When I reached for the doorknob to my suburban home my cell phone told me it was a ripe old time of nine. I rushed inside in a hurry.

“Tadaima!” I annnounced my late arrival.

I heard the crickets, and a stubborn silence in response.

The stairs croaked under my feet as I carefully ascended them. Where were they? Usually, I would hear a storm of feet from my sister rushing to greet me. Or my mom would call out to me to help her out in the kitchen.

My tired feet instinctively took me towards my room, down a dark hall past my sisters bedroom. I saw her door letting through a crack of light. I smiled and rapped lightly on the door before letting myself in.

The room was the usual, neat and tidy, a slight trace of feminine pink, with an eternal fragrance of spring lingering in the air. I had always thought it was because she opened her windows but the aroma was there even in the winter. The lights were on, casting a soft warm glow throughout the room, but with one look I could tell my sister was fast asleep, flat on her face.

I grinned. How could someone sleep like that?

I reached for the blanket and pulled it over her shoulders. She looked angelic fast asleep, but I knew better. She looked like she fell asleep clutching her cell phone. Glancing at the screen it looked like she was composing a new email, but she hadn’t written anything yet. I was about to turn off the phone for her but thought better of it.

Instead I found myself back in the hall, ready to retreat to my room and call it a day, but the sound of low but intense voices drew my attention.

Upon further inspection it was coming from my parents’ room. What’s going on? Things were just about to get more complicated.