For months, my answer to that question was the same. "Nothing." As I explained in my blog post last month, things around the house have been quiet for quite some time. I've even been home 24/7 for the past month now due to an unfortunate slip and fall that's left me a temporary invalid, and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. And trust me, I've been paying close attention. How many horror movies start out with someone injured and stuck at home alone with nothing better to do than let their mind run wild? At least a few, right?
Anyway, my point...just when I was starting to think we'd been abandoned by "the others" for good, last night happened. Last night, I had a bout of insomnia with a wicked underlying migraine. I was up well past 6:30 in the morning. And during that time, I realized something. Our spirits haven't gone anywhere. They just save their shenanigans for the middle of the night. (And apparently we've gotten so used to them, we sleep right through them now.)
Picture this: it's 3:30 in the morning, it's pitch black outside, and the house is silent except for two things: the sound of coyotes howling from the woods out back (that's the new thing in our neighborhood these days, and it's creepy as hell) and a mysterious clunking/banging sound coming from upstairs. It's not easy for me to get around these days, what with the crutches and the leg brace that goes from the top of my thigh to the bottom of my ankle, so I listened for about a half hour to banging, followed by footsteps, followed by more banging. Earlier in the night, a little after midnight, my oldest son's alarm clock started going off, even though it was turned off. I didn't think much of it at the time, but given the events that followed, I have to wonder now.
A little before 4, I sent my husband upstairs to investigate. His youngest son was awake, but insisted he hadn't been awake for long. Was he the one responsible for all the racket? Or was the racket responsible for waking him up I was more inclined to believe the former, until about an hour later. I heard a noise that at first sounded like a semi or loud diesel truck idling in our driveway. It went on long enough and was loud enough that I eventually got up and hobbled my way into the kitchen.
Once I reached the kitchen, I realized that the sound wasn't coming from outside. I checked the refrigerator, the sink, the oven, before realizing that the sound was coming from inside the walls. I still don't know exactly what it was, but it sounded like the pipes were shaking and vibrating- not just a little bit, but enough to bust right through the walls.
After a few minutes, it stopped, and gave way to another noise. The sound of water spilling all over the floor upstairs. It was very distinct and unmistakable. I made my way to the bottom of the stairs to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Not only did I hear water spilling everywhere, I also heard the TV in the boys' room blaring. I hurried (as fast as a one-legged cripple on crutches can hurry) to my bedroom and woke up my husband.
"The kids are awake with the TV on at 5 in the morning, and the toilet or the sink in the bathroom up there is overflowing and water's spilling everywhere. You need to get up." The hubs jumped out of bed and made his way up the stairs. I returned to my makeshift non-sleeping zone on the couch. After a few minutes, he returned.
"The kids are awake with the TV on at 5 in the morning, and the toilet or the sink in the bathroom up there is overflowing and water's spilling everywhere. You need to get up." The hubs jumped out of bed and made his way up the stairs. I returned to my makeshift non-sleeping zone on the couch. After a few minutes, he returned.
"Well?" I asked.
"The kids are asleep, there are no TVs on and there's no water on the floor anywhere," he said. So. That happened. (And may I just remind you that coyotes were yipping and howling outside our windows the ENTIRE time.) Needless to say, I didn't fall asleep until after daylight broke.
