notices someone sleeping there! She gasps with fear for just a second until the person turns over to face her. “Hi Mommy! did I scare you?” It was Xavier, it appeared that he had come downstairs and slept in her bed the entire time. He was waiting for her last night in her room. “Ella, still startled took a step back and said in a cautious voice, “but I though… I though you got on the school bus this morning, I’m sure of it I made breakfast and everything… How are you here?” Xavier slowly got out of the bed, still rubbing his eyes as he notices his mother backing away from him and not immediately embracing him. “Are you mad at me mom? What did I do?” Ella stares at her son and looks into those big beautiful brown eyes, it feels like her son, it feels like Xavier. “How are you home baby did you miss your school bus?”Xavier lowered his head as he answered, “Well, I tried to wake you, but you were tired. I came out of my room when I heard the bus drive away and I saw you sleeping at your desk, I tried to wake you, honest I did but you didn’t wake up, so I came down here to sleep in your bed and wait for you to wake up. I waited all night for you, and I thought you wanted me to stay home today, I’m sorry mom.” Xavier lowers his head in sorrow and Ella begins to approach him as she thinks to herself “did, I dream the entire morning with my son earlier. I was sleep for only thirty minutes.” Ella hugs Xavier “It’s ok, I’m not mad at you I’m just mad we missed your school bus, if I was too tired to wake up for the bus then I am definitely too tired to take you to school, so I guess you are staying home with me today.” Ella said “So, what do you want for breakfast?” she asks Xavier as they begin walking upstairs. “Can I have pancakes?” asks Xavier excitedly. Ella thinks to herself, “No I’m not messing up the dishes in my kitchen for a second time this morning, I’ve already made him pancakes for him” Ella looks at Xavier with a stern face, “No! only Cereal or Pop tarts, I’ve already made pancakes for you this morning, I watched you eat them.” Ella scolded Xavier face frowned with sadness as he said under his breath, “…but you didn’t…” Ella and Xavier walks into the kitchen Ella expecting there to be dirty dishes from this morning because she knew she did not wash them yet. “See” She points to the sink to show him the dirty dishes from this morning, and she is surprised that everything is still cleaned from the night before when the babysitter made dinner and cleaned. They both stood silent in the kitchen, Xavier looks at his mother, thinking she must be still tired. “I’ll just grab the cereal mom, it’s ok” He climbs on the counter near the sink and reaches the top of the refrigerator grabbing his favorite Cereal. Ella stood watching him still surprised that she must have dreamed the entire morning with her son. “I must really be tired” Ella says under her breath, but Xavier still heard her. “Yea, that’s what I said…” he responds as he puts the milk back in the refrigerator and closes the door. “Can I watch cartoons?” Ella, still confused and tired waves her hand to dismiss him, “yea go ahead” Xavier runs off towards the TV and sits on the couch eating a large bowl of sugar cereal. “You should lay down” Xavier suggests to his mom crunching on a mouthful of cereal watching his favorite show. “Yea, I’m going to do that, move over I’m going to lay with you.” Xavier slides to onside of the couch and Ella lays down, there is throw blanket draped over the back oof the couch, Ella grabs the throw and wraps herself in it as she notices the house still hasn’t heated up. She begins to drift asleep as she watched Xavier laugh at his cartoons. Ella kept herself from falling asleep too deeply because she felt disturbed earlier, it felt so real. Ella would fall sleep periodically throughout the day however she would constantly wake up to check on Xavier and apologies that she was no fun today. Xavier didn’t mind, he watched cartoons and ate snacks all day, Ella was too tired to cook so as she woke up periodically, she would approve his request for Ice-cream, chips, cookies and such. Hours passed as Ella tried to catch up on her sleep, however it was difficult with the cartoons and laughter in the background. The living room was a mess of trash and paper wrappers from all the snacks. Xavier begins to Yawn, it was the afternoon and even if he was at school, it would be time for a nap, he was getting sleepy. “Are you ready for a nap? Ella asks Xavier. He confirmed was. “Can I lay in your bed, it’s better than my room” Xavier asks as he yawns again preparing for his nap, after all the ice-creams cookies and chips Ella was sure he was tired and maybe now she would be able to get some sound sleep while he rests. “Sure, I’ll Walk you down” Ella said with a smile. She takes him downstairs to her bedroom and tucks him in for a nap. She hears him begin to snore already. “That baby is tired” She thinks to herself as she starts back upstairs to the couch, turns the TV and lights off grabs the throw and gets comfortable. “I’ll probably cook some pasta for dinner, Xavier loves cheesy pasta” Ella thinks to herself as she begins to fall asleep. “I sure had Fun with Zuri last night although it’s been a bizarre day, still a little chilly for this time of year.” Ella falls asleep this time she relaxes into a deep sleep, resting and releasing her energies. The alarm on her phone begins to buzz lightly Ella grabs her phone to stop the Alarm. She sets an alarm to ring every day in anticipation of Xavier coming home from school. Ella enters the password to open her phone, presses the button to end the alarm and she notices that the time is 3:15pm Xavier would usually be getting off the bus at this time she also notices that she has forty-five missed calls from “UNKOWN” “I wonder who you are Mr. Unknown” Ella thinks to herself as she starts to stand from the couch. I should begin dinner before Xavier wakes from his nap, he would love the cheesy pasta today. She gets up expecting the messy room she fell asleep in, to her surprise there was no trash on the floor. “I don’t remember cleaning it.” Ella thinks to herself, “Maybe Xavier woke up before me and cleaned it.” Ella walks to the guest restroom in the hall, as she sits, she thinks what to make with pasta. Ella finishes and cleans herself. She walks out and goes by Xavier room, still empty and dirty. She smiles. She continues down the hall towards the thermostat. “Must be broken it’s still chilly in here” The house never warmed up. Ella wrapped her arms around herself as she headed towards the kitchen to begin making the cheesy pasta. As she rounded the corner walking into the kitchen She gasped and immediately dropped her phone on the floor covering her mouth nearly holding back tears as she realized all the dirty dishes she had used to pancakes for Xavier this morning were still in the kitchen at the same time the front door started to creak open with keys jingling and the sound of a distant school bus pulling away from the house. Ella was so startled that she had not realized the school bus approaching Xavier was returning home from school. Xavier walks into the house closes the door, throws his jacket on the couch “It’s chilly out there” he says as he runs past his mom standing frozen in the kitchen with her hands clasps tightly over her mouth to hold back the screams, she watches as Xavier kicks his shoes off turns on cartoons plops down on the couch, then he looks back at Ella with those big beautiful brown eyes, smiles and asks his mother, “So, what’s for dinner?” Ella Swallows hard then whimpers softly, “Cheesy Pasta, your favorite” Xavier smiled, “Great because I’m really hungry” as he turned and continued to watch cartoons.

-ARZELL THE ESOTERIC