A Voice In The Dark

The other night Hubby and I came home after being out for dinner and a play. Surly Teenager was away, so the house was mostly dark and quiet. It was just us and the dog.

Hubby gets in bed and I am standing at the other side putting on my pj's. Haylie is lying in the hall, right by the bedroom door. Hubby stretches and yawns. At the same time, Haylie stretches and groans.

And from somewhere else in the house I hear a gruff male voice say something.

I froze.

Hubby looked at me and asks if I heard something.

I nodded, and I am pretty sure my eyes were bugging out of my head.

Whispering, he asked if I had heard a voice say something or if it was just the dog. I whispered back that I had heard a male voice but couldn't tell what it said or where it had come from. He jumped up out of bed and grabbed a gun and a flashlight. I grabbed a hammer in
one hand and his smaller pocket gun in my other.

Hubby went room to room checking doors, looking out windows, and in closets. He started at the furthest room, the family room and worked back towards our bedroom. I stood in the doorway listening and ready to call 911 if necessary.

He came back towards me saying he didn't see anything and I asked about the girl's rooms. He was doing those next.

Lazy Teenagers room is right next to ours, so he did that one first. Nothing. The hall closet. Nothing. That left Surly Teenagers room. He goes in. Nothing.

I start to relax and step back into our bedroom.

Then suddenly, the voice again and Hubby yells "Jesus Christ"!

I almost peed my pants and I stopped breathing expecting to hear gun shots next.

Nothing.

Then Hubby starts laughing, as I run in the room and look around. I didn't get it, I didn't see anything amiss.

He says "I almost shot the computer".

And then I got it.

We have parental controls on Surly Teenagers computer to keep her from being tempted to stay up all night chatting and playing virtual pool. When it is 15 minutes to signing her out, it flashes a message asking if more time wants to be added. She had the volume up full blast and
the speaking option was enabled. So the computer had asked out loud about adding more time.

Hubby promptly disabled that feature.