"Bedlam (\ˈbed-ləm\): n. A scene of uproar and confusion"

I sneezed as I briskly walked up to the stairs to my home, whizzing through the cool autumn air and into the warm embrace of the house. Both my parents slaved the day away in office buildings, and since I had no siblings, an ominous silence welcomed me. My routine after I came home from school was to dive straight into the piles of homework, then to spend my time as I chose. Most people have sports, clubs, or something of the sort to fill up the time but I liked to relish in the feeling of being free in the same way a prisoner would rub his or her wrists after the sinister shackles are taken off. Settling down in the dining room, I start working on the mountain of assignments.

In the dining room, from where I was sitting, there was a window to my right that had light streaming through it. I dazed off while watching the dust particles ebb and flow their way around one another in the same way that dancers do so. I jolted from my reverie as my phone went off. Bringing my phone to eye level, I realized that there was no number displayed; it only said 'Out of Area'. "Hello?" I greeted but received no answer. I held my breath so that I could try and listen for some sound but there was nothing more than dead air. "Hello?" I repeated and hoped for an answer. When none came, I pulled the device from my ear and my finger hovered over the red 'end call' button. Finally, a strident sound, a hybrid of a crackling and a sizzling, pierced the air and my finger automatically hit the surface of the phone to stop it. I shuddered and sank back into my chair.

Taking a deep breath and giving no thought to the eerie call, I glance out of the window. "What the…" I mumble. The light that had previously flooded the scene was replaced by a cold light radiating from dark clouds that had suddenly rolled in. I glanced at my phone but didn't dare pick it up. "I ju-just need… a-a walk! Yes, a walk!" I assured myself. I hadn't bothered to take my shoes off when I entered so I hurried to the door, eager to escape the shroud of terror that blanketed the scene. I paused at the front door to get my thoughts straight but the moment the door opened, I was frozen in place. I was blinded by a bright light. Once I regained my ability to see, I examined the surroundings; the clouds were frighteningly darker now and torrential rain obscured my view of the outside world. Fortunately, there was still a glass door keeping the moisture out and me, dry.

"This is normal. Nothing's wrong. It's only a bad storm." I stood still for a few more minutes to watch the rain. Just as I thought the ordeal was over, I hear a faint noise aside from the monsoon raging outside. It was very high frequency and it bothered me a lot. I turned around once or twice to find the origin of the sound. The sound was too high pitched for anyone to carefully listen and trace the direction; it reminded me of nails to a chalkboard. In a last attempt to locate the sound, I look outside. There were pools of water almost four to five inches deep in the driveway alone so no cars would be in the proximity. I squinted but didn't see any figures, joggers, or pedestrians. I looked down and saw deep scratches in the glass door. I ran a finger across the marks to verify whether they were inside or outside. Feeling the cool smooth glass, I concluded that the scratch marks were on the outside.

My sense of worry had begun to override my sense of fear in that moment. I grabbed a jacket, whatever I could reach first, and quickly slipped it on. Not caring whether my socks got wet or not, I took a few steps outside to scope around, looking for anything that could have made the scratch marks- most probably a small animal. There were so many places to look for the creature: in the yard, on the road, or even behind the house. I ran to the road first and saw huge puddles that seemed to span the width of the road and seemed to come up to my ankles. No small animal would survive that in this rain. Every drop felt like a pebble being thrown, from above, onto my head and this made it much harder for me to think. I trudge through puddles, which seemed more like oceans at the moment, and over fallen branches to make my way to the backyard.

The backyard was reduced to a slick marshland from the lush, green meadow like area it was before. I debated on checking through the sludge to try and find the animal but it seemed, again, futile for the animal to be able to travel through the muck. I had one more place to look: behind and around the house. Around the house, there was a paved path. I shuffled along the path and scanned in the gardens for anything that seemed more out of place than it already was. I check twice but didn't find the animal. I had given up- the animal could be anywhere by now. Maybe the marks weren't from today, or better yet, maybe there were no animals involved.

The rain started to give way as I trudged ever so slowly to the front of the house, and I sighed heavily. The rain was now reduced to a mist and I could see again. Rumbles of thunder rolled off into the distance and the storm dispersed as soon as it came. I rubbed my eyes and looked down at my mud coated shoes and something caught my eye. Something shiny was under the porch. I gaze at the same spot for a few more moments and spot another glint of the shiny object. I get down on all fours and reach under the porch as far as I could. I felt something soft but cold as I reached for the mysterious object. Poking the object to ensure that I won't be bitten by anything, I pull the object out into the light.

"Oh no…" I mumble to myself. I cradled the creature close to myself; it was a miniscule black kitten encased in fur matted with mud. I had no clue what to do because I did not know of anyone with any pet cats within the neighborhood, and I have never owned a pet other than fish. The shiny object I had previously found was the kitten's collar. I wiped some of the mud from the collar and examined it; there was no address or phone number, only the name 'Bedlam.'

Later, that night I buried the kitten in the back yard. My parents came home from work but I kept quiet about today's past experiences and we all sat down to eat. My dad then spoke up, "I tried calling you today. Was everything alright at home?" Either my memory failed me or he must have called while I was outside but I never received a call. "Did you call the land line or my cell phone?" I ask, starting to understand what was going on. "Your cell phone; I was making sure you got home alright. I heard there was a big storm." Not realizing that I nervously held my breath in, I let it out. "Oh, yeah, I got your call. There was just bad reception during the storm." The evening went on normally, full of chit-chat. I still felt immense guilt for Bedlam though; I lost him, or her, in the confusion.