Kevin and Chelsea Get Home Alone

chapter 5

Chelsea made sure she had the soothing balm for Kevin when he would shave like a real man in the morning as he always wanted to, but couldn't when everyone else would be home. She heard I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas by Bing Crosby playing as she washed up the dishes and Kevin was getting ready in their morning for another day of them being home alone together. The two then decided to clean the house up a bit and maybe get some more groceries since they had an incident the last time because Old Man Marley had frightened poor Kevin. After cleaning, the McCallister siblings headed to the store and picked up food and some treats. Chelsea saw Max again and decided to talk with her while Kevin did the shopping.

"Are you here all alone?" the cash register lady asked the eight-year-old boy. "Where is your dad?"

"He's at work." Kevin slyly lied.

"What about your mother?"

"She's in the car waiting for me."

"How about your brothers and sisters?"

"I'm an only child."

"Then who's that?" the clerk glanced at Chelsea.

"She's my bodyguard." Kevin smirked.

"Where do you live?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Cuz you're a stranger..."

"Well, that's an upgrade." Chelsea smirked back, overhearing being called her youngest brother's bodyguard.

"I envy you sometimes, Chelsea," Max sighed. "Brothers and sisters around a lot, parents always being there for you."

"I used to envy you." Chelsea looked back at Max. "No brothers and sisters, parents going out-of-town all the time. Well, call me whenever you want, I'll let you get back to work."

"I rather you wouldn't but thanks for your concern." Max sighed, taking out a toilet brush, then left abruptly.

"Sir, we should really be returning back." Chelsea told Kevin, properly like a real bodyguard.

"I agree, let's go." Kevin nodded, grabbing one of the bags.

Chelsea grabbed the rest of the bags and followed him closely. She looked down at him once they were far enough from the shop and heading back home. "So, I'm a bodyguard?" she asked with a small smile on her face. She loved it when Kevin did things to confuse others, it was funny to watch how they reacted.

"Well, you're too cool to be a sister like Megan and Linnie." Kevin explained as they walked back home.

"Aww, thanks Kev."

The two got home and put away the groceries. Kevin then decided to take care of the laundry in the basement, even though that's where the furnace was. He remembered what Chelsea taught him before he got down with the basket. He did laundry, studying how their mother and aunt would do it and felt successful. He was on his way up as he saw the furnace which looked rather spooky in a child's perspective.

"Hello, Kevin." the furnace boomed to scare him.

Kevin heard Chelsea's advice echo in his head and he sneered at it. "Shut up." he then smiled and went upstairs to turn the light on and he was never afraid of the furnace again.

Kevin and Chelsea had a mostly quiet day. Kevin then found himself decorating the tree to put it up after it was inching closer and closer to Christmas Eve and Day. Since the family wouldn't be home, it was probably a good time to put it up since Kevin and Chelsea were home. The phone suddenly rang once Kevin collected a box full of glass ornaments. "You wanna get it?" he asked her, since she was the adult and Kevin was a kid. "It feels odd being in our home during the holidays without the tree, annoying family members or not." he said, a little calmly. "You wanna get the phone though just to make sure?"

Chelsea smiled, but felt weary, then saw the answer phone. She heard Max's voice and quickly picked up the phone, feeling relieved. "It's Max!" Chelsea informed Kevin.

Kevin smiled, feeling safe now. He then went to decorate the tree from what he could do on his own, like putting up the glass balls.

"I just wanted to see how you guys were doing," Max said, softly on the other line. "Sounds quiet over there, I never thought I'd say that to the McCallister house..." she gently joked.

Chelsea gave a small laugh. "Yeah, Kev and I are only ones here, the others went away a while." She was quiet, but smiled, she was glad she had bumped into Max again. "And we're okay, thanks for checking up on us."

"Oh, okay, Mitch Murphy came by to see you all before you left, but I think there was a misunderstanding." Max shrugged. She often babysat Mitch and knew things about him and had a brotherly sister bond with him almost like Chelsea and Kevin.

"Dad, can you come in here and help me!?" Kevin asked out loud, suddenly in the other room.

"What was that?" Max wondered.

"Uh, I gotta go," Chelsea said quickly. She knew Kevin probably needed help. "Speak soon?"

Max curved her face. She wanted to talk to Chelsea more since it had been a while since they last talked, but maybe there was an emergency. "S-Sure, talk to you later, Chels... Sleep sweet tonight...heh..." Max gave a half-smile and hung up, and hoped for the best for the McCallister family.

Chelsea quickly hung up. She needed to check on Kevin.

Kevin had froze himself in front of the tree with decorations up and his eyes were wide open like he had been caught of a heinous crime.

"What is it, Kev?" Chelsea ran in, from his outcry. "Dad's busy." She wanted to talk with Max more herself, but she needed to check on Kevin.

Kevin left the room with Chelsea once he saw a pair of evil eyes still watching. "Those bad guys are back!" he whispered loudly to her. "I was putting a ball up and I saw one spying on me! We need to get rid of those guys!"

"How are we going to get rid of them?" Chelsea frowned.

"This is our house, Chelsea," Kevin said, sounding the most serious an eight year old could get. "I have a plan."

"That's why I'm trusting you, Kev. You're even smarter than me at these plans."

"Come with me." Kevin signaled her to follow her to his room where he organized a very well thought out revenge plan for someone his age.

Kevin memorized that the bandits would be coming at 9:00 sharp. He then shared some plans and traps with Chelsea to make sure she wouldn't get herself hurt and make this get the criminals arrested and humiliated. They were humiliated from the movie crime though and Kevin scared them with firecrackers earlier, but that wouldn't be enough. It nearly took them the whole day but it would be worth it. It was nearly sundown and the two were off to celebrate with microwave macaroni and cheese dinner for themselves. Once Chelsea sat down, both siblings bowed their heads with their hands together to pray, but the clock chimed 9:00.

Kevin sprung into action and blew out the candle lights for their dinner. This was no time for a meal. "This is our house," Kevin said, cocking a toy BB gun. "It's up to us to protect it. Ready, Chels?"

"Ready, Kev." Chelsea grinned, testing the string to release one of the first traps.