The room was dark and Kelly laid in bed waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She rolled over again trying not to disturb her husband, Chris. 3:14 in the morning, this has got to be a new record for insomniacs. For the past three weeks, she awakened at the same time, some nights were easier than others to find rest again. That’s when she heard it, the familiar rumble that three weeks ago had sent her husband, half-dressed through the house. She thought it was a burglar, then it was a raccoon outside and now she had no idea what it was. All the previous theories as to the creator of the noise were disproven.

Clang!

She heard something hit the hardwood floor downstairs and she shot straight up in bed. Kelly looked over at her husband who was still asleep and nudged him.

Chris rubbed his face and grumbled, “What.”

“I heard another noise downstairs.”

“God, Kel. We’ve been through this. There’s nothing downstairs, there’s no one outside. It’s just us and Sybil and miles of the farm around us. Go back to sleep.”

Chris rolled over and was soon lightly snoring again. Kelly sat there listening. It must have been Sybil, their white Persian. Undoubtedly, she was downstairs on the kitchen island knocking over a glass. The noise Kelly heard was the cup hitting the floor. It still made her heart race, the thought of the unknown. She looked across the room at their bedroom door, it was still closed and locked. Kelly couldn’t fall asleep unless her door was locked and she often checked it multiple times during the night when she got up to pee, just to make sure.

Creak… Creeeeak…

The hardwood floor in the hall outside their bedroom groaned under the weight of something, Kelly assumed it was Sybil trying to get in again. Soon, she would hear the familiar cry of their cat and her claws scraping against the door as she begged to enter. Kelly waited but heard nothing. The house was quiet again. She tried to go back to sleep but something was nagging at her, she had the strangest sensation that she was being watched. She looked around the room, everything was as it should be except for their closet door. Kelly always closed it, every night the same routine and yet tonight it was open. She couldn’t sleep if the door were open. As she slid out of bed to close it, she looked down and saw Sybil lying sweetly in her cat bed, asleep.