I moved into my friend Amelia’s apartment last week. The first night we were officially roomies, we popped open a bottle of wine, made pasta, and watched cheesy movies, normal girl stuff. Before I went into my room for the night, Amelia stopped me and semi-jokingly told me to check my closet before I went to bed. I thought it was weird and childish but for some reason I couldn’t get it out of my head, and peeked in it before settling into bed and dozing off.
The next morning, Amelia almost looked surprised when I walked in. I mentioned I checked my closet, rolling my eyes. She beamed at me and said thank you. We both had to get to work so I couldn’t ask her any questions about why. That night, we sat watching a tv show for a bit and just chatting. When I went to sleep, she told me to check under my bed, looking a little more serious than the night before. Again, I have no idea why I humored her but as I brushed my teeth I couldn’t help my eyes from wandering to the reflection of my bed behind me. I tried to go to sleep but I kept tossing and turning and eventually got up and flipped the light to check under. There were scratch marks on the hard wood underneath that I hadn’t noticed when I moved in, but otherwise empty. I huffed and flipped the light off and got back in bed, I fell asleep immediately.
It’s become a pattern almost. I wake up in the morning to Amelia looking at me surprised and thanking me for checking where she said. And at night she tells me a new place to look. I have no idea why I’ve been playing along, probably because no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to fall asleep until I do. Whether it’s behind my shower curtain, in my top dresser drawer, or even under my pillow, I’ll toss and turn until I turn on the light and look. But today, my first Friday here, I went out with some work friends to the bar. I stumbled into the apartment around 2am to find Amelia asleep on the couch. In my drunken state, I got annoyed thinking that she was waiting to tell me another stupid place to look. I tiptoed into my room and locked the door behind me, I crawled into my bed without turning the light on and, thanks to the alcohol, managed to fall asleep immediately.
Something woke me up. I glanced at the clock and saw it was just after 3am. I groaned and pulled my pillow over my head, thinking maybe it was the neighbors or a loud car. My head was pounding, I knew my hangover in the morning would be horrible, when I heard the noise again. Soft, faint scratching coming from under my bathroom sink. Great, we have rats. That’s probably what she wanted me to check for, some damn rats. I pulled the pillow tighter around my head and tried to fall back asleep. A bang sounded as the cabinet slammed open and closed again.
I sat straight up in bed. Rats can do that, right? I heard it slowly creak open again, not closing. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight, pointing it in the direction of my bathroom door, but the light didn’t quite reach. I pushed my covers off to go turn on the overhead light when the door to my closet started to open, too. I pulled the covers back up to my chin, holding my phone flashlight in front of me. My shower curtain was pulled roughly open. I was full on shaking at this point, tears starting to form in my eyes.
Just as the scratching started up under my bed, someone started pounding on my bedroom door. Amelia was screaming my name telling me to open the door. I gathered my courage, listening to the scratching getting closer and more insistent, and jumped out of bed, racing to my bedroom door. As I reached it and threw the lock, a slimy, leathery hand grabbed my ankle, pulling me off balance. I screamed and started kicked at whatever was holding me. It was dragging me under my own bed, when Amelia burst in. She turned the light on and grabbed me by both my arms, playing tug-of-war with whatever wanted me. I could see it in the light now. A tar black, soaking wet hand attached to an arm that seemed three times too long. The hand seemed to give up and Amelia dragged me into the living room, slamming the door shut behind my legs. I stood up and she turned to me, angry.
“You stupid bitch, you didn’t wake me up. You know what would’ve happened if I hadn’t heard you? God, always check where I say. She listens to me usually, I’ll go talk to her about giving you your room back,” Amelia turned and walked back in my room, but I grabbed my keys and sprinted to my car. No way in hell was I going to stay there another night in my life. As I pulled out of my parking spot, I looked up at my room’s window and saw Amelia, in what looked like a very animated argument, facing my bed. I never talked to her again and I decided anything in that apartment was a loss.