Saturday, February 6, 2016

Heavy breathing in the night

Tuesday morning I had a meeting in the dark, dark, early morning with Pennsylvania and England. I wasn't sleeping, so I got up early to check my email first.

Tim heard the door click shut as I left the bedroom.

A few moments later, Tim, alone in the bedroom, heard someone breathing heavily in the darkness.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

Slowly, in a sleepy stupor, Tim raised himself out of the bed to look around the room. Who was in the bedroom with him? Who was taking those heavy, deep breaths?

The room was empty.

The heavy breathing continued, low and threatening.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

Carefully, Tim got up, bare feet against the carpet, and stepped towards the closed bedroom door. He stood quietly, and listened. The breathing seemed to be coming from the darkness on the opposite side.

He opened the door slowly, carefully, and looked down the long, empty hall.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

The heavy breathing continued, further down, out of sight in the darkness.

He followed the sound past Jonathan's bedroom, where all was quiet.

He followed it past the office, where the only sign of life was a flicker of a computer monitor against the stillness.

Past the kitchen. Single digits on the microwave clock showed the time, silently.

Into the living room.

In the darkness, he saw me standing at the far end of the room, face pressed against the door to the balcony, staring wide eyed out into the blackness of the small hours of the night.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

The deep, heavy breathing continued, louder, slow breaths one after another after another.

"Who is making that deep breathing noise?" Tim whispered, his hands trembling.

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh....... "

...

"Hhuuuuuuuuuhhhh......."

And I turned to him in the darkness with my pale, white face, and I said:

...


...


...

...

...

...

...



"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"



No, actually I said,

"That's growling! I think there's a possum right outside the window! But I can't see it in the trees in the dark."

And then Tim came to look. And then the noise stopped. And Tim went back to bed. And I looked up "Possum growl" on Google. And found this movie of this cute little guy the size of a cat.



And I read the comments. The language was a little offensive, the but comments were hilarious. Here's a sample (with some spelling and grammar fixes to make it easier to read).

"So that [redacted] demonic sound was a possum! A [redacted] possum! Australia pls no need to be so evil at 2am! Gosh!"

"I'm glad it's just a possum and not some crazed alien!"

"Sounds like a heavy breathing pervert outside your window!"

"All I could hear is a loud breathing noise -- sounded a bit like zombies trying to get in my room."

"I HATE THEM!! THEY LIVE IN MY ROOF!! SO DEMONIC!!"

"OMG I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THE CAUSE OF THIS NOISE FOR MONTHS NOW! I was convinced there was a vampire in my garden. It's been scaring me so much, and my family's been too scared to go outside to further investigate!"

"I actually rang the police last night and they came and said it sounds like a Possum."

And on and on.

Australian problems.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It almost sounds like someone passing gas...repeatedly ;)
EM

Debs said...

We all read your scary story and we're so glad we don't have creepy possums outside our windows.

Anonymous said...

That was really interesting as all of your stories are! Thanks for sharing.
Did you get to see Bryan and Kristen? Love, Janice