As for the next challenge, my friend and I gave each other 3 random words. With those words we had to bring a story to life. All we had to do was use the words. 

My words were: fox, policeman and illusion.

I hope you enjoy the story that I created around it. 

The fox in the box

Today was Tuesday, which meant the usual grocery shopping had to be done. The bags were filled with fresh vegetables, some fruit and two really nice sausages to eat. They were heavy and made my old body slump forward because of its weight. It was bad for my back, my daughter kept saying. I never listened. What did I have to do, sit at home all day and do nothing? I don't think so. For as long as I can walk, I'll walk.

There was my little house, my home. I had lived in that house since the day it was made, the day I met my husband.

Once I was inside, I dropped the bags on the floor. I was going to put all that food away after a minute of rest. I shuffled towards my brown leather couch where I lie down. My body relaxed and burn on certain places. My back and shoulder were the worst. Stupid arthrosis.

Not a minute passed after I closed my eyes and my peaceful nap was interrupted by loud shuffling. At first I ignored it, it wouldn't be the first time a bird on the windowsill didn't understand why he couldn't fly through glass. But then the shuffling didn't stop and crisping an cracking sounds joined the annoying sound.

DID I HAVE RATS IN MY HOUSE?!

I pushed myself up, not as fast and elegantly as I used to. It was more a fight against my own body and gravity than anything else. After my third try of pushing myself back onto my feet, I hobbled towards the sound.

I looked around my small kitchenette. Everything was clear there. The next place I looked was my windowsill, but no birds or rats there either. It's when I turned around that I noticed my back door was open.

I was sure I closed it before leaving my house. Somebody had broken in. With all my remaining stealth, I grabbed the first thing I found. I wasn't not sure a wooden spatula was going to chase a thief away, but at least it made me feel safer.

Again the noise of crisping and cracking echoed through my little house. As a ninja, I moved with perfect stealth against the walls. Behind every corner I stayed quiet and listened. Mostly I heard the constant ringing in my ear, but I was a ninja now and my hearing loss was not going to stop me at catching the intruder.

Slowly I moved my head from behind the corner. The door to my stock room was ajar. I hopped from behind my hiding place with my spatula ready in my hand. To make my entrance even more perfect a loud battle cry filled the room.

To my absolute disappointment, I found a red furred animal whose head was tucked away inside one of my pasta boxes. It didn't react surprised, nor did it seem to care much because it simply continued eating all my pasta.

The moment my disappointment faded, the reality of the situation seeped through. A fox had broken into my house and was eating all my pasta. There were already three empty boxes laying around on the ground.

In little steps I moved backwards and ran to the phone that was laying on the table in the living room. I pressed the emergency number and held it against my ear. Three rhythmic beeps went over before the line connected.

"Police, I need the police. I have to report a break in." My splintery voice cracked in distress.

"Ma'am, can you tell me your address?" The young woman on the other side of the line asked. She sounded nice and understanding.

"Melrose avenue 102. It's the red colored house. It's in the corner of the street, hard to miss. It is the only red house in the town. My husband painted the walls, it is how I met him. That was a long time ago, of course." I heard ticking from a computer.

"Ma'am, the police will be there in ten minutes." She interrupted me politely.

"Thank you, young lady. You are very nice, you tell your boss that from me."

A shy pause arose before she thanked me for my compliment and told me to stay safe and have a nice day.

*

Fifteen minutes later, a policeman finally arrived at my house. The young man wore the typical blue police attire and he carried a little notebook in his hands.

"Good afternoon ma'am. You reported a break-in?" His name tag read 'Patrick Mooze, junior officer'.

"Yes, come look." I pulled him inside my house by his arm.

When I arrived at my stock room, Patrick Mooze, junior officer right next to me, I found the closet room empty. Only a few boxes were still laying on the ground. The empty pasta boxes weren't even one of them.

"I ... He's not here anymore." I turned to the officer in surprise. "I swear, a fox broke into my house and ate all my pasta." Confusion and distress were making my head foggy.

"Wait? You called the police because a fox broke in?" The young man looked at me like I was crazy, a look I received so many times in the pat years. I still hadn't get used to it.

