Late Night Sneaking

Lorraine woke up with a startle, her heart beating a 100 miles per hour.

The thunder that night was something else.

She could hear the loud rain drops, knocking rhythmically on the top of their roof.

Despite the windows being closed, she could make up the incessant whistling sound of the stormy wind.

It was definitely a storm, once of those which usually implied something. One of those that came with a meaning a resolve to warn of an incoming catastrophe or an impeding sad mourning.

Lorraine closed her eyes for a few seconds ,wiping off the cold sweat from her forehead.

On top of the storm being erratic, she had just had a horrible nightmare.

One of those ugly ones where everything seemed so real and everything felt so vivid.

She took large breath willing her heart to calm down as she reached for her bedside table to get a sip of water.

She usually kept a bottle close just in case, the kids had tendency of sneaking into their room in the middle of night, and must of the times they were thirsty.

As Lorraine took a big sip of water, she attempted to recall her dream.

'what the hell did I dream about' she thought to herself frowning as she felt a headache coming through,the more she thought about it.

She could faintly remember the feeling of a hand holding her tightly by her neck, she could remember the squeezing feeling, the increasing pressure being exerted on her throat with such strength, incessantly .

Her windpipe closing in,the feeling of air being chocked out of her slowly. The burning sensation growing on her lungs, them begging to be filled with some air,as the need for oxygen grew by the minute.

Lorraine vividly remembered how she had felt panic,then incessant pleading, the feeling of her struggle to get out of the evil grasps. And the ultimately, the feeling of giving up.

Lorraine shuddered, the last moments of her life in that horrible nightmare made her feel so...hopeless.

So... empty?

It was a weird feeling, one that she definitely did not like and did not want to encounter ever in her life.

Lorraine was thankful that it was all just the fruit of her imagination. It was just a terrible illusion.

Lorraine sighed as she placed her arms on her left side whilst she laid back down, trying to reach out for her husband's sleeping frame,needing his comfort at that moment.

To her surprise what she did end up touching was the cold and empty bed sheets where her husband previously laid.

Lorraine frowned in confusion, he was supposed to be there.

She glanced at the bedside clock whilst squinting her eyes, to get rid of the traces of sleep that still laced her form.

3 am.

'Could it be that he suddenly got hungry?' She thought to herself.

These days her husband was eating bigger portions than usual, he had never been such a big eater; and he was normally picky, so it actually pleased to see him eat so well.

His figure had gotten much bigger too, he had never been the athletic type but he was naturally skinny.

Nowadays he actually visited the gym.

It amazing.

Lorraine was not going to lie, those exercises actually did something, as she has found herself staring multiple at her husband whilst drooling over him.

Sure, he had always been attractive but right now.

Right now he was an actual 3 course meal.

Lorraine shook her head, snapping herself from her drifting thoughts.

It was not time the time to have inappropriate thoughts .

She hastily gave a second glance at the side clock, before deciding to look for him.

She hoped he was not overworking himself at their home office as he needed a good rest.

Lorraine stood up, stretching her limbs

"-Ah it's too early" she muttered quietly to herself, before softly paddling out of their master bedroom.

Lorraine quietly stepped out of her room using the opportunity to check on her kids. She smiled as she saw them, they were having a peaceful sleep despite the horrible weather.

She closed the door to their room after placing a soft kiss on their forehead.

As she rounded the corridor, she saw a little stray of light coming from the office room and a few noises were coming from it.

It was almost quite loud.

She tiptoed quietly in the direction of the noises , the closer she got the louder they became.

She also grabbed on her way in the corridors, a ceramic vase; just in case she needed protection. She was sure whoever was in the room was not her husband as he would not have the need to make so much noise.

They had never had burglars before but she wasn't so naive to think that the possibility of encountering them would never occur.

Lorraine finally reached her destination, slowly peeking with her eyes as she hid behind the door frame.

Before her very own eyes, she saw a crouched person on her husband's desk going through the documents cabinets.

It might have been the case that she was still tired or the fact that it was really too early in the morning, but seen as she couldn't see the face of the mysterious man she decided to attack him.

She raised the vase high up and slowly made big steps towards the said man ready to smash his head for his intrusion,but just as she was about to do so the man manhandled her in less than 3 seconds causing her to be forcibly placed on her knees and making the vase fall from her grasp, crashing into a million pieces with a loud bang.

Lorraine blinked as a gasp left her, not comprehending what had just happened, how and when could the man have noticed her approaching?

She looked up shivering, the adrenaline having left her body as a feeling of panic was starting to settle in.

Lorraine frantically tried to escape from his grasp until she finally made out the face of the intruder; to her greatest surprise and relief, she made out that the suspicious burglar was none other than Sungjae,her husband. He was now looking down at her quizzically, with a pointed look on his face.

"- What do you think you are doing?" He asked harshly after a minute of looking her up and down.

Lorraine winced at the strong tone of her husband, not getting used to such an aggressive aura.

"- I ..I ..I came looking for you,I had a nightmare and didn't see you and I thought a thief entered" she stuttered out , remorsefully.

Sungjae seemed to be having an internal battle with himself,he looked like he wanted to slap the shit out of her but was restraining himself to do so.

Lorraine eyes widened in disbelief, she had never seen this kind of expression on her husband before and she was beginning to get really offended by it.

She was just trying to protect her family from a potential intruder she didn't understand why he was so mad.

After a couple of minutes pondering. Sungjae let out a loud sigh, helping her up.

"-let's go to bed " he said drily

"-but..what were you looking for" she asked innocently

Sungjae glared at her, before abruptly relaxing his features.

"-let's go to bed " he repeated softening his tome before guiding her by the arm towards their shared bedroom.

"-you must be tired. You mentioned a nightmare " he said changing the topic of conversation

"-tell me all about it" he continued in a tone of fake concern.

Lorraine was still skeptical, wanting to know what had made him search for his office so frantically, but based on his previous reaction he would not like it if she pried on it too much.

Perhaps she could ask him about it later?

It took her a couple of seconds but she finally convinced herself that it was nothing big before she stated telling him about her horrible nightmare as she clung to his arms, not noticing how he went stiff the moment she had put her arms around him.

After all a little bit of late night sneaking once in a while was normal for everyone, no?