One of the reasons why Michelle liked Harry Potter was because she could relate to Harry's situation. Harry was also the outcast in his family, overshadowed by his cousin who his aunt and uncle clearly liked more. She wouldn't go so far as to compare her parents to the Dursleys, or even Tommy to Dudley, but still.
She lay on her bed at the moment, rereading the first book with a flashlight under the covers. Her parents thought she had fallen asleep several hours ago. But she had stayed awake, thinking about her little joke.
She had regularly checked the clock in her room to see if it was time. She pushed the covers off herself and shone her flashlight on the clock, squinting to see.
Almost midnight. Almost time.
She bookmarked the page and closed the book, slowly got out of bed, and picked up her flashlight. She wondered if she should take it. On one hand, the light might alert someone, but it'd also be hard to see in the dark. She decided to take it since her parents and Tommy's rooms were quite far away.
She pulled socks onto her feet to muffle the noise of her feet and wondered if she should take anything else. She knew she couldn't waste too much time or she'd miss it, but she always liked to be prepared. She told herself to stop thinking and leave already.
Flashlight in hand, she walked over to the door and cautiously opened it, grateful it didn't creak. She always insisted on keeping it fresh and new, along with everything else in her room (well, mostly, thanks to someone). She slowly walked through the darkness, knowing she couldn't be too slow. She quickened her pace a little and reached the living room.
Shining her flashlight on the clock doors, she suddenly got a bad feeling. An intuition. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, startling her from walking closer. She got feelings like this when she was nervous about something, and most of the time, it was right.
She gave herself a mental shake. No way was she going to let such a brief and minor feeling dissuade her from her plan.
Walking closer, she kept her light fixed on the two brown clock doors. They looked more menacing surrounded by darkness.
Tick. Tick.
She felt nervousness fill her, like it often did when she wasn't completely prepared about something. But she was completely prepared about this. As prepared as she could be, anyway.
Tick. Tick.
Would it work? Or would it be over too quickly for her to do anything?
Tick. Tick.
She shook her head at how dramatic she was being. It wasn't like she was about to execute a murder or bank robbery. No, that kind of stuff was more up Tommy's alley.
Tick. Tick.
She walked closer, so she could see the entire clock even through the darkness, but left a considerable distance for the bird when it popped out.
SQUUUUUAWK!
She jumped backwards in surprise, dropping the flashlight, but managed not to yelp. She was grateful that she had left room between herself and the clock, because the feathery yellow face came to a stop right in front of her own face. Even though she knew it wasn't real, it creeped her out.
She was too startled to react for a moment, but quickly regained her reflexes, reaching out to firmly grasp the head and turn it around, so it was facing the other way. It retreated back into the clock doors shortly after.
Heart racing, Michelle looked around, wondering if her parents would come.
No. They probably expected the cuckoo clock to go off at this hour. It wasn't loud enough to wake them, anyway, no matter how loud it seemed when you were right in front of it.
Michelle couldn't help it. She started giggling softly to herself. Her dad was going to flip when he saw this. No amount of "cute little boy" would save Tommy this time. If he had gotten so stern with him just for touching it, she could only imagine his reaction when the head was in a completely different direction.
So what if, just this one time, Tommy got in trouble for something she did? It'd be a nice change from usual. Now he'd know what it's like to be blamed for something that was someone else's fault. Now he'd know what it was like to be in her shoes.
She was still smiling to herself when she settled into bed and drifted off into a happy, peaceful sleep.