kitchen. When they entered, it became even more discouraging. An old style refrigerator sat in a corner with the door flung open. A brown sticky substance was splattered all over the shelves and bottom. A large army of flies were gathered on the mess to feast. The sink was water rusted and the cabinet doors were half off their hinges. Cheryl threw up her hands in disgust.
“This is your idea of a dream home?”
“Well, I knew it was going to be a fixer upper, but this is a little extreme.” Steve ran a finger along a dust caked counter. “I’m going to have to have a talk with the realtor.”
Alley and Bobby acted as if they were afraid to move. They clung to their mother’s side awaiting her instruction.
“Well, we’re here. There’s no use in standing around and complaining. Let’s unload!” Steve marched outside to begin unpacking the U-haul.
Once everything was stacked in the living room, Steve paid the driver and sent him on his way. He paid a little extra for a U-haul employee to drive so he could take the trip with his family and get them comfortable with the move. So far, no good.
Too tired from the drive to unpack, they did a quick sweeping of the dining room floor, scooping up piles of what looked like mice droppings, which did not make Cheryl or the kids happy. They ate leftover ham sandwiches from the trip and settled into a bed of side by side mattresses for a good night’s sleep.
5
In the middle of the night Alley woke up to a strange sound. The wind was pounding sand against the windows, but that was not what woke her. She sat up and listened intently.
Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.
The noise was faint but it was enough to get her heart pumping. She reached over and tried to shake her father awake. He was sound asleep and unresponsive. She paused and listened again, thinking that maybe it was a figment of her imagination.
Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.
Now the sound seemed to be happening more frequently and louder. She panicked and screamed her dad’s name, shaking him vigorously.
Steve shot up. “What? What’s the matter?”
“You hear that noise?”
Steve wanted to tell his daughter that she was over exaggerating and to go back to sleep but then he heard it too. He carefully got up not wanting to wake the rest of the family if he didn’t have to. The scratching noise seemed to be coming from the far corner. He tip-toed over to inspect the wall. Then another scratching noise came from somewhere behind him. He turned, and then the noise came from the wall by the door. Beginning to get freaked out himself, he turned on a lamp.
Cheryl and Bobby woke from their sleep when the light came on. Cheryl asked what in the world he was doing and Steve put a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet.
Silence.
Cheryl shook her head in frustration and buried herself back in her blankets. Bobby rubbed his eyes and decided to lie back down too. Alley was too wound up.
“What is it, Dad?”
“I don’t know. It is an old house, probably just the wood creaking or something?” Steve assured her while trying to convince himself.
“No way. It sounded like an animal or something,” Alley argued.
“Honey, it’s nothing. I’ll check it out in the morning.” Steve shut off the light and crawled in next to her. He immediately fell back asleep. Alley laid down but her sleep was uneasy. The strange noise never came again, but she couldn’t forget it either. Her first night at the new house was restless.
6
In the morning, Steve was the first to wake up and he was anxious to get the house organized and make it feel homey. He knew his family was not impressed at first sight, but he believed he could turn the house around and maybe, just maybe, they would eventually accept it as home.
He dug out the coffee pot, and while it brewed, he began wiping down the counters and vigorously scrubbing the fridge stains. Cheryl walked in and laughed.
“Wow, I could never get you to do that at our old house.” She helped herself to the coffee.
Steve went to her and gave her a big hug and kiss. “Good morning babe. This is gonna be great. You just wait and see.”
Cheryl wasn’t so enthusiastic but she smiled and hugged back for her husband’s sake.
Alley came strolling in the kitchen with Bobby at her heels. They took a seat at the table their father had set up and watched him clean like a madman. Once Steve was satisfied that the kitchen was free of dirt, he asked Cheryl if she would like to take the kids out to breakfast and pick up some groceries?
“I’m just gonna stay here and straighten up everything, you guys go out and enjoy your self’s. Check out the town and I’ll have the place looking brand new by the time you get back.”
