"Oh, God, what a day this has been." Thirty-six year old grade school teacher Lexie Larsen huffed, as she unpacked her last box for the day. It had been a busy week, and all of it was spent arranging furniture and unpacking all of her belongings into her new rental home.

 

For years now Lexie was wanting to move back to her home state of Texas, yet her current job as a teacher prevented her from doing so. The economy was horrible, people in every vocation were getting laid off monthly, and she couldn't gamble on haphazardly quitting her job in California in hopes that she'd just land a new job once she arrived back in Texas. Instead, she had to wait for a job opportunity to present itself in Texas before she could relocate, and her opportunity came when her sister informed her of an opening at the school they had both attended as children. Lexie waited with bated breath for over two weeks after she had flown out for the interview, and quite literally jumped for joy when she got the call that she was hoping for....the call offering her the job. Her family, who were scattered in cities across Texas, shared her joy, and they were just as excited as Lexie for her return. California had been her home for many years, but her family and heart were in Texas.

 

Lexie moved during the first week of summer break from school to give herself the entire summer to adjust to her new home and surroundings. Gardening and cooking were her favorite things to do, and she planned to do as much of them as possible. Her new home was an older, but nice looking place, but the asset that made her fall in love with it was the huge backyard. Lexie was anxious to get all of her unpacking and arranging done inside the house as quickly as possible, so she could quickly get about to tending to her new garden for the summer. Her tools had already been unpacked and were sitting in the shed in the back yard.

 

After emptying and breaking down her last box of household items from their moving box, Lexie stripped out of her clothes and headed off to take a long, hot shower. Tired, and not in the mood to cook, she decided to take a drive over to a nearby Chinese restaurant for some take-out. She felt nostalgic as she drove through the town. Memories of her childhood and moments spent with her family, friends and a couple early lovers came flooding back. As Lexie parked her car and walked across the parking lot, the scent of the food hit her as she approached the restaurant, and suddenly she became extremely hungry. Lexie ordered her food and left less than 10 minutes later when it was ready.

Lexie drove back home, and as she grabbed her take out bags of dinner and headed towards the front door, her heart took a serious leap in her chest and her feet stopped dead cold in their tracks. Her front door was swinging open. It appeared to have been kicked open because there was a huge hole in the lower center of the door. Lexie backed away from the door, ran back to lock herself in her car and fumbled for her cell phone to call 911.