Prompt provided by @mariannewest thank you!
She startled awake. Disoriented, she reached across the bed—it was crisp and empty. A question formed in her mind, “Where…?” Suddenly her mind cleared, her husband was out of town on an overnight trip, due back tomorrow, or today, depending what time it is.
She glanced at the green digits on the side table — 2:37.
Her eyes raced around the room, searching for any sign of movement.
Nothing.
At that moment, she stiffened as another noise broke the early morning silence. Her mind raced. What was she to do, who was there? Her kids, down the hall were they ok?
She sprung into action, swinging her legs over the bed, she slipped too far and jammed her toe into her dresser. Pain shot through her foot and she wanted to yell out, but had to stifle the cry.
What was the noise?
“Ok, I have to go check it out myself,” she thought, steeling her nerves, limping because of her throbbing toe. She remembered setting the alarms, checking the windows and doors, at the same time inching toward the door and the bat that her husband kept there.
-- 5 minutes. I felt that I needed to close the scene with this:
In the midst of her pain, she missed her daughter’s exclamation as she also bloodied her toes in the dark, tripping over the toys lingering from last night’s play.