Monday, July 6, 2009

Installment One: Fear

The first time I heard the knocking I thought it came from behind me. My first thought was one of fear. Someone was watching me and they had bumped something against the window. Because it was dark outside, I wouldn't be able to see who it was, but they could clearly see me in my house with the lights on. I told myself to be rational, that the sound was probably my neighbor, Tony, closing the gate to his backyard. But before I could calm my nerves, I heard the same soft knocking sound at my front door.

It was 9:30 PM. If someone was knocking on my door at 9:30, it was way to late to open it. Again I tried very hard to entertain the notion that maybe it was nothing, that I had imagined the noises and that I was just a little nervous about being alone in the house. Surely it was the TV or something else ridiculously ordinary. I muted the TV just to prove to myself that it was nothing. No noise. Phew.

I went back to what I was doing and tried not to remember any thrasher movies I had EVER seen in my entire life. I tried not to think about all of the CSI's and SVU's and Criminal Minds that began with knocking at the front door and that obviously ended poorly for the person inside the house. When I looked down I saw that my hands were shaking. And the knocking came again.

Cautiously, I walked toward the door. If it truly was something or someone roaming around the house at that inconvenient hour, I had to confront it or ignore it, depending on what I found. It seemed like it took me hours to reach the front door, I was creeping so slowly. Finally, I peeked out the side window next to the door, eyes halfway closed, not wanting to see what it was. To my relief and annoyance, I saw nothing.

Then I heard the knocking again, but it was coming from the baby's room this time.

I was trembling, but resolved. No one and nothing would keep me apart from the baby. Hell no. With a new found courage, I straitened my back and walked to the baby's room door which was closed. I couldn't hear anything, so I leaned in to listen more carefully.

All of a sudden the door rattled! I stumbled back in fear, stifling a scream. My mind was reeling. Whoever or whatever was making the noise was not only real and in the house, it was was in his room. I would have to fight!

I flung open the door with as much bravery I could muster and it jumped out at me with a cry!

It took my mind a few seconds to catch up to the realization that what had startled me was my very own cat.

"Damn cat!" I thought, still shaking. "Jeez, Ginger! What the hell did you think it was?" I asked under my breath. Thinking about the answer to that question was way too much to acknowledge.

So the cat had been trapped in the baby's room and the knocking I had heard in the living room was coming from the baby monitor! After standing stunned for a minute, I went into the baby' s room. He was still asleep, thankfully. The ruckus had not woken him. I tucked the blanket around him, then I sheepishly shuffled back to the living room, turned on more lights for security, walked to my bedroom and buried myself under the blankets.

You're probably wondering why I'm so skittish. There is an answer. Multiple ones, actually. Check back for installment two.

6 comments:

Amy said...

Girl you had me so scared. I am hope sometimes at night by myself and you never know what your mind will do. I am glad it was only the cat and the baby stayed asleep...

Sandy said...

The first time I was alone in our house when Paul left to go hunting I had a very similiar thing happen....the cat was rattling my bedroom door to get in. I answered the door with a shotgun in my hand......No, I didn't nearly shoot my kitty but I felt a little silly. I'm not a hunter or shooter but there are guns in the house so when I thought we had an intruder, it seemed like the thing to do. The next month we had an alarm installed. If you own your house, I highly recommend one....great peace of mind.

Christine said...

Great story -- you had me scared! I'm with you on the creepiness factor of dark windows at night. NOT OKAY.

And one time (okay, multiple times), I've walked through my whole house with a knife in my hand because I thought I heard something. (And you know which knife I'm talking about, that huge one I call the Psycho knife.) That's one of the most illogical things I've ever done repeatedly.

Anonymous said...

OMG!! I almost fell out of my chair...awesome narration! Dude, you are definitely braver than I am! Amer spent a week in Florida for training and, lol, I had my mom, sister, AND brother come stay with me...was easier because Sayeida was in her own bed...

But in our old UTA apartment, one night I heard this rattling coming from the back bedroom window. OMG, it was soooo scary...it sounded like someone was trying to pry the screen off. I kept the light off. Phone in hand (no weapons allowed on campus and didn't really cook back then so no big knife, lol so ghetto), I walked back to check. We had a big streetlight which was great because I could easily see a shadow or movement (I miss that) but I couldn't see anything this time. Of course, my imagination told me, "he is ducking next to the big bushes by the window!!"...yes, call me sexist, it is always a "he." I tried to peer around the curtain and through the blinds...nothing. I finally FLUNG the curtains and blinds to the side only to find it was a squirrel (WTF?!) trying to pry my screen off at 10 o'clock at night! I didn't know squirrels were even still awake at that time?! I laughed so hard but it took forever to stop my heart from racing! Thank God I didn't break anything...can you imagine pointing the finger at some "night-owl squirrel"...yeahhh, like UTA is going to "fall for that one," lol.

Keep us posted!

Mariam :)

SarahBelle said...

You just described every day at our house... minus the baby , the baby monitor and the cat. but you get the point.

To make it worse, I keep watching on the news about mid-day break-ins while people are home!! EEEKKKK

Stefany said...

