A close call

You realize that you have been awoken by the sound of the garage door opening and closing. Your sister must be home, and have used the code on the garage door to get into the house instead of the key. The thought of her discovering you lying in your collective parents' bed, or worse yet coming across your clothes in a pile in the hallway outside the room (a hallway which also leads to her room), jolts you instantly out of bed. You open the door of the bedroom, and peek out into the hallway, and to your horror, the clothing is no longer there. Your mother must have moved it. The door now open, you can hear your mother and your sister conversing downstairs. It sounds as if they are in the living room.

You consider your options. If for some reason she wants to talk to you, and cannot find you, your relationship with your mother could be discovered. You curse your mother inside for moving your clothes to wherever she moved them, although it occurs to you that maybe she thought you would sleep through your sister arriving home, and not be able to move them yourself. You tiptoe around the bedroom, to see if you can find them, but they do not seem to be anywhere in the room. You consider wearing some of your father's clothes, but that would be a potential giveaway to your sister as well.

You creep back to the ajar door, and listen to the conversation taking place downstairs. Your mother has asked your sister about the details of the soccer game, and your sister is going on about it in great length. You wonder if your mother is intentionally providing you with a way to escape down to your room, and decide to risk it. Nude, you creep out of the master bedroom, moving as quietly as possible, but trying to hurry so that you do not lose the cover of your sister's story. The stairs down are the trickiest part; you try to distribute your weight as gently as possible, but even with the gentlest motion the occasional stair lets out an abrupt, quiet creak. Each such noise is jarring to your ears, but you can't really stop as you are, naked, halfway down. You continue down, finally reaching the ground floor.

The tricky part is still ahead; there will be one moment where you will have to cross a doorway that is visible from the living room. You pause at the edge of the doorway, and peek around it as quickly and as slightly as you can. You are relieved to see that your sister is sitting at a chair with her back to you, with your mother facing you and her. She does not look at you, though you think that she probably did notice you. You quickly steal across the doorway, then begin another slow descent of the stairs to the basement. You are about halfway down when you hear your sister's voice begin to move upstairs, and catch a deadly word out of the cloud of half-coherent ones that drift down the stairwell: "laundry." Your hear footsteps approaching from upstairs, and are **** to half run the remaining distance to your bedroom, doing your best to keep quiet, but knowing that you are making some noise. Once in your room, you quickly throw on some clothing, then sit at your desk, pretending to be doing homework.

Mere seconds later, there is a knock at your door. "Come in," you say, still a little out of breath, but trying to sound nonchalant. The door opens, and your sister pokes her head in. "I'm about to run a load of laundry," she says, "do you have any you want to toss in with it?"

Doing your best to act casual, you say "Nah, I'm good, thanks sis."

Your sister gives you a puzzled look. "OK," she says, hesitantly. She quirks her head in a strange way, but says nothing more. You feel yourself begin to flush a little, but your sister turns, and leaves the room. Soon after, you hear the washing machine kick up.

You breathe a sigh of relief, then wonder if you did actually escape detection. Your sister was acting strangely, but you obviously cannot ask her anything without arousing any suspicions.