My kid is freaked out by shadows. I have that problem, too. Bad vision does something to moonlight when you take off your glasses. Knowing I'm a wuss I don't watch horror movies. My imagination supplies way too much backstory and all kinds of probable scenarios.
I was working last night--sitting near my window (it's 75 degrees here! My God it's hot!) sometime around 11.45 pm. It's dark, and the entire town rolls up the sidewalks at eight. Streetlights get fewer as you get away from the downtown core. The last time I had to walk somewhere, I was totally in the dark and I mean that literally. I only knew there was a sidewalk because I'd walked it before.
So this noise starts up....
...scree rattle squeal scre scree screee. Rumble. Over and over, rolling down the invisible sidewalk at 11.45 in total darkness. Scree scree rumble.
...and my brain supplies "red rum. red rum. scree!! RED RUM!" and I'm just about falling off my seat, no one else notices. The noise gets louder and louder, until it's right under my window, then it fades away.
Like the mom in Pet Cemetery who can't open the door, "knowing" something that looks like her son is on the other side. I don't need movies, I have books. But I really wish I hadn't read The Monkey's Paw.
8 comments:
What was it? From your description, it sounds like one animal got ahold of another one... (still a red rum situation, lol)
I was woken this morning by what I thought was a bird in distress. The cries sent my heart right into my throat. Turns out it was a FLOCK of birds, just a-cackling away like their little lives were in peril. Gawd, I've never heard such mournful bird cries!
It was a great wake-up alarm.
lol, it actually was a kid on a big wheel. With his parent, so it was cool, but I made "my" kid look outside with a flashlight to see what it was :)
I never really thought about how creepy it'd be to hear something so out of place in the middle of the night. :( Total yuck moment.
lol on the birds. :) There are a couple of crow families in the cedars outside and a month ago, you'd think my kids were going to kill me for dragging them up here. "Mom! Tell them to shut up!" "Mom! I'm going to kill those crows!"
(they were fledging and getting mad at people who walked by. Crows don't yell at me because I carry peanuts :)
Sometimes...some of those cries were really sad, like the kid crows were being tortured or something (although I guess if my mom kicked me out of the house without food and told me to flap off, I'd probably be upset too)
your flock sounds like the beginning of autumn. Have you ever heard the audio book version of the Dark Is Rising? "It'll be a cold winter, Will Stanton." *shiver*
To have it turn out to be something so innocent must have really gotten to you, too.
lol, Alice. That very innocence was what got me. It was so out of place.
Afterwards I thought about how to use it in my writing. :) But while it was going on...I sure as hell didn't want to look out the window. :(
Yeah, I'm a total chicken. I don't blame you at all for getting someone else to check for you.
I remember when DD was five, she peeked through the blinds in the living room and glanced across the street.
DD: There's a werewolf hiding behind our mailbox.
Me: How do you know what a werewolf is?
DD: Alex (her cousin) told me.
Me: Well, okay, but there's no such thing as werewolves.
DD: Are you sure? *presses nose to glass* It has triangular ears.
Me: *blinks*
I will admit, I didn't have the nerve to look. I picked her up, dropped her in her playroom and found something pressing to do in a room with no windows. (DH worked overnights then, so we were home alone.)
What still gets me, though, is her saying "it has triangular ears". Like such an intelligent observation from such a small child made it that much more horrifying to me. LOL
it's creepy as hell. That's the problem with it. Like you know what is really is on a very depth instinctive level and you don't want to look gah.
I agree, it does not help, in one of those moments, to have read The Monkey's Paw. It's a very cool story, in the daylight. :o)
lol, Deanna. The Monkey's Paw, The Necklace, and The Last Leaf--okay, and Cujo--really bother me. I think the themes are too strong for me. I really am a wuss. :(
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