Sleepless Nights: Part Two--The Next Night

So, Sunday night, we seemed to have a nocturnal visitor. Scratching at the wall-twice-trying to get somewhere. What was it? Why were there no marks at the window? We had no answers and no evidence. I went to work Monday morning and Karen was left at home alone. While at work, I got a few opinions from co-workers. Most likely, everyone agreed, was that it was a raccoon. Or a cat. Maybe even a squirrel. Whatever it was, we were going to be prepared Monday night. We gathered up a flashlight and I had my backscratcher ready to beat back anything that would attack. Hey, who knew what was lurking in the shadows outside?

Laying in bed, we slowly drifted off to sleep. Then, about 1:30am, I woke up to the sounds of scratching above us. Karen was already sitting up, distressed. I was immediately awake, hearing the scratching at the wall behind our bed, which meant that whatever was making it had to be inside our home. Then the scratching moved over us, as if in the attic. The scratching stopped. Karen and I sat up in the dark and whispered about how to proceed. This was just nuts. How could something be scratching a wall inside our house? The windows were closed and Karen had been careful to not leave any doors open during the day. There must be something inside the wall, that had to be the only--then I saw a slow moving shadow by the laundry shoot close to our bed. "GET OUT!!!" I yelled. I turned on the light, rushed out of bed and stomped down the hallway, switching on every light that I could. But, searching every room, every corner turned up nothing. That's it. Was I imagining it again, like the night before? Maybe I was seeing things due to the stress of it all. But, nerves were now rattled and needed to be settled. I closed the other bedroom doors and we left the hallway light turned on just like Mom leaving the closet light on to keep away childhood monsters. Thankfully, we don't have a stuffed clown doll like in the movie "Poltergeist." Morning would be here soon and the daylight would chase away the shadows. We both finally fell asleep.

We still had no answers to this mystery. Is this something we would have to deal with every night? Would we just have to get used to it?