Okay, so it’s obvious by now that I keep odd hours. I have this thing about going to sleep. I don’t like it. Once I’m asleep I like to remain asleep, but I hate the act of going to bed. I call it inertia, but maybe it’s just some sort of restlessness. Usually now when I go to sleep I have to distract myself by reading until I’m sleepy or I’ll just lie awake thinking morbid thoughts. I’ve been doing this more since I’ve been living on my own. Anyway, tonight I was watching something on the History Channel and I hear a scraping noise that sounded like it was coming from the kitchen cabinets. The noise stopped and I opened all the cabinets but didn’t see anything obvious. I stood there silently for a few minutes with my ears turned up to maximum sensitivity and didn’t hear anything else for a long time. Then I heard that phantom scraping noise coming from what sounded like inside the walls behind my cabinets near the ceiling. I think there is something inside the walls. Judging from my recent experience I’m guessing it’s mice or rats or whatever it was Sarah and I killed last night. Something that makes scraping noises inside walls at three in the morning.
The only thing I can figure is that maybe the cold, wet weather and the new construction on the once vacant lot next door has driven the rats out of Nimh and into my apartment complex. I imagine I’m not the only person who has them in such close proximity but maybe my neighbors haven’t noticed them since they’re not awake in the dead of night and don’t have cats. I guess I’ll mention this to the apartment people when I drop off my rent tomorrow. It’s a good thing I’m moving soon. I don’t know how much longer I can sleep with all the lights on, fully dressed, with my hand on a rodent-death-dealing instrument.