Home: A Place For People and Pizza

Erin heard the foyer door slam shut, as a waft of cold air swept into the kitchen. Ms. Arcolff entered the room; groceries piled high in her hands. The brown bags threatened to fall over and splatter on the wooden floor.
“Here. Let me help you,” Erin said, standing up from her chair and taking some of the paper sacks out of her mom’s hands. Like a chain reaction, Jess came into the room and took some more of his mom’s arms.
“Thanks, you guys. My arms definitely don’t hurt as much,” Ms. Arcolff said with a smile, as they all put the bags down on the counter, almost unanimously. Ms. Arcolff started unloading the bags. She pulled a frozen pizza out of one.
“Put this in the oven, will you Jess?” She said, handing it over to him. He immediately started reading the instructions on the back of the box and punching numbers into the oven. Erin settled down at the table again. She stared out the window into her dismally small backyard. It was practically neglected, with it’s weeds growing up the wooden fence that separated their puny backyard from the rest of the neighborhood’s. It had seen better days-especially the overgrown vegetable garden the previous owners had tried to keep up, but had obviously failed. Ms. Arcolff was always saying how she would fix up the garden one day, but she never had, and Erin, quite frankly, believed she never would. The oven pinged and Jess slipped a baking tray with the pizza on top inside the glowing oven. Erin stared at the oven thinking about it’s warmth for no particular reason.
“Erin, dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. Why don’t you start your homework in the meantime?” Ms. Arcolff suggested, now finished unloading groceries and leaning against the counter, an exasperated look on her face.
“Kay mom,” Erin replied standing up and walking towards the door. She opened it and was immediately blasted with a wave of cold air. She stepped onto the cold concrete step, letting the door swing shut behind her. She hugged her arms around her, as she made the dangerous trek to the car. The cold from the driveway seeped into her socks and sent chills through her body. She reached the car and pulled the door open. Erin found her backpack on the floor, nestled between two seats. Pulling it out, she got ready to head back to the house. Her house. A safe haven. Erin turned on heel and ran back to just that place.