Galactic Energies by Luca Rossi

The best thing to do would be to stay here for a few minutes to be sure that the helicopter and the police are far away. Then I'll leave. Now that the danger seems to be moving away, I'd prefer to avoid running into the owners of the house when they come back. An attorney like me doesn't really need to be accused of trespassing in someone's home.
    Dinner! Anna will be beside herself with rage. If only I hadn't forgotten my cell phone!
    Click , clack . I hear the front door open. I hide behind the huge clock.
    “ Don't hide yourself in regret
    Just love yourself and you're set
    I'm on the right track, baby
    I was born this way, born this way .”
    It's a beautiful female voice singing. She must be carrying a lot of bags, because it takes her a few trips to carry everything into the house before she pushes the door shut with her shoulder.
    Then she enters the living room and, lucky for me, heads towards the kitchen. I peek out just a bit from the corner of the clock to see who I'm dealing with.
    It's a girl, brunette, not very tall. She's wearing purple sweats, Converse sneakers and a greenish tank top. She seems a little heavy-set. She's got freckles. She has an iPod in a little holster wrapped around her arm. She still has the earbuds in her ears. She's carrying a few shopping bags in her hand.
    “ Don't be a drag, just be a queen
    Don't be a drag, just be a queen
    Don't be a drag, just be a queen
    Don't be... ”
    Ok, if she has her headphones in, she won't hear me as I try to leave.When my wife Anna brings things home, she always starts putting what she bought into the fridge, the freezer and the pantry. This girl also places the bags on the kitchen table and starts to do the same. The problem is that she's very quick. She puts her hands in the bag, turns towards the pantry and immediately turns back again to take something else.
    Finally she stops to look for something in the fridge. It seems like the right moment to me. I'm about to leave my hiding place when she turns around again.
    I brace myself, my shoulders against the wall. When I peeked out I thought she looked towards me, but then she took something else from the bag and continued doing what she had been doing.
    She couldn't have seen me!
    “ No matter gay, straight or bi
    Lesbian, transgendered life
    I'm on the right track, baby
    I was born to survive ”
    I try to figure out what to do. If she sees me, she'll probably be scared, and I have no idea  how to handle that kind of situation. I could wait for her to finish putting everything away in the pantry. When she goes to her room to change, I can leave the house without her noticing.
    I look at the windows. They seem like the kind of windows that make a lot of noise when you open them. The only way to leave is the way I came in.
    DONG DONG DONG. The chiming of the clock cuts through my nervousness, making me jump. My hand heavily hits the side of the huge clock. The woman stops singing.
    She must have heard me, despite the music in her ears. I made too much noise!
    I remain frozen in my position, holding my breath.
    Her steps cautious, the girl seems to be moving away from the living room.
    If she calls the police, I'm screwed! I think the best thing to do is to stop waiting and just escape. If she notices me, I'm a man and I'm surely faster and stronger than her.
    A woman wouldn't want to stop me or try to follow me. When they investigate, they'll probably start looking for a little burglary ring.
    In any case, if she still hasn't seen me, it's better that she doesn't see me now, so I tiptoe out of my hiding place behind the clock, trying to make as little noise as possible. I run in front of the bookcase. I stop where the living room opens into the foyer. I peek out just to have a look.
    She's standing there, frozen, in the center of the foyer, staring right at me.

3
     
    “Were you looking for something?” she asks me.
    She must be afraid: I'm taller and surely much stronger than she is. Yet she's