Chapter Seven: Lonely Insomnia:

After her bath, Noiz crept down to the only computer in the Hardy household. That itself wasn’t an easy thing to do. She first waited in bed just to throw off suspicion. Then, she got out of bed and stayed near the doorway. The kitty had to make sure that everyone in the house was still asleep. That took a good…oh, say… ten minutes. Once that was done, the creeping actually began. Lucky for Noiz, she learned her way around the house pretty quickly. The room with the computer was downstairs in the back of the house. Noiz did the math in her head quickly. She had about one minute to get down there unseen. Plus, four to five minutes to get online and make the e-mail. The kitty weighted her risks. Worth it? Yeah, considering…

Okay, enough estimation. Time to act! Noiz braced herself at the guess bedroom doorway. She took one more look around the hall. All clear. Time to move out. Noiz quietly crawled across the hall. She kept down on the floor to the stairs. Here came the tricky part. How to get down the stairs without making a sound? Hm… It will be a tight quick. But, Noiz knew that she could do it! Here goes nothing!

Noiz slowly began to creep down the stairs. One step, two steps, three steps. Noiz kept count the whole time. She looked around as well. Couldn’t be too careless, now could she? After all, Louise could be lurking nearby, spying on her and waiting to pounce. Noiz looked around the whole time and kept walking. She looked down at the stairs before her. Just a few more to go. The kitty took in a deep breath. Here goes. Noiz pushed herself to keep going down long dark stairs down to the first floor. She began to count faster with each step. Pretty soon, the cat had only one step left to go. Noiz took in yet another deep breath. “Okay, here goes!” she thought. The kitty braced herself and took that last step down. She looked all around. Pitch black as far as the eye could see. She couldn’t pause though. The cat had to keep moving in order to get to that computer. Noiz closed her eyes for a moment. She went over the mental map in her mind once more. The back room would be down the hall to her right. Only a few seconds had passed. She still had time to make it. However, the cat would have to move quickly before being seen. So, Noiz opened her eyes and quickly crept down the stairs.

Ah, beautiful success! Noiz made it to the back room just in time. She did a quick scan of her surroundings. The back room barely had anything in it. Only things in sight were Christmas wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, a broken TV on a stool, a tall floor lamp, old clothes, a rocking chair, sewing materials, a stuffed bear, and the computer itself on an old oak desk. Noiz grinned at the old Dell 7 computer. A little out of date, but good enough. “Jackpot!” she thought. The cat gracefully walked over to the computer and turned it on. This was an old model, so it would be dragging a bit. Noiz decided to make the most of her time. The computer booted up nicely. Windows XP popped up right away. Noiz couldn’t help but to chuckle to herself in her mind. “This is *really* out of date technology!” she thought, amused. Still, she couldn’t complain. She hold computer access after a day now. So, Noiz couldn’t complain at all.

The kitty clicked on Internet Explorer. The key to the net slowly came up. Oh yeah, the Hardy’s only means of connection was dial-up. Yes, that is no joke at all. Noiz was in the land on the dinosaurs here. Still, she didn’t complain at all. Better than nothing. Better than nothing at all. In a minute, Noiz was on-line. She typed in the address to Yahoo. The web site slowly came up. Noiz clicked on sign in and typed in her log in account. Took a moment, but that didn’t slow the kitty down at all. She moved straight onto her e-mail. Thirty-seven new e-mails waited for her. They all asked where she had gone to. Noiz tried to push any thoughts of worry out of her head at the moment. If she even bothered to look at any of the messages on this slow computer, it would take her until morning. No, she just needed to e-mail Rob and get out quick.

Noiz clicked new message and got to work. She wrote quick message to her husband. Her is basically what she said:

Robbie-kun:

I’m in New Orleans with Louise, as you already heard. I’m okay at the moment. I’m finally used to American food again. Lou’s treating me nice here. We’re staying at her grandparents’ house with her mother. (Oh joy there, on the mother part!) How is Ume-chan I bought her a little present yesterday. She’s really going to like her. This present is really cute! Oh, I miss you so much! I’ll try to get home soon. Wait for me.

Noiz-sama

The kitty quickly spell changed everything. She hit send right away. Noiz watched on nervously as the e-mail sent. Only after the message had been sent, could she breathe out in peace. Mission accomplished. But yet… why did Noiz feel so… empty afterwards for? She quietly closed Internet Explorer and shut the computer down. Dark silence all around once again. Noiz looked up a little bit. “I need to get out of here,” she thought, toned down. The kitty quickly made her way back out of the room. Once out in the hall, Noiz froze in her tracks. What’s the point of going back to bed? She couldn’t sleep anyway? So, what to do next? Noiz took a moment to think about it. She looked around as she did so. Right then, the cat noticed a little light shining up ahead of her. Noiz looked up and saw the glass back door. “Ah!” she thought. “I didn’t see that there.” The rest just seemed to flow from there.

Noiz slowly walked down the hall to the back door. She slowly slid it open and stepped outside. There wasn’t much in the backyard. Just an empty clothes line, a few bushes, and a mini vegetable garden. Noiz wasn’t paying any attention that at the second. She just stood in the backyard alone in silence. The kitty gently closed her eyes and listened to the wind. So soft… She began to miss Japan, her friends, her family, and Rob. How long was Louise planning to keep her here? Noiz hoped it wouldn’t be soon. Otherwise, she would just…

Noiz shook her head as she kept her eyes shut. Nah, Louise wouldn’t do all of that, would she?