My cats do the same thing! I have been scared on more than one occasion because of their "knocking" on my doors.c

Monday, July 6, 2009

Installment One: Fear

The first time I heard the knocking I thought it came from behind me. My first thought was one of fear. Someone was watching me and they had bumped something against the window. Because it was dark outside, I wouldn't be able to see who it was, but they could clearly see me in my house with the lights on. I told myself to be rational, that the sound was probably my neighbor, Tony, closing the gate to his backyard. But before I could calm my nerves, I heard the same soft knocking sound at my front door.

It was 9:30 PM. If someone was knocking on my door at 9:30, it was way to late to open it. Again I tried very hard to entertain the notion that maybe it was nothing, that I had imagined the noises and that I was just a little nervous about being alone in the house. Surely it was the TV or something else ridiculously ordinary. I muted the TV just to prove to myself that it was nothing. No noise. Phew.

I went back to what I was doing and tried not to remember any thrasher movies I had EVER seen in my entire life. I tried not to think about all of the CSI's and SVU's and Criminal Minds that began with knocking at the front door and that obviously ended poorly for the person inside the house. When I looked down I saw that my hands were shaking. And the knocking came again.

Cautiously, I walked toward the door. If it truly was something or someone roaming around the house at that inconvenient hour, I had to confront it or ignore it, depending on what I found. It seemed like it took me hours to reach the front door, I was creeping so slowly. Finally, I peeked out the side window next to the door, eyes halfway closed, not wanting to see what it was. To my relief and annoyance, I saw nothing.

Then I heard the knocking again, but it was coming from the baby's room this time.

I was trembling, but resolved. No one and nothing would keep me apart from the baby. Hell no. With a new found courage, I straitened my back and walked to the baby's room door which was closed. I couldn't hear anything, so I leaned in to listen more carefully.

All of a sudden the door rattled! I stumbled back in fear, stifling a scream. My mind was reeling. Whoever or whatever was making the noise was not only real and in the house, it was was in his room. I would have to fight!

I flung open the door with as much bravery I could muster and it jumped out at me with a cry!

It took my mind a few seconds to catch up to the realization that what had startled me was my very own cat.

"Damn cat!" I thought, still shaking. "Jeez, Ginger! What the hell did you think it was?" I asked under my breath. Thinking about the answer to that question was way too much to acknowledge.

So the cat had been trapped in the baby's room and the knocking I had heard in the living room was coming from the baby monitor! After standing stunned for a minute, I went into the baby' s room. He was still asleep, thankfully. The ruckus had not woken him. I tucked the blanket around him, then I sheepishly shuffled back to the living room, turned on more lights for security, walked to my bedroom and buried myself under the blankets.

You're probably wondering why I'm so skittish. There is an answer. Multiple ones, actually. Check back for installment two.

6 comments:

Amy said...

Girl you had me so scared. I am hope sometimes at night by myself and you never know what your mind will do. I am glad it was only the cat and the baby stayed asleep...

Sandy said...

The first time I was alone in our house when Paul left to go hunting I had a very similiar thing happen....the cat was rattling my bedroom door to get in. I answered the door with a shotgun in my hand......No, I didn't nearly shoot my kitty but I felt a little silly. I'm not a hunter or shooter but there are guns in the house so when I thought we had an intruder, it seemed like the thing to do. The next month we had an alarm installed. If you own your house, I highly recommend one....great peace of mind.

Christine said...

Great story -- you had me scared! I'm with you on the creepiness factor of dark windows at night. NOT OKAY.

And one time (okay, multiple times), I've walked through my whole house with a knife in my hand because I thought I heard something. (And you know which knife I'm talking about, that huge one I call the Psycho knife.) That's one of the most illogical things I've ever done repeatedly.

Anonymous said...

OMG!! I almost fell out of my chair...awesome narration! Dude, you are definitely braver than I am! Amer spent a week in Florida for training and, lol, I had my mom, sister, AND brother come stay with me...was easier because Sayeida was in her own bed...

But in our old UTA apartment, one night I heard this rattling coming from the back bedroom window. OMG, it was soooo scary...it sounded like someone was trying to pry the screen off. I kept the light off. Phone in hand (no weapons allowed on campus and didn't really cook back then so no big knife, lol so ghetto), I walked back to check. We had a big streetlight which was great because I could easily see a shadow or movement (I miss that) but I couldn't see anything this time. Of course, my imagination told me, "he is ducking next to the big bushes by the window!!"...yes, call me sexist, it is always a "he." I tried to peer around the curtain and through the blinds...nothing. I finally FLUNG the curtains and blinds to the side only to find it was a squirrel (WTF?!) trying to pry my screen off at 10 o'clock at night! I didn't know squirrels were even still awake at that time?! I laughed so hard but it took forever to stop my heart from racing! Thank God I didn't break anything...can you imagine pointing the finger at some "night-owl squirrel"...yeahhh, like UTA is going to "fall for that one," lol.

Keep us posted!

Mariam :)

SarahBelle said...

You just described every day at our house... minus the baby , the baby monitor and the cat. but you get the point.

To make it worse, I keep watching on the news about mid-day break-ins while people are home!! EEEKKKK

Stefany said...

My cats do the same thing! I have been scared on more than one occasion because of their "knocking" on my doors.c