The Curse of My Imagination Strikes Again!

See the picture? Looks harmless enough, right? Just a pile of something on the floor. Which around here is about par for the course. I’ve always been Tidy Challenged. It’s only getting worse in my old age. I have lots of piles all over the house.

The thing that’s different about this one, though, is I didn’t put it there.

The thing on top of the aprons is a shelf. I was quite proud of that shelf. I spotted it in a Lakeside Collection catalog and could instantly picture it hanging in my kitchen.

I originally envisioned it on a wall by the kitchen desk. However, it didn’t look quite right there. Hmm… Where else might it go?

After some contemplation, I decided on the wall near the kitchen table. And then I got the bright idea to use the shelf’s knobs to hang my aprons. I’d been wanting to move them. They’d been on a hook near the trash can, but I didn’t really like them there.

But as soon as I hung them on the shelf? Magic! I loved the look. Here it is pre-pile on the floor:

I pulled it all together sometime in early December I want to say. Could’ve been late November. I’m not quite sure.

The point is, the shelf had been happily hanging there ever since. Until two nights ago. Well, technically early two mornings ago.

We’ve had unseasonably warm weather. Springlike really. Tigger was taking advantage of it. When I was ready to go to bed at 9 p.m., he was nowhere to be found. So I stayed up, continued watching Netflix, and…fell asleep.

Until, that is, a loud bang jarred me rudely out of my sleep shortly after 1 a.m.. Tabby too, who was staring at me wide-eyed from the other side of the family room with her tail all puffed out in fright.

“What the hell is Tigger into now?” I said to her.

Then I remembered two things:

1. Tigger was still outside –unless Wayne had come down and let him in and left me to stay sleeping on the couch.
2. Wayne’s scolding. “I don’t like when you leave the door open. I always worry someone’s going to come in and get you.”

Shit! Was someone trying to break down the door?

Or had I just imagined the noise? Or dreamed it? Surely if it had happened, it would’ve woken Wayne up also. He’s such a light sleeper. But he wasn’t coming to investigate.

No. It had to have happened. Tabby was all wigged out too.

I knew it had happened in the kitchen. Near the table from the sounds of it. I honestly thought Tigger had pushed something off the table. I went to investigate, but I didn’t see anything –except Tigger peering in the back door wanting let in.

That’s when I saw the mess in the corner. I was still mostly asleep so it took me a second to process what the jumble of stuff was. Then it hit me.

That was it! The shelf had fallen!

But for no reason in the middle of the night? Tigger sometimes lunges against the door when he’s desperate to get back in. He’s a big boy. 17 pounds. All the pictures hanging on the walls near the door stayed in place. Plus, the wall the shelf was on wasn’t connected to the door. Surely even if he was body slamming the glass, that wouldn’t have loosened it.

I shut off the lights and made my way upstairs, thinking what a weird day it had been. First the weird chirp-beeps I’d heard coming from upstairs that afternoon. Never figured out what had caused that either. All I know is that it freaked out both cats, who at separate times cautiously went to investigate. Not sure if they ever figured out what the suspicious noise was though.

And then the shelf crashed down for no apparent reason.

As I was crawling into bed, my imagination kicked in: What if someone’s in the house? What if they’ve been here all day? The beep was their cell phone. They were hiding in a closet. Or maybe up in the attic.

Then they were standing against the wall watching me sleep on the couch. They brushed the shelf just right. Jarred it loose. Boom! It crashed to the floor.

My heart was racing. My ears were honed in to any little noise. Any creak, any crack, I would’ve screamed.

I had myself convinced the air felt different. That it was not just Wayne and I and the cats. Someone was in the house with us. But where?

I almost woke Wayne up to help me check every closet, every nook, every cranny, under every bed.

But I talked myself down. Sort of. I couldn’t fall back to sleep. I read for an hour before I finally started feeling drowsy. The whole time I was tuned in, though. Waiting for any out of the ordinary sound.

Eventually I relaxed. I did fall back into a light sleep for a bit. But then it was time to get up and start the day.

I immediately recalled the events of the night before. I went to see if I could figure out why the shelf had fallen. Both nails were still in place. I didn’t see any ready explanation.

I was also surprised that for all my haunt jaunting and interest in the paranormal, the first thing I suspected was an intruder. A real-life human one. Not a ghost.

Today I think I figured out what the beep was. I’m pretty sure it was Wayne’s sports watch. I’m still stumped about why the shelf fell though. I may never know.

The only thing I know for certain is that I don’t ever need anyone else to terrorize me. I’m very skilled at doing it to myself.