A Quiet House

I decided to try and write a short fictional story where the first sentence is the same as the last sentence, but they have different meanings. However, I did this with a twist. I went online and found a random sentence generator and used the first sentence that came up. Enjoy!

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"A quiet house is nice until you are ordered to stay in it for months," I said to Jimmy.

"Yeah. Are you doing okay?" Jimmy asked.

"I am doing great! We're just getting used to the new stay at home orders and staying extra safe from COVID. Hopefully, we don't get stuck doing this for long," I said. Moments before, I was inside of the house watching TV when she heard the doorbell ring. One of my neighbors, Jimmy, who often would check up on me for whatever reason, was at the door with a loaf of banana bread to gift us.

"Well, that's good," Jimmy replied.

"Thanks for the bread!" I said and then shut the door. I'm not entirely sure why Jimmy always felt the need to visit us and gift us food, but she wasn't complaining, even if it was a little creepy. I was definitely not the type of person to pass up free food.

"Who was that?" Henry, my husband, said as she joined me in the front room.

"It was Jimmy again," she said, walking to the kitchen to put away the newly acquired banana bread.

"Of course... there is nowhere else that," he pointed at the bread in her hands as he followed her into the kitchen, "could have came from." She chuckled.

"Is Brianna asleep?" I asked as I put the banana bread on the counter. Brianna was their 2 year old daughter.

"She just went down," he said.

"Perfect. I think I am going to sit on the porch and read my new book," Erin said.

"Alright, have fun!" Henry said and went to go watch something on the TV I had left on earlier. I headed towards my bedroom to grab my book.

As I picked up my book, my vision started to blur and I grabbed onto the bed for leverage. Scared, I attempted to yell out for when all of a sudden my vision went completely dark and I fell.

The doorbell rang, but my body was aching too much to move. I couldn't focus on anything but how my head was in excruciating pain. I attempted to open my eyes, but my vision was so blurry that it hurt too much to keep them open. The doorbell rang again.

I took a deep breath and the attempted to get up once again. Feeling the soft comforter of my bed underneath me, I was glad that I had a general idea about my surroundings. I groaned in pain and my head continued throbbing.

What happened? I thought. And why isn't Henry getting the stupid doorbell?

I rolled over so I was on my back and opened one eye. My eyes were hurting, but not as much as my head. I opened my second eye and took another deep breath. Then, the doorbell rang again.

I frustratingly got up too quickly and almost fell back over. I grabbed the bed, pulled myself up until I was about at a standing position, and used the walls to guide me through the hallway.

When I finally got to the door, I saw that it was Jimmy again.

"What's the matter?" I asked, taking deep breaths and leaning against the door frame.

"Erin, are you okay? What happened?" he asked, concerned.

"I think I fainted or something," I said. "Wait, how do you know something happened?"

"I heard you scream for help. You screamed so loud that I could hear you from my house," he explained.

"That's weird," I said. I could have sworn when I attempted to scream for help, nothing came out.

"Yeah, and you were screaming for a guy named Henry. Who's Henry?" he asked.

"Henry is my husband. You literally met him when we moved in, remember?" I explained, confused.

"Erin, what? You don't have a husband."

"Yes, I do. I also have a daughter named Brianna."

"No, you don't."

"Who are you to tell me what I do and do not have?" I asked, appalled at the audacity of this man.

"Erin, I'm telling you right now that you are not married," Jimmy said, inching closer to me.

"Yes, I do!" I shrieked and then turned around so my back was to Jimmy. "Henry, get over here!"

I turned back around and glared at Jimmy as I waited for Henry to come to us. When I realized that I couldn't hear footsteps, I yelled for him again. Jimmy gave me this frustrating look of pity, and I couldn't even look at him.

"Give me one second," I said, fake politely. I slammed the door and rushed through the house trying to find Henry. I checked the bedroom, the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the family rooms and he was nowhere in sight.

I was in near panic mode when I arrived at Brianna's room and the door was closed. Knowing that she was asleep, I opened the door gently as not to wake her. When I opened the door, the room was completely empty.

"Brianna?" I asked, concerned for where my daughter was and for what happened to her room.

"What is going on, Henry? This isn't funny!" I screamed. I stood in the middle of Brianna's empty room and fell onto my knees. I couldn't stop myself from sobbing. Where did my family go?

After a few moments of silently sobbing to myself, I remembered that I had left Jimmy standing at my door. I wiped my tears away, rushed to the door, opened it, and glared at him.

"What's going on?" I asked him, voice wavering.

"What happened? I heard you yelling again," he asked, genuinely concerned.

"My baby... her room was empty and she was gone... and I can't find Henry anywhere!" I said, still sobbing and taking shaky breaths at every pause.

"This is common in patients like you, Erin," Jimmy said.

"What?" I asked, unsure of what he was talking about.

"You don't remember? You were just released from the mental hospital. I was your nurse there and told you about my neighboring house for sale. I helped you get settled in and have been keeping a close eye on you ever since," Jimmy said coming closer.

"What are you talking about? What on earth you talking about?" I asked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"You were just in the mental hospital. I was your nurse. You were released and now live next door to me. Everyday, I check up on you to make sure you don't have to go back. Remember?" Jimmy asked.

"No, no, no, no, no..." I couldn't stop repeating myself. I couldn't believe that everything that I knew was something that my mind fabricated to manipulate me into being happy.

"This can't be," I said.

"As part of the agreement to letting you go, you agreed to stay home for at least a year. Maybe it is starting to get to your head."

"Well," I scoffed, still appalled at this absurd news. I couldn't rationalize anything. "A quiet house is nice until you are ordered to stay in it for months," I said to Jimmy.

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I just want to add a note that the fictional story above may not accurately depict the truth behind how mental health or mental hospitals work. This is a fabricated story that takes place in an alternate universe where that stuff would be accurate.

Thank you for reading!