total panic attack

I have never had this happen before...I was completely panicked, crying, freaking out....it all happened yesterday afternoon around 3:45pm. I was in the office dinking around on the computer and the kids were upstairs playing. They had come down to get a snack around 3:30 or so. No big deal...everything is fine and dandy.

About 15 minutes later I head to the kitchen to take Lola outside. *Gasp* What in the world? Who lit that candle sitting on the stove top? And how did that bathroom candle get in the kitchen? I call upstairs, 'Who lit the candle in the kitchen?" I hear a chorus of, 'Not me! What candle? I didn't do it!" I call them downstairs and question them again. "Who lit the candle? I promise you that you will not be in trouble. Who lit the candle?" Again, a chorus of "Not me, I promise! It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" My anxiety starts to grow. I check the doors to be sure they are locked. I check the time and try to figure out the last time I took Lola out and left the back door open and unlocked. If neither of the kids lit that candle....and I certainly didn't light the candle...then who did? I asked them several more times as calmly as I could so not to scare them. I ask them individually if they lit the candle. They swore they didn't do it! I believe them! Then what the heck is going on??

My phone rings. It is my sister very casually asking what I was doing. "I am FREAKING out!" I explain to her the situation and say "I do not want to go check out the basement." And the tears start flowing. I am totally convinced there is someone in our basement. She tells me to get the kids bundled up and to head to the car. I do as she says still thinking that there is someone who is just waiting in the basement to maim and kill us. I had this horribly eery feeling and I wasn't about to stay in the house with a killer.

The kids and I get in the car and I call Chad. "Please come home. I think there is someone in the house. There was a candle lit in the kitchen and I didn't light it and the kids are adamant that neither of them lit it. I am FREAKING out!" He says he will be right home. We sit in the car in the street positioned so I can see both doors just in case the creep in my basement decides to bale then I can call the police and they can catch the bastard. I continue to question the kids. Telling them how very very serious it is that they tell me if they lit the candle. That I would NOT be mad at them but that I had to know. They still both denied it. I am crying and freaking out. Waiting for Chad to get home was torturous. But did I really want him going through the house if there was a killer in there? Do I call the police? I was an emotional mess.

I talk to my sister a couple more times. And then my mom calls saying that she has heard of similar situations from other moms. That more than likely one of the kids lit the candle and they are scared to tell me. I was totally not buying it! I had asked both of them at least 20 times if they lit the candle. They were both totally adamant that they didn't. Even crying at the thought that I wasn't believing them. I believed them! Hook, line, and sinker!

Chad pulls up, I am on the phone with my mom, and I hear from the back seat, "Mom, Eli just confessed to me." WHAT???!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!??? This whole time it was ELI?? He had gone along with me freaking out. Madeline was freaking out because I was freaking out. And he just let it all happen and unfold into this crazy situation. He was so convincing when he said he hadn't done it. I believed him. I pulled into the driveway and walked into the house, leaving them in the car. I didn't know what to do. I told them they wouldn't be in trouble if they told the truth. What happens now? Chad sent Eli to our room and they had a very serious discussion. Eli came and apologized to me. He was a broken little boy...so sad that he had lied to me....over and over and over again. We hugged and I forgave him. Oy vey! What a fiasco. I am just so thankful there wasn't a murderer in our basement!