"I'm not crazy, sir. A fox broke into my house. Look, my back door was open. I found him eating my pasta, right there in the closet. You have to do something. What if he starts stealing everybody's food. It is unhygienic and people will be hungry. You have to catch this fox and send it back to the forest."

"Ma'am, it's a fox."

"That's what you say. They also eat chickens, you know. Lots of people have chickens in their garden. But maybe it's a vegetarian fox, because I had chicken in my fridge and he didn't eat that. He only ate my pasta. People love pasta."

"Ma'am, I don't know what to do, to be honest. Foxes aren't really a part of our police training."

"Call your superior officer. Explain them how serious this is." I shook my head in disbelieve. How could they send such a rookie alone on a job like this.

The rattling of keys in my front door broke the silence of the house.

"Mom?" The high tone of my daughter's voice sounded from the hall. Heels walking towards the kitchen clung on the stone ground.

"Mom, what is going on? Are you ok?" My daughter, Jenna was a really nice and caring person. In the looks department she wasn't so bad either. Although, she did use too much make-up for my liking.

"Yes, I'm fine. Stop worrying so much about me. It gives you stress and that's bad for your health and skin." She rolled her eyes at me before turning her attention to the officer in the room. She looked him up and down and when she decided that she liked what she saw, the corners of her mouth turned upwards.

"Officer," she stepped closer and even touched his chest under his name tag before reading his name out loud. Her eyes lingered a little longer as normal when her chocolate eyes met his hazel ones. "Officer Mooze, I like your name. It feels soft on the tongue." A flirty smile followed her over-the-top flirting. My goodness, I should have given her a lesson in 'how not to look desperate'.

The young man awkwardly moved in his place. Jenna, only saw that as encouragement to proceed with her ridiculous flirting attempt. It was my job as her mother to save her from even more embarrassment.

"Jenna, I might be ok, but the neighbors might not be in the future." Officer Mooze seemed to remember that he was still holding his breathe and finally released all the air from his lungs. Jenna on the other hand had skeptically turned around and her eyebrow pulled up.

"Mom, what are you talking about?" There she was again with that tone that screamed disbelieve. No matter what she said, whenever she used that tone, she let it shine through. That idea of hers that I was crazy, that I was loosing my mind. But I wasn't. At least, not all the time.

"A fox broke in through the back door and stole all my pasta. I saw it eating the pasta." Yet again, I explained the story and yet again I received that annoying look. "I'm not crazy, Jenna. There was a fox and he was eating all my pasta."

"Mom, there is no fox. They don't live this near to the city, there is too much noise for them. Are you sure that you didn't just forget to lock the back door?" My brunette daughter rationalized. I shook my head in frustration.

"I'm not crazy. There was a fox in my supply closet." I grunted annoyed.

"Officer, thank you for coming. My mom has dementia and the doctors said that sometimes she can create illusions in her mind. It's to explain certain things that she can't remember. The doctor explained it as some sort of natural coping mechanism. I'm so sorry to bother you like this." Jenna explained to the young man as if I wasn't there and couldn't hear her. This made me even more angry.

"Oh for gods sake, Jenna. I'm not crazy and it wasn't an illusion. There was a fox in my closet. It's not my fault that the policeman took longer than expected to arrive." My arms were wildly flying through the air in frustration.

"Officer, thank you for coming." She nearly kicked him out.

"Mom! You ruined all chances that I had with him."

"And then it's my brain that makes up the illusions." I grunted annoyed before retreating to the kitchen.

"What's that suppose to mean? He was into me, he got all flustered and stuff." Jenna started to explain.

"Honey, he became awkward because you're flirting was so bad that he didn't know what to do. You're just too desperate. Just try to be yourself, you don't need to be so extra. It's everything but attractive and take off some of that make-up. You look like a clown."

Before she had the chance to react to my honest opinion. The red-furred animal with his plushy tail tumbled down from one of the cupboards in my kitchenette, followed by an empty pasta box.

Jenna's eyes turned huge in surprise, her whole body frozen.

"I told you so. A pasta loving fox broke in."