I have a question, but I’m not sure how to ask it. I’m hoping you’ll let me provide some context, and I hope in doing so I might find the question I’m hoping to ask.
I thought I imagined the scratching sound when I woke up about 2 months ago. I don’t own any pets, like a cat or a dog, that could be scratching at my bedroom door. It was clearly scratching though - I had pets when I was growing up and could still remember the sound of little claws on bedrooms’ doors early in the morning. I smiled at the memory and went about my morning routine. While the memories of my childhood cats and dogs stayed with me throughout the day, the sound of little claws scratching at my bedroom’s door was soon forgotten.
At night I heard the scratching again, and this time I was sure I wasn’t yet fully asleep. The little claws battered against my bedroom door, but when I got up to look there was nothing on the other side. Of course there wasn’t, I don’t live with any pets as I’ve said before. I left the bedroom door open, and still being half asleep, it took me no time to fall back asleep in the blissful silence.
There was no scratching on my door in the morning. Opening it seemed to give me a reprieve. I gave a glance as I got ready for classes to see what could be causing the sound but I was running late and decided since the noise stopped I needn’t investigate further. A friend purposed that maybe I have mice. I don’t live in the nicest building and vermin wouldn’t be unheard of. They offhandedly mentioned that maybe I should get a cat. That seemed counterproductive to me. Wouldn’t I just be replacing one scratching for another?
That night the scratching was back and it was worse. The claws sounded more like talons as they attacked my bedroom window with long scratches. They drowned out the gentle rainfall and try as I did to muffle them with pillows over my ears I couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing nothing outside my window, I opened it wide, letting in the tinkling of raindrops on glass, and more blessedly, the silence of no claws or talons scratching at the small pane. To think I used to be afraid of the scratches… it seems hard to remember that time.
Mornings and evenings came and went without any scratching, at least for a few days. Oh, mind you, there was still scratching in my life: my professor’s chalk on the blackboard nearly every day, the sound of my computer mouse moving across my desk (I really need a mouse pad one day), the comb through my hair in the mornings, but these were all familiar sounds. For four days my sleep was safe, until the scratching started from within my closet. There were no claws or talons this time. This time it sounded like human fingers, the pads and tips rather than the nails, desperately reach out for freedom. It was a trapped sound, a pleading sound, a horribly desperate sound that scratched at the inside of my closet’s door. I hesitated for an embarrassingly long time before I threw my closet door open, more than desperate myself to free the sounds and welcome back silence.
I learned that the number of nights of peace I got was completely random. Sometimes I’d get a week between scratches, and there were some weeks when every night the scratches came until I freed them. Every drawer I own is open, all my books lay open on the floor. Every door in my apartment stays open at night, as does every window. It’s been about two weeks now where my front door is open every night. My hand still hurts from when I had to open my mirror just last week and I sleep on the floor now because I couldn’t figure out how to open my bed to the scratches beneath it. I think I’ve gotten better at opening things since my failure to open the bed. For instance, all it took was breaking my jaw to make sure my mouth stayed open all night.
Hey, I think I know how to ask my question. Serious replies only please, I just want to get some sleep. Does anyone know how I can open up to behind my eyes?