Toe-kicks nosleep

Do you know what toe kicks are? They're a piece of wood that attach to the bottom of a cabinet so dirt and stuff can't go under it. Well, my house didn't have toe kicks. Sweeping the floor took longer than it should have; you had to shove the broom all the way up under the cabs and do a weird scootchy dance thing with the broom to get any dirt. Of course, since it took extra time, we rarely swept under the cabs.

It started a few weeks ago. I'm still in shock but I have to share my story so this doesn't happen to anyone else.

A few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago I started hearing a soft moaning sound in the kitchen. It happened when I was washing dishes. It sort of sounded like a humming noise, so I dismissed it as the refrigerator, even though the sound didn't seem to come from that direction. Every time I entered the kitchen I would hear the moans. I pointed the sounds out to my parents and since it came from the direction of the sink my dad figured the noise was the pipes.

A plumber came round and emptied the pipes.

The sound continued even after the plumber left. It got slightly louder and more distraught. It wasn't a constant noise- it never had been. It started slow and quiet and rose in tempo and volume, only to disappear and crescendo again moments later.

The wails went on for a week. After the week the noise changed into a soft whisper and eerie scratch.

"Mice in the floor," my dad claimed. Several traps were set around the kitchen and in the basement. We did happen to catch a few mice but the noise continued.

One night I stood at the sink with my arms elbow deep in soapy water. I scrubbed a worn raggedy cloth around the yellow plates. I separated the cutlery and cups into neat piles and washed a pot.

Something cold and thin drew a line across my foot before snatching at my toes.

I screamed and dropped the pot. It clattered onto the ground and I bolted from the kitchen. I ran as fast as I could and I remember entering the living room sobbing. I had run so fast my parents had hardly made it to the door of the living room to see if I were okay.

I had crashed into my mom and she held me- whispering, "shh, baby it's okay. Shh."

My dad searched the kitchen , dining room, bathroom for whatever had scared me so badly.

"What happened?" He demanded, worried and a little mad. It didn't seem that a murderer had snuck into the house to kill me, so I must have been over-reacting.

"Something touched my foot and grabbed it." It sounded blubbered at first and I had to repeat myself a few times. Finally my parents understood. During this whole scene my twelve year old sister, Georgia, had come downstairs. She stood on the last few steps, hanging onto the wall to peer around the corner to where my parents and I stood.

"Sure, Tay. Something grabbed your foot." She teased, but only lightly because I'm pretty sure I looked hysterical.

"It was a mouse," my dad decided. "A mouse ran over you foot and maybe nipped your toes. I'll reset the traps."

"Wear slippers in the kitchen from now on," my mom said, strengthening my dad's mouse conclusion.

I was really freaked out but nodded and calmed myself down. I visually agreed about the mouse idea, but it hadn't felt like a mouse. It had felt like fingers.

My mom finished the dishes for me- wearing slippers.

That night I woke up around three am. I heard someone shuffling in the hall and recognized my sister's form.

"What are you doing?" I whispered to her. I hardly remember our conversation- I was mostly asleep and I'm pretty sure I was still dreaming because it seemed as though my sister and our conversation had incorporated theirselves into my dream. We stood on a road with a field of blue corn to one side and there was a small elephant walking towards.

"Getting a drink, moron." Georgia had rudely replied. She then proceeded to walk down a suddenly appeared set of stairs where I heard her swimming in a lake.

I heard a terrified gasp and a thud as the elephant suddenly tripped.

I remember snuggling deeper into my blankets and falling asleep, surrendering completely to the strange dream.

The next morning I woke up before my parents and went downstairs to get some breakfast, feeling weirdly hungry for such an early morning. I entered the kitchen and upon seeing what lay on the floor I howled.

My sister lay dead, half dragged under the counter beneath the sink. I could see her intestines hanging out where her body was missing. It appeared as though something had devoured her lower half. She still clutched a water glass in her tight grip.

My screams brought my parents down in a hurry. Everything after that is kind of blurry. I vaguely remember someone walking me into the living room, my mom sobbing, police sirens.

I keep thinking about my dream.

The elephant gasping and tripping- Georgia shouting as she was pulled under the counter and a thud as her head hit the floor. She must have lost consciousness or she would have screamed as she was eaten.

. . .

I'm never going to get over this.

. . .

The monster under the bed may not exist, but the monster under the cabinets does. Make sure you have toe kicks.

Submitted March 15, 2015 at 09:00PM by 97pages http://ift.tt/1Lf9x0g nosleep