I wish I wrote more often, but it can get so difficult trying to figure out what to write about. I mean, I have PLENTY to say, but I’m not sure anyone really wants to read that. Then, sometimes a blog just drops in my lap at 2:42 AM.
Eric and I went to bed last night about 11 PM. I had been having serious allergy issues so I took a benadryl right before I set the alarm, turned down the air and went to bed.
Fast forward to 2:42:
I was sound asleep, dreaming something weird, when all of a sudden I heard the alarm going off and this electronic voice saying:
“Alarm! Office window open. Alarm! Office window open.”
Eric jumped out of bed and ran out of our room, completely out of sight.
I stumbled out of our room and made my way to the alarm pad and stared at it. I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. I was just staring at it until I decided to try to make the noise stop. I started just punching numbers, but they weren’t working. I was trying to remember my phone passcode or anything that would bring silence, but I could not summon a single correct digit. Evan appeared as if out of nowhere and I yelled, “I don’t know how to make it stop!!!”
Evan put the code in and was saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry”.
Me: “Why are you sorry?”
Evan: “I forgot about the alarm when I opened my window.”
Me: “What?”
Evan: “I set off the alarm when I opened my window.’
Me: “Why were you opening your window? It’s the middle of the night.”
Evan: “I was looking for something.”
Me: “What? What were you looking for???”
Evan: “I don’t know. I dropped my weights when I was trying to open my window.”
(He has a weight bench in his room.)
Me: “What???????? Where’s your dad?”
Evan: “He’s outside.”
We then made our way to the front door. I yelled for Eric and found him midway down the street.
Eric: “I can’t find anybody!!!”
Me: “Who are you looking for?”
Eric: “Someone tried to open Evan’s window.”
Me: “It was Evan. He was looking for something. “
Eric: “What?”
Evan: “I don’t remember what I was looking for.”
Me: “How did you know it was Evan’s window?”
Eric: “The alarm said it was the window in his room. I went outside to get whoever it was!”
It had not occurred to me until that moment that the alarm going off at 2:42 AM could mean imminent harm. Eric went to secure the perimeter, ready to beat somebody up, while I couldn’t even enter the correct passcode.
Eric asked about two or three more times if it really was Evan that opened the window before he realized there was no intruder to tackle. We all three made our way back inside, all in our own middle-of-the-night haze.
I kept grilling Evan to see if he was telling the truth. Once I realized there could have been a bad guy, I was convinced the explanation was not that Evan sleepwalks, but something much more sinister. I went through his phone to ensure he wasn’t trying to escape while fully conscious. I told him none of this added up and he didn’t really know what I meant.
It got to a point where none of us were really making sense or understanding each other, so we all went back to bed. Eric kept saying, “Well, we know it works. It did it’s job”.
When we got up this morning, Michael and Caleb had no idea what had happened, so that’s encouraging that they can sleep through a loud alarm and so much action.
Also, our dog did not move a muscle throughout the whole debacle.