Dressed as well as she could be Rachel was ready to make her escape. She crept to the window but froze when she looked outside. It did indeed look just like the back yard of the house she’d grown up in. But how was that possible? She couldn’t deny it though, this was definitely the exact view she’d looked out on year after year growing up here. She was back in her childhood home.
At that moment, without warning, the door to the room clicked and swung open. Rachel spun on the spot and gasped in disbelief. Her mother was standing there in her pajamas, smiling, as though everything was as it should be.
“Mom?” Rachel squeaked.
“Well good morning honey-bun! I’m surprised to see you in here,” her mom commented brightly.
“What? Why?” Rachel asked, hoping her mom had some idea why everything in her room had changed to fit a little kid.
“Well usually when you’re up before me you run downstairs to watch toons. What’s so interesting outside that you’d rather look out the window than watch Bratz?”
Now Rachel was doubly confused. Her mom was acting as if she was five. Couldn’t she see that Rachel was clearly a young woman? Had her mom lost her mind?
“Mom, I don’t watch cartoons, I’m an adult woman,” she told her as seriously as she could given the way she was dressed.
But her mother just shook her head and chuckled. “Oh Rachel, what an imagination you have! Maybe you’ve been watching a few too many cartoons honey.”
“Mom, for God’s sake look at me! Can’t you see I’m the same size as you? Can’t you see I’m twenty-one years old?” Rachel demanded, becoming hysterical.
“Shh honey, calm down,” her mother soothed, stepping closer and running her hand through Rachel’s hair. “Of course I can see you’re twenty-one honey,” she assured.
“You can?” Rachel asked desperately.
“Well of course, silly-billy! I’m old but I’m not blind y’know!” she joked. “You’re getting to be a big girl. Pretty soon you’ll be going to all-day school and learning to read and write just like mommy,” she crooned, pulling Rachel into a hug.
Rachel’s eyes widened as he mother spoke. She tried to push away as he mom hugged her, horrified by what she was saying, but somehow unable to muster the strength to get away. It was as if her mom had become super-strong, or she’d become very weak.
“Mom, I’m not a little girl. I can read and write on my own already! I’m in college!” she insisted, her voice muffled as she was pulled tight against her mom’s shoulder.
“Now Rachel, you shouldn’t tell lies, you know that,” her mom chided, slowly releasing her.
“But… but…”
“No buts young lady, it’s time we get some breakfast in that tummy. We need to get you off to school on time.”
With that her mom took her hand and led Rachel out of the room and down the hallway. “It’s so nice to see you got yourself dressed all on your own today, and in such a pretty outfit too,” her mom praised. “Now I just have to get your brother dressed, thank you for helping mommy honey.”
Had to get her brother dressed? What did that mean? Rachel’s brother, Dan, was eighteen and would be graduating high school in a couple months. Why would he need help getting dressed? Rachel now had to assume her mother had gone totally mad and was treating her and Dan like incompetent little children. Perhaps he’d have a better idea of how to deal with this situation.