Sleepless Nights: Part One-The First Night

Karen and I have been in our new home for about 10 weeks now. We are loving it here. Who knew I would enjoy doing yardwork after 20 years of apartment and condo living? We've got plenty of room here and every night we are thankful that we have a good solid home. We enjoy spending time in the kitchen, planning and shopping for each of the rooms--I'm looking forward to someday soon getting our first HDTV. Going from a small one-bedroom condo in a busy Seattle neighborhood to a wonderful house in a quiet Shoreline neighborhood has meant a few adjustments. Its much darker here at night, and much more quiet.

But, two nights ago, our nighttime peace was broken. Around 2:30am, we woke up to sounds of scratching. I swore that they were coming from INSIDE the window. Of course, that would just be crazy! It just had to be a raccoon or something crawling outside. I figured maybe it was trying to jump the fence we had right outside our window and kept hitting the house. Creepy, for sure! Scratching, clawing sounds are not what you want to hear at night. Then, maybe 5 minutes later, the same sound. Now, I was wide awake as was Karen. We had the window open just a little to get some air circulation, as it had felt stuffy when we went to bed. I sat up in the near-pitch black of night. What was I expecting to see? Well, all the horror movies I've seen over the years started to play back in my mind. What makes scratching sounds? Or sounds like it/they are moving around in or out of the house? The alien visitors from "Signs" first came to mind. But that would be too far out there. Some sort of stalker right outside the window. Maybe, logically, it really was just a raccoon outside. Karen had told me she had seen one recently. So, sitting up and straining to focus my eyes I tried to see if there was anything inside the room. Nothing, no sound but my beating heart. Way back in the kitchen, the refridgerator turned on and I jumped a bit at the sudden sound. A deep breath and a relaxing sigh at what it was, then IT MOVED! Something darted from the window into the bedroom! Something not really there, but yet there. Something dark and shadowy, the kind of something you can only see out of the corner of your eye. I yelled out, jumped out of bed and shut the window. I turned on the lights and nervously started searching the...thing...that I was sure I had just seen jump from the window. I walked down the hallway, turning on every light I could because I didn't want that thing to jump out from the dark. But, then I thought it must be just a trick and maybe it was trying to lure me away from Karen. But, she joined me in the kitchen, nervous as well. Another moment later and I realized I must have just seen something move because of my imagination. We went back to bed, a little on edge still, but thinking it just had to be a raccoon or animal outside making the sounds. It was maybe another 30 minutes before I went back to sleep...

I woke up Monday morning and checked outside at the window. Hmmm...no scratches on the wall and no footprints in the dirt. What the heck happened Sunday night? Did I see anything or was it sleep and stress induced halucination?

Now, what happened Monday night? That comes in the next post...