The kids seemed eager for breakfast, so Cheryl agreed and they left Steve with the house to himself.
He began unpacking and organizing. Even though it was only ten in the morning, the house was already boiling. Sweat ran from his forehead in fountains. He opened the box labeled “Bathroom” and dug out a towel. As he wiped his face and arms, the scratching noise returned. Only this time he could hear it faintly coming from upstairs. He slowly walked up the steps and peered into each room listening carefully for the noise. He had already come to the conclusion that they had mice, and he was going to have to do something about that as soon as possible, but he wanted to spot one of the little buggers first; just to be sure.
After scanning all the rooms, he found nothing. Then the scratching began again. It was coming from the ceiling. They were in the attic. He ran downstairs to grab a flashlight and a step ladder. He placed the ladder under the attic door, and very carefully pushed the tiny board up and off to the side. He stuck his head in the black hole and switched on the flashlight.
At first there was nothing to see but a dust covered floor and cobwebs, but when he angled his flashlight toward the ceiling, a pair of red beady eyes stared back at him. His heart jumped and the flashlight fell out of his hands. He almost tumbled from the ladder but caught himself on the attic ledge. He reached around for the flashlight and suddenly a searing pain shot through his hand. He yanked his hand out of the attic hole and a fluttering bat had its teeth sunk into the web of his thumb and forefinger. He shook his hand wildly trying to get the creature off and crashed to the floor. When his body slammed on the hardwood, the bat released its jaws and flew back into the attic.
Steve was in shock. He examined his hand and there were two thin lines of blood running down his wrist. He felt a strange burning feeling where the bat had bitten him. Getting to his feet, he listened intently for the sound of fluttering wings. There was nothing but silence.
After collecting himself from the shocking event, he became angry. He wasn’t going to let a stinking bat or two ruin his plans. He climbed back on the ladder and shut the door. His next plan of action was to head into town and find out how you get rid of bats in the attic.
7
They enjoyed a routine breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon at the local diner. Surprising to Cheryl, the place was vacant except for the cook and waitress. Where was everybody? She shrugged it off and paid their bill with a waitress that looked sullen and white as a ghost. It appeared she was going for some type of gothic look and doing a good job at it. Cheryl ushered her kids to the door and thanked them for the meal.
Now back in the car they were heading to the grocery store. Bobby was becoming restless and kicking the back of Alley’s seat.
“Knock it off, Bobby!” She screamed.
“Knock it off, Bobby!” He copied.
“You’re such a booger. Bobby the booger.”
“You’re such a booger. You’re such a booger.”
“Knock it off you two!” Cheryl cut in. “Can’t you get along for two seconds?”
“Mom, this place sucks.” Alley stated.
“Alley!” Cheryl scolded. “Watch your mouth!”
“Suc
ks.” Bobby repeated in the back.
“You see what you’re teaching your brother?” Cheryl pulled into the grocery store lot and parked. She shut off the car and turned to her kids.
“Look, I know you’re not happy about moving but your father really wants this. I think we should give it a try for his sake. Trust me; I’m not happy about it either.” With that, Cheryl got out of the car and the kids seemed content to keep their opinions to themselves for the time being.
They walked through the front door of Bill’s Foods and grabbed a cart. Immediately they noticed that the place was rundown. Florescent lights hung from the ceiling uneven and some of the bulbs were missing. The scenery became even stranger as they moved further on. Some of the grocery shelves were busted and half filled with tipped over dusty canned goods. If OSHA had one look at this, they would have a hay day handing out fines.
The store seemed abandoned, and for a moment, Cheryl thought that maybe they should leave. But then an elder gentleman limped over to them and smiled, showing darkened brown teeth.
“Hello, welcome to Bill’s. Can I help you find something?”
“Um…No thanks.” Cheryl urged her kids down an
Fast Fears #1: Bats in the Attic Page 2