My day started off the same as any other. I got out of bed and went downstairs to make breakfast. I opened up my fridge and got out the milk. I poured my cereal into a bowl then, as any sane person would do, poured the milk on top. Unfortunately, I overestimated the amount of milk that was left in the jug. Now I had too much cereal and not enough milk, and of course you can’t return the cereal to the box since it’s all slightly soggy, so I just had to deal with pushing the cereal around with my spoon to try to get enough milk on each piece before each subsequent bite. I was sure that I had plenty of milk the previous morning, so I didn’t even think to check to make sure. This kind of thing had happened a few too many times in the previous couple months. I really needed to keep better track of my things…
I shrugged the thought off as my eyes quickly darted over to the clock. 8:24. I only had 6 minutes until I needed to be in the shower. I quickly finished up my breakfast, rinsed my bowl out, and put it in the dishwasher. I hopped in the shower two minutes late, so I needed to take a quicker shower than normal. It was starting to get cold outside, and I usually love taking twenty minute hot showers before going out, but an eighteen minute shower would have to do.
After finishing my slightly shortened shower, I put on my work clothes and headed out. Work was fine. A bit boring, but fine. I don’t love my job, but I don’t hate it either. It pays the bills, and that’s what really matters. A few hours later, the clock hit 5 and it was time to head home. On my way, I stopped by the grocery store to restock. I was feeling a bit feisty today so I picked up an extra jug. I hadn’t let milk go bad in years. Maybe it would be easier to start buying two jugs at a time? Well, the best way to find out is to test it and see how it goes.
After completing my purchase, I drove home. I live in a modest ranch style home and I quite like it. It’s not too big, has an open floor plan, and is just generally cozy. I brought my groceries inside and put them all away before preparing dinner. I grilled some chicken on the stovetop and microwaved a bag of frozen broccoli. I love this kind of meal. It’s quick and easy, but still healthy and delicious.
Not 30 minutes after I finished cooking my meal, I had already eaten and cleaned everything up. Another benefit to this sort of cooking. I figured I would spend the rest of the evening watching TV, then head off to bed at around 10 to ensure I would get enough sleep for work the next morning. I sat down and let the evening relaxation begin, though for some reason, I got the feeling that I was being watched…
I woke up on the couch with the TV still on. I must have dozed off at some point… I looked up at the clock. 11:53. It was time to get up and go to bed for real this time. I stood up, but as I shut off the TV I thought I heard a sort of scuttling sound behind me. I turned around, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The kitchen was just as I had left it, nice and tidy. It must have been my imagination. I walked into the bedroom, shut the door, and went to sleep.
The next morning, I got out of bed and went downstairs to make breakfast. I opened up my fridge and got out the milk. I poured my cereal into a bowl then, as any sane person would do, poured the milk on top. This time, I had enough to fully cover the cereal. Much better. After finishing my breakfast, I checked the time on the clock. 8:27. Perfect. I should be able to get my full twenty minutes today. I put the milk back in the fridge, but stopped for a second. There was no second jug of milk. That’s odd… hadn’t I just yesterday bought two jugs of milk instead of one? Perhaps I had only considered purchasing the second jug and decided against it at the last moment. Yes. That must have been what happened. 8:28. I had spent too much time on this, I was wasting precious shower time. I finished putting my dishes away and got in the shower at precisely 8:30.
Twenty minutes later, I put on my work clothes and headed out for the day. It was Friday. I quite liked Fridays. I got to leave at 4:30 if I finished all my work on time and then I got the next two days off. Just think of how many episodes I could watch! After what somehow seemed to be longer than a normal work day, the time had finally come for me to head home.
After getting out of my car, I walked up to my front door. Sitting on the welcome mat was a small box. I brought the box in with me and opened it up on the kitchen counter. Inside was a small bag of cookies. Attached to the bag was a note, “Hey John, I’ve been trying to perfect my cookie recipe and I think this newest batch might be the best one yet! Let me know what you think when I see you next Wednesday. -Toni”. I smiled. Toni made the best cookies. She was trying to become a famous baker, and honestly, she might make it. I opened up the bag and tried a cookie. Then two. Then four. Soon half the bag had been devoured. These cookies were delicious! I mustered up my self-control and set the bag on the counter. I would save the rest for later. Besides, I hadn’t even eaten dinner yet.
After another delicious meal of two grilled chicken breasts and a side of corn, I sat down to finish out the night with a few hours of the best the TV had to offer. I turned on the tube and started flipping through the channels to see what was on. Finally, I settled on a documentary about rodents and lost myself in the narration. The narrator’s voice was so calm… so smooth… but again, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that I was being watched…
I woke up on the couch, the TV still on. I must have dozed off at some point. I looked up at the clock. 1:07. Wow, it sure was late. I turned off the TV. It seemed to be time– I stopped as I heard a quiet wooden creaking sound from somewhere in the kitchen. I turned around, and saw nothing. my kitchen was still just the way I left it, everything clean and put away. I shrugged this off as the house settling and began to walk back to my bedroom. I reached out my hand towards the doorknob, but stopped just before grabbing it. There was nothing on the kitchen counter. Hadn’t I left the rest of my cookies out so they could be enjoyed later? I turned around and went into the kitchen to inspect the counter. Empty. Where had my cookies gone? I couldn’t find them anywhere. This was very strange. I knew that I had put them on the counter. I knew that I hadn’t finished them. I checked the floor. Nothing. The cabinets. No cookies. The fridge. Just a jug of milk. The trash can. Only trash. my cookies had simply disappeared. This was… odd, to say the least. Though it was 1:14 AM, perhaps I simply wasn’t remembering what I did with them. So, I returned to my room and went to sleep.
