The Great Lockdown of 2020

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The Great Lockdown of 2020

Part IV

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“You’re grounded,” her mother said as soon as Mikey’s father dropped her on the couch.

“That’s fair,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly as she sat up.

“No television, no leaving the house, no nothing,” her mother said with a glare that had Mikey nodding in agreement.

“I told you to stay off the roof, didn’t I?” her father said, folding his arms over his chest as he glared down at her.

“And I fully planned on listening to you, but that was before Mathew tried to eat my hand,” she said only to wince when her parents continued to glare at her. “I’ll stay off the roof,” she promised.

“Yes, you will,” her father said as he reached over and-

“Wait! Dad, no, no, no, no, no! Let’s talk about this!” Mikey gasped, reaching over to grab her baseball mitt before her father could grab it only to groan when he took it with a, “You’ll get this back in two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” Mikey mumbled hollowly because he couldn’t be serious.

“Two weeks,” her father said firmly as he headed towards his office.

“But…”

The look her mother shot her had Mikey quickly closing her mouth and nodding, realizing that there was no point in arguing.

*-*-*-*

“You’re grounded,” his father said as Sebastian sat there nodding.

“Okay,” he said, fine with that.

“For two weeks,” his mother said.

“No television. No video games, no-” his father began only to pause when his mother cleared her throat. “What?”

“Wrong child,” she said with a pointed look at Sebastian.

Frowning, his father sighed, “Right. No iPad, no new books, and no trips to the library or the bookstore.”

“We’re in quarantine,” his mother pointed out, which earned a glare.

“Fine. Then no leaving this house for any reason,” his father said as his words sank in and when they did…

“So, I’m not allowed to leave the house for two weeks and-”

“And that includes going across the street to see Mikey. You’re both grounded so she won’t be coming over here either,” his mother explained while Sebastian sat there, slowly nodding.

“So, basically for the next two weeks, I’m not leaving the house, getting new books, borrowing books, touching any electronics, or allowed to see Mikey?” he asked, making sure that he understood the terms of his groundation.

“Yes,” his father said before his mother added, “It’s for your own good.”

Nodding, Sebastian said, “Okay,” as he stood up and headed upstairs, deciding that he should probably find something to do.

*-*-*-*

Two Days Later…

“Is he still there?” Zoe whispered only to watch her husband slowly exhale as he opened the closet door that they’d been forced to duck through a few minutes ago when they saw Sebastian coming down the stairs.

“I don’t think so,” Trevor said, but made no move to check, she’d like to point out.

“I-I can’t keep doing this,” Zoe said, licking her lips nervously as she glanced at the closed closet door that she regretted not putting a lock on when they had the chance.

“He’ll get bored and move onto something else.”

“That’s what you said yesterday,” she pointed out, worrying her hands together.

“And I was right, he did move on,” Trevor said, earning a glare.

“Only because you made him clean the garage.”

“And I deeply regret that, but we can’t keep living in the past, sweetheart. So, I’m going to need you to focus here,” the man that she was divorcing as soon as this quarantine was over, said.

“I thought he was going do his schoolwork,” she said, throwing another nervous glance towards the closet door.

“He finished it,” Trevor said, confirming her worse fears.

Her son had nothing better to do than to spend time with them.

“Maybe we should let him have his iPad back?” she suggested.

“Already told him that he could have it back. He said that he’d rather help me shovel snow,” Trevor said, sounding terrified and for good reason.

“Oh, god…”

“Look,” Trevor said, licking his lips nervously, “maybe we should just make a run for it and see if we can-”

“So, I’ve been going over your tax returns from the past five years,” Sebastian said as the closet door was suddenly opened and they found themselves facing their twelve year old son. “I’ve found at least three discrepancies that I think we should address.”

“I-I suppose we could do that,” Zoe said, slowly nodding as she shot her husband a questioning look only to find the large bastard trying to make his escape. “But your father told me that he was really looking forward to playing Monopoly with you again,” Zoe said, deciding that he’d left her with no other choice but to screw him over.

There was a gasp and then, “You betraying bi-”

“I suppose we could do that,” Sebastian said, nodding as he turned around to go set up the game as Zoe felt herself relax only to whimper when her son added, “Why don’t you join us, Mom? That we’ll have a chance to discuss last year’s tax return.”