Coming Home to Nothing- True story

When I was in High School, we lived in a rural area in the hills above San Jose. I found an entry in my old journal and decided to turn it into a story. I did not have to change much from the original entry.

Coming home to nothing. - Based on a journal entry dated June 30, 1990

I walked into the kitchen, assuming everything was 'normal'. I could hear the burner on the gas stove burning merrily. Something good was cooking on the stove, for I could smell it as soon as I entered the house. But, as soon as I actually walked into the kitchen, I saw that 'The lights were on, but no one was home.' There was an active burner on the stove, with nothing on it. A few mushrooms were scattered on the cutting board with pieces strewn about, while a knife was flung haphazardly on the tile counter. There was a dish towel on the floor. Typical, everyone can see it, but rather than bend over and actually pick it up, it gets stepped over and left on the floor. As I stood there scratching my head, I noticed that there was nobody in sight. Several thoughts attempted to crowd themselves into my head at once. "What happened? Where is everyone? Maybe something awful happened? Hmmm...I don't see any blood..." I have a habit of coming up with the most horrible worst case scenarios. Several plausible (well to me anyway) explanations began to form in my mind. "Maybe a psychotic criminal escaped from jail...Yeah! That's it! He escaped from jail and was being chased by the police...No...The S.W.A.T. team! He was heavily armed and had a black belt in Karate. He came bursting into the house with a katana in one hand and a handgun in the other. He took my family hostage and...OH CRAP. What am I gonna' do?" In the middle of my near meltdown, the screen door clattered open and I spun around to see my family trooping into the kitchen. 'Oh! You're home! You just missed it. The neighbors goat was in the backyard again. He was in the vegetable garden, so we had to chase him out.' I warily eyed the object in my sisters hand. "And you needed a badminton racquet to do this with?" I asked. Once again, my exciting, action packed family had come through again with yet another thrilling afternoon adventure of nothing.