The next day proceeded as usual. Breakfast, then a shower, then I was ready for the day. Though today was a bit different. I had nothing planned. I could simply stay inside and watch TV all day. So, that’s exactly what I did. I, of course, took regular stretching breaks and stopped for meals. I made myself a sandwich for lunch. The loaf of bread in my cabinet had seven slices remaining. I used two of them for my sandwich and questioned to myself why they would slice a loaf of bread into an odd number. You need two slices of bread for a sandwich, so what was I supposed to do with that extra slice? Make toast? I dislike toast. It’s too bland. Oh well, I would simply have to buy another odd numbered loaf to even things out.
Not today though. Today was TV time. After a while, it began to get dark outside, and I was happy. It had been a good day. I made myself a steak for dinner, but then one thought popped back into my mind… What had I done with my cookies? I thought for sure that I would recall having put them somewhere at some point, but clearly that didn’t happen, so… where were they? I scoured the kitchen. No sign of the cookies anywhere. This was disappointing, to say the least. Those really were the most delicious cookies Toni had made yet, and I had only gotten to eat half of them. Oh well. I would simply ask Toni for more on Wednesday.
I went back to the couch and began to flip through the channels again. My eyes grew heavy and I began to drift off… but what was that noise? It sounded like… some sort of scratching. Again, coming from behind me in the kitchen. It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to pull me back out of my near sleep. Scratch, scratch. There it was again. I got up to check it out. As soon as I stood up, the noise stopped. I thought I heard some light thumping, like something scurrying away, but it was very faint, so I was probably just imagining it. I walked into the kitchen and looked around for any signs of anything. Perhaps I had a mouse. Maybe that’s what happened to my cookies. I checked all over the floor, in the bottom of every cabinet, everywhere I had checked previously for the cookies and more, but this time for any sign of a mouse. Nothing. No droppings, no scratches, nothing. Everything was as I had left it. Except… didn’t I have five slices of bread? Why were there only four slices remaining in the bag? A slice was missing. This time I was certain. I had specifically made a mental note about the exact number of slices I had left. Something was going on here.
I turned off the TV. I needed to focus. my food was going missing, but I didn’t have a mouse. What other possibilities were there? I checked my doors. Locked. I hadn’t gone out all day, and I knew that the slice had gone missing while I was still at home. What could have possibly happened? I had already checked the kitchen thoroughly for clues, but still nothing. Perhaps it was time to search somewhere else…
I walked into the pantry. I’ve never liked the pantry. It’s… creepy. I can’t explain it, but I always get a weird vibe from the place. I always assumed it was just because it was a completely empty room, as I really didn’t need the extra space for food. I could easily keep everything in my cabinets in the kitchen. I tried to turn on the light. Nothing. Then I remembered the other reason why I don’t like the pantry. The lights stopped working. I’ve tried replacing the light bulb a dozen times, but every time I do it would go out within a day.
I went and got a flashlight from the closet. I brought it into the pantry and shined it around, trying to see if there was any hint of what was going on. I searched everywhere and couldn’t find anything at first, but then… I noticed a thin line on the wall. It looked kind of like a scratch. Maybe this was some sort of mouse or something. But wait… the line was perfectly vertical. That’s not likely to be caused by an accidental scratch. I leaned in closer. It was completely straight, there’s no way this was an accident. It also seemed to be just over two feet tall, spanning the entire distance between the floor and the bottom shelf. I touched the line. It was indented into the wall, it was definitely not just a scratch. I ran my finger down the line and noticed that along the floor was actually another line. This one was much harder to see as it went across flush with the floor, but it was there. I looked up at the top of the vertical line, and sure enough there was a third line flush with the shelf above it. Was this… some kind of door? I pushed on the wall, and it let out a quiet wooden creak as the small trap door slowly swung open.
Unfortunately the door was caught on something and wouldn’t open more than a few inches. I could just about shine my flashlight in and make out a little bit of what was in there. It appeared to be some kind of dirt tunnel. It wasn’t very big as far as I could see, but I couldn’t see much. As I shined my flashlight around I noticed the light glinting off of something just a couple feet into the hole. It looked to be just about within reach. I stuck my arm into the slit and just barely got my fingers to touch the source of the glint. It crinkled as I managed to trap it between two fingers and pull it back into the pantry. It was Toni’s bag of cookies. That’s where they went. I reasoned to myself that this must be where whatever was getting in was getting in. The weird thing was, there was still one full cookie left in the bag which really doesn’t make sense because why would a wild animal eat all but one of my cookies? This is getting a bit too weird…
I examined the trap door again. It was amazing how well hidden this thing was. I had lived here for seven years now and had never noticed it, and now there was probably something living inside of it. That was a pretty terrifying thought. I pulled the trapdoor closed, well, as closed as I could get it without smashing my fingers, then locked the handle of the pantry door and shut it behind me as I walked back into the kitchen. I would need to call pest control in the morning to check this out. For now, it was time for bed. After just a few minutes I drifted off to sleep.
