Challenge #130
"lingered outside the window" & "out in a field"

Peeping Alice pt.1

It's impossible not to look, Alice thought.

The sounds from inside the house were anything but pleasant. A male voice rose in a shout above the winds outside, and it had drawn Alice from the sidewalk to the side of the house. She stared in through the kitchen window, bent at such an angle to hide from any other passersby. She lingered outside the window, hoping to catch a glance at the woman inside. The man paced from kitchen to living room shouting back at the woman, and all Alice could hear of the woman was soft crying.

Everytime the man marched into the kitchen Alice ducked her head out of sight of the window. The man never moved far enough into the kitchen for Alice to fear being discovered, but the recently discovered peeping tom inside of her wanted to be careful. Even with her head tucked under the window, she could tell when his voice got farther away and took that chance to glance back into the house. As he paced she caught snippets of his ranting.

"...crazy, what were you..."

"...if we...out in a field..."

And over and over again there was, "...and if you were caught...".

The woman more than once had stopped her sobbing long enough to reply to her comments, but Alice couldn't see her and the woman didn't speak loud enough for her to hear anything but a muffled voice. Alice waited, heart beating loudly in her ears, each time the woman stopped talking. She expected to hear a crash, or a slam, or even a slap...but nothing ever came. And finally, the man stopped yelling back.

I can't believe I'm still crouched here. I should get back before someone sees me. The house was eerily silent after a few more moments, even the woman's crying had faded out. Alice slowly backed away from the window, still crouched down, and looked out to the front yard. When she saw nothing, no one, she slowly made her way out from the bushes at the side of the house, and quickly stepped up to the sidewalk. Her heart racing, she took a moment to rest before quickly stepping up her pace to resume her walk. In her head she replayed the pieces of what she'd seen.

Past the house...keep walking, no one saw me and nothing happened. She was moving, leaving thoughts of the house behind her as she stepped into the yard of the next house on the block. She stopped and glanced behind her one last time, to remember the address just in case, just doing my neighborly duty.

There was a noise, it started low, a deep rumbling from inside the house. Alice stood there, rooted in place as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Goosebumps raising on her arms she strained to hear anything else besides the roar. And that's what it was. As she watched, and listened a loud roar sounded from deep in the house. It was too loud, Alice covered her ears and stared out the house, expecting the front door to crash open. The roar sounded and then, died off in a low rumbling as it had started...