“Claire, I swear I’m ok.”

“I know, Pen, but this is a big change.”

Penny puts her phone on speaker as she rummages through some labeled boxes.

“It’s always been us three sisters.”

“It’ll be ok. I’m not that far.”

Huffing out an annoyed sigh, she sets yet another box aside that had various hair accessories she didn’t even know she owned. “Hey do you know where my utensils are? I’ve gone through all the boxes that say kitchen.”

“I don’t know. By the end, Eleanor and I were just throwing stuff in boxes where they would fit.” She could practically hear her sister’s shrug through the phone.

“Ok, I’ll find them eventually,” she dismisses. It’s not that pressing. She can always use plastic utensils until she finds the metal ones.

“I’m coming up tomorrow morning to help unpack.”

“Thanks, love you.”

“Love you.”

As she scans the many containes and the nice box lettering, she mentally reminds herself to thank Claire tomorrow for labeling the boxes. She has the neatest, nicest writing she’s ever seen. Penny’s writing is pretty unreadable. Chicken scratch, some might say.

Her sister’s phone call may seem like hovering, but Penny doesn’t get annoyed. She has seen Penny struggle with her identity and not being where she felt others were at.

Moving out is the first step to hopefully help her feel more confident.

Initially, it scared the crap out of her to not live with her sisters. But she knows it is what she needs. It was time.

Thankfully, this amazing house went up for sale. It was even within budget! Too good to pass up.

Her first mission is getting her jewelry supplies laid out in her new office. Her business is her life, so it must be the first thing to be organized.

The rest can wait.

She knows exactly which boxes hold her jewelry stuff because she wouldn’t let anyone else pack them. It makes her nervous when others touch her materials, so she resorted to organizing that herself.

The wooden desk that came with the house stands so pretty and delicate. The carvings are impeccable with roses and other flowers etched into it. Penny was really lucky that the owner sold the house with a lot of the furniture. Apparently an older man died and his children wanted someone else to get use from the house and furniture.

Sorting through her supplies, she assesses where each box of beads should go and her tools. Also the display stuff should go somewhere else. This room may get too dark for that.

*buzzzzzzz*

Penny startles as it was completely silent before her phone buzzed.

Swiping across her screen, she greets the person on the other end, “Hey Reina!”

“How’s my bestie’s house looking like? I want to be able to spend a lot of time over there!” Reina teases.

Surveying the room she’s in, she winces, “It’s looking….rough. Boxes are just kinda around, not a lot but enough to bother me. But I’ll get a lot done tomorrow.”

She fiddles with the key pendant around her neck as she hears a laugh come from Reina. “We need to go out soon and drag you away from that desk!”

“Yes, maybe next week when I get more settled,” Penny responds, already looking forward to the break. She doesn’t give herself that much time off, so it would be nice to see her friend.

“Of course! I gotta go, but I’ll see you soon!” With that, she clicks off before Penny can even say goodbye.

Now back to her unpacking. Glancing at the three whole boxes of stuff still to go with her jewelry things, she groans.

This will take a while

OoOoO

It took a while.

But her jewelry materials are all unpacked.

She sighs with relief. If she does nothing else today, at least her business could run. Maybe she’ll make a ring. Where did she put her ring mandrel? Drawer on the right, she thinks.

Checking the time, her eyes almost bulge from her head. She spent hours doing that. Where did the time go? It felt like a second ago she had more hours in the day.

Flopping onto the ground, she feels the lonliness creep in. She isn’t used to that feeling.

Maybe she should get a dog or a cat.

Her phone also is dying so she has to drag herself up and go get her charger.

Tripping over her flute case that she hasn’t opened in years, she manages to find her electronics box.

Where was her charging plug. Ugh. She’ll have to use her portable charger.

Except she used it already when moving the boxes into the house. Good thing she is always prepared.

She pulls out her stupid portable charger that weighs a ton. This one has a separate cord which is why she doesn’t use it very often. Why would they make them like that anyway?

Finally she gives her phone some life support.

Sinking into the leather couch, also left behind by the owner, she fully relaxes.

From the long day, her eyes become heavy, and they slowly begin to shut.

Just as she drifts off to dreamland, a creak startles her.

Was that her door?

That sounded a lot like her door.

Her heart is pounding, fear burning in her veins. Someone is in her house.

Over the sound of her heart, she could hear hushed voices. “Let’s just get the money.”

Scrambling off the couch as quietly as she can, she grabs her phone by the portable charger and silently makes her way into the office.

What money? She’s nowhere near rich.

Well if they were looking for cash, they would check her bedroom first. Hopefully.

“I thought you said no one lives here,” she hears someone hiss.

“Someone must have bought the house.”

Ok, time to call the police. Looking down at her hand, she almost groans. If she wasn’t in a terrifying situation, she would off herself. She feels like a stupid character in a horror movie.

In her grasp is only the phone charger with the cord dangling with no phone attached. It must have not been plugged in all the way. Her phone is still in the living room.

Shit.

The charger feels cool against her sweaty palms. Her panic is rising. They’ll check this room soon.

Defending herself is her only choice.

She carefully opens the drawer with her ring mandrel and takes that in one hand. It is heavy, heavy enough to be a weapon if needed. And it was needed.

Footsteps are getting closer. She can’t tell how many people there are. At least two.

Standing directly to the left of the door, she holds up the ring mandrel, ready to strike. In her other hand is the cord with her phone charger. If she whips it around, it could hurt. Maybe incapacitate.

As the steps get closer and the doorknob turns, Penny holds her breath.

It opens.

———

(If you’ve never seen a ring mandrel, it is something to help jewelry makers size rings. It also looks like a big baton like instrument and is very heavy. I want a horror movie where a character kills or gets killed by one. Is that too morbid to ask? 👀)