Upon waking up, I had completely forgotten about the previous night’s discoveries. Breakfast, shower, ready. I had a few errands I needed to get done, so I figured I might as well get to them as soon as possible. A little after lunch time, I had finished all of my errands and began to drive home. Then I remembered that I needed to call the exterminators. I was already out though, so I thought that I may as well just stop by since it was so close. I pulled into the parking lot and walked in. “Hello sir, how may we help you?” said the clerk. “Oh uh, yeah. So, I found a crack in my wall last night and a few small food items have been disappearing so I think I have a mouse or something. Could someone come and look at that for me?” I replied. “Certainly! If you would like, we have an availability in a couple hours, would that work for you?” “Sure. Here’s my address.” I wrote down my details and handed them to the clerk. “Thank you, we’ll be out soon with an estimate!” said the clerk, as I walked out the door.
A few hours later, I heard a knock on the door. Pest control had arrived. “I’m here to see about a crack in your wall?” the man asked. “Yes, thank you. It’s right this way.” I led the man to my pantry, unlocked the door, then went in. “It’s right-” I stopped. The crack was gone. “…here?” The man leaned forward and squinted at the wall where the crack used to be. “Uh… I don’t see anything. Are you sure it was here?” the man asked. “Yeah, I’m positive… it was almost like a door, it swung open just a little bit, but now I don’t see anything.” I replied. I pushed on the area where the door was, but nothing happened. I pushed again, harder this time. It wasn’t moving. “I swear it swung open last night…” I mumbled. “Huh. Well that’s odd… I’ll have a look around and see if I can find anything else then.” he said. “Thank you.”
After a few minutes of poking around, he couldn’t find any evidence of any animals and left. “Thank you so much, I’m sorry for wasting your time!” I said as he walked back to his car. “It’s alright, let us know if you find anything else,” he replied. I closed the door and went back to the couch. Was I going crazy? What was happening? I know I saw that trapdoor. How could it have simply disappeared? Something for sure was going on, but I just had no idea what it was… Oh well. I supposed I’d just have to set out a couple of mouse traps and see what would happen.
That night after finishing up a few chores around the house, I went to bed. I laid awake for a while, just thinking about what was going on. Maybe I had simply imagined that door, but then, how had I retrieved the cookie bag from inside the hole? Perhaps it had just been shut so snugly that you couldn’t see the cracks anymore, but then… how had it been shut? I didn’t fully shut it, so something else must have. Maybe the temperature difference had sucked it shut. I’ve seen that happen with other doors before. Yeah, that’s got to be it. Knowing that I had solved the mystery, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Suddenly I jolted awake. I couldn’t see very well, but it appeared that my bedroom door had been left open. I squinted hard to see if I could make out anything else and froze. I felt like I was being watched. No, I knew I was being watched. My eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, but I still couldn’t see anything besides my bedroom door, wide open, exposing myself to the outside world. I tried to sit up, but nothing happened. The piercing gaze I felt was coming from just out of the corner of my eye and I needed to see what it was. I did everything I could to turn my head, just a little, but nothing happened. I was petrified. I desperately poured all of my strength and concentration into one finger to just wiggle it a little bit to prove to myself that I still had some control… but nothing happened. I could feel my heart racing. There was nothing I could do. I was completely powerless. I tried to scream, but of course, I couldn’t. Whatever was watching me was right there, just out of sight, but I couldn’t even turn to see what it was. I tried again desperately to do something, anything… but as with all previous attempts, nothing happened. The only thing I could do was lay there. So lay there I did.
After what felt like hours, I decided that enough was enough. I gathered together every ounce of energy in my entire body and focused it all directly into one single finger and flexed with all my might, but this time, it moved. That gave me the boost of confidence that I needed to keep going. I flexed another finger. It wiggled, just a bit. I tried to clench my fist. It just about did what I wanted it to. My elbow? Yup, now I can swing my forearm back and forth. Now my shoulder, and my torso too while I’m at it! Yes! I sat up! By now, my eyes had adjusted a little better to the darkness and I looked around. Nothing. I was alone. I let out a sigh of relief. Yet… I still felt that I was being watched. That’s ok. I would simply turn on the lights and prove to myself that nothing was there, that this was all just my imagination. I reached for the lights, then went cold. My entire body froze up, yet again. Another hand was already there. I didn’t know what to do, so I just stayed frozen, my hand resting on top of the stranger’s. I heard a slight giggle coming from the doorway, as the hand slowly slid out of mine and back towards the door. Then I heard that same familiar scurrying sound, followed by the wooden creak that I had become so used to, then, silence.