Be A Fence

“Lexi!”

Seconds pass by.

“LEXI! I know you hear me calling you!” Lexi’s mom says as she turns the knob, opening Lexi’s bedroom door.

“… and why do you have the door closed!?”

Lexi has her back to the door and is leaning on the corner end of her white floral bed, playing with her dolls.

“Lexi!”

Frazzled, Lexi jumps, at the sound of her mom’s voice.

“Did you take a bath? It is almost bedtime.”

“No..” Lexi says in an unenthused whisper.

“No, what?”

“No, ma’am” she softly corrects herself.

“OK well get ready for a bath and make sure you have your clothes set out for tomorrow.”

Seven year old Lexi knows no exactly what she needs to do to get ready for school for tomorrow. She has so much energy and wants to keep playing with her toys.

Lexi lays her dolls on the bed and walks over to her bedroom dresser and gathers her undergarments and pajamas. She walks into the hall, down to the bathroom and twists the knob but it is locked. She knocks on the door and receives no response. She rolls her eyes, wondering if it’s her brother or sister. She walks to the kitchen to see who is on cleaning duty, since they had just had supper. She peaks into the kitchen and sees her second older sibling, River, leaning over the sink with a soapy sponge in her hand, making circular scrubbing motions on a skillet. 

River looks over to her. “What?” She asks with one eyebrow raised.

Lexi doesn’t respond and heads back to the bathroom door. She knocks on the door again, a bit louder, and exclaims, “Dang! Ty! Hurry up! You always take forever!”

Her brother Ty is quite the ‘ladies man’ so he puts extra effort into his appearance.

“My bad lil lady” he says with a grin on his face as he opens the door and grabs the crown of Lexi’s head with his hand covering it like a basketball, moving it from side to side.

Lexi chuckles. “Stop!” she says pushing her way into the bathroom. 

After Lexi bathes, she starts getting her school clothes ready for tomorrow.

The outfit choice that she chooses is pink overalls with a white blouse and pink, sparkly sandals.

By the time Lexi picked out her school clothes, her sister was done with her nighttime routine, as well, and started getting ready for bed, in their shared space. Moments later her mom and bother come into the girls room for their nightly bedtime prayer.

Kneeling alongside the bed, they say, “Lord lay me down to sleep..I pray…”

They complete their prayer in unison.

“OK, good night. I love y’all” their mom says as she gets in a standing position.

They say their ‘good nights’ and ‘I love yous’ and Ty goes back to his room.

The girls climb into the bed, on opposite ends, as their mom turns off the lights and head to her room, across the hall.

What seems like an hour passes by. Lexi notices her mom’s lights from her room is not peeking underneath her mom’s bedroom door and she no longer hears her mom’s TV. She makes the assumption that her mom is fast asleep. 

“River..” Lexi whispers.

“Whaaat..” River asks, annoyed.

“Are you up?

“Gurl, what do you want?” her teenage sibling asks in a loud whisper.

“Nothing”

“Ughhh,” River expresses tossing around in the bed.

Minutes past and now Lexi can hear River’s snores.

There is no light coming from the halls or her room and everything is quiet.

She closes her eyes trying to force herself to go to sleep.

She hears and feels a snore coming from her nose and takes a deep breath and opens her eyes. She looks around and is unaware of how much time has gone by and if she is waking from a sleep or not.

Everything is quiet and she knows that everyone is asleep.

She looked up to the ceiling and noticed a darker figure in the corner of her bedroom ceiling.

She closes her eyes and opens them again and the dark matter expands.

It looks like a huge cloak hovering, in the corner.

She tries to call out for her sister.

River, she says but no words come out.

She can hear herself calling her sister again and again in her head but still no words are coming out of her mouth.

Mom, she screams! Ty! Anybody! Still, no words are coming out her mouth even though she can feel herself and hear herself saying these things.

So, she tries to stand up. She can feel her legs and her arms move but she is not moving.

The dark matter expands and eases closer to her.

Aaaahhhh! She screams and kicks and twists and turns.

Still no sound escapes her lips and her body does not move inch.

She is frozen in time.

She closes her eyes and hopes and prays that it will go away.

“Je-sus! Beeee a fence…allll around me eeee-very-daaayyy!” She hears her mom’s operatic voice singing the latest version of the known gospel song ‘Jesus be a Fence’, which was originally released by The Soul Stirrers in the 1960s.

Light fills Lexi’s mustard painted room as the sun penetrates through the blinds.

“Shut uuupppp!” River yells but not too loud that her mom can hear. She turns to her other side while wrapping the pillow around her head to cover her ears.

The smell of bacon travels through Lexi’s nostrils.

Her face beams with joy as she jumps out the bed and dashes to the kitchen realizing that she survived, yet, another dark night.

Hope you all enjoyed this past Resurrection Day!

-PJ