Chat
12-05-2014, 04:18 PM
I was asleep and something woke me. I listened for a few seconds, didn't hear anything, and decided to go back to sleep. I glanced over at my husband and he was lying on his back, CPAP mask in place, but his eyes were wide open and unblinking. I poked at him. He didn't respond. He wasn't dead, I could see his chest rising and falling, could hear the difference in the sound of the flow of air from his CPAP machine. This struck me as odd and I shook him to wake him.
Something crashed in the living room. I got out of bed as quietly as I could and crept to the door. We keep a night light on in the area that's barely light enough to see shapes. I peered into the gloom and made out the shape of the furniture but nothing else. Figured maybe it was one of the cats running around and decided to go back to bed. As I turned, movement out of the corner of my eye, followed by another crash. I reached out around the corner and flipped on a light switch so I could see the living room more clearly. There was no one in the living room but our vacuum cleaner-an older Dyson-was in the middle of the floor. Odd, I thought, no one had been vacuuming so who left the vacuum in the living room? As I thought this, the vacuum backed up a bit and crashed into the coffee table. Then it backed up even more and turned around to roll around the end table and in my direction.
Somehow I knew it meant to harm me in some way. I slammed the bedroom door shut and locked it. The vacuum thumped into the door. A second of silence, then it hit the door harder. Two more thumps, each harder than the previous, and I knew the vacuum was going to keep coming until it broke through the door. Frantically, I shoved our heavy dresser in front of the door, knowing it would hold the door while I worked to get the window open and the screen removed so we could escape. I heard rustling behind me and looked around to see my husband slowly sitting up in the bed. His eyes were still wide and unblinking, his mask still in place. He threw back the covers, pulled off the mask, and began to stand. Even more frantic now, I got the window open and just dove through, knocking the screen out of the way.
I jerked awake and that's when I realized it had been a dream.
Something crashed in the living room. I got out of bed as quietly as I could and crept to the door. We keep a night light on in the area that's barely light enough to see shapes. I peered into the gloom and made out the shape of the furniture but nothing else. Figured maybe it was one of the cats running around and decided to go back to bed. As I turned, movement out of the corner of my eye, followed by another crash. I reached out around the corner and flipped on a light switch so I could see the living room more clearly. There was no one in the living room but our vacuum cleaner-an older Dyson-was in the middle of the floor. Odd, I thought, no one had been vacuuming so who left the vacuum in the living room? As I thought this, the vacuum backed up a bit and crashed into the coffee table. Then it backed up even more and turned around to roll around the end table and in my direction.
Somehow I knew it meant to harm me in some way. I slammed the bedroom door shut and locked it. The vacuum thumped into the door. A second of silence, then it hit the door harder. Two more thumps, each harder than the previous, and I knew the vacuum was going to keep coming until it broke through the door. Frantically, I shoved our heavy dresser in front of the door, knowing it would hold the door while I worked to get the window open and the screen removed so we could escape. I heard rustling behind me and looked around to see my husband slowly sitting up in the bed. His eyes were still wide and unblinking, his mask still in place. He threw back the covers, pulled off the mask, and began to stand. Even more frantic now, I got the window open and just dove through, knocking the screen out of the way.
I jerked awake and that's when I realized it had been a dream.