Tales From Sinaloa

Tale 1: Visitor

I'm sure you've heard it before. In fact, I think we all have. I'm talking about that unsettling creak in the middle of the night. That creak of a floorboard or squeak of a door, or perhaps a thumping noise that tells you that you're not alone. More often than not, it's someone else, whether a family member or friend, moving about in the dark. Or maybe it's a dog, or more likely, a cat having late-night crazies. At some point, we've all heard those noises.

What's scary though, is when you hear those noises, and there's nothing around that could possibly make them. Imagine it for a minute. You live alone, and have no pets. Or perhaps you are a child, and your parents are sound asleep. There shouldn't be anything around to make those eerie midnight noises, and yet, you hear it. That soft creak. That squeak. That shuffle. That rattle. That noise that tells you that you are not the only person awake at this hour. That's how it is in my neighborhood, and it's something that is still largely a mystery, as with most other things here. You might suggest robbers, and trust me, we thought so too. But, oddly enough, nothing was ever stolen. Nor was there ever any trace that any outside person had ever been inside.

Now, it's one thing to tell you about it, but it's another thing to give a personal account. That's what I'll be doing in these stories. I'm going to tell you about what happened to me, not just about the things living here.

When my family and I first moved in three years back, my parents told me and my siblings something strange on the very first night.

"No matter what, you must not get out of bed once your father and I go to sleep," my mother said, and I could tell from her tone that she was dead serious. "You might hear some noises, and you might be tempted to go looking for them. Even if you hear meowing, you must not get up. It's probably just the cat, and he'll be fine. The house is old though, so don't be scared if you hear some odd noises. Just remember, don't go looking for them."

Though we thought it was strange, we didn't argue, and we made sure to obey. Mother knows best, after all. For a couple weeks, during the night time, the house was dead silent, ignoring the meows from our cat, who had to spend the nights outside, that way he could hunt all he wanted and wouldn't make any messes in the house. But after roughly two weeks passed, I started hearing those creaking noises my mother had warned about.

Now, I always had trouble sleeping at night, so I usually stayed up later than everyone else, reading a book or drawing a picture until I grew tired, at which point I would turn off the lights and curl up in bed until I fell asleep. This night had been no different. As always, sleep refused to come to me, so I read a few chapters of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix before finally growing drowsy. I had just turned off the light in my room and returned to bed when I heard a creaking noise coming from upstairs. The cat had been locked outside already.

It's just mom or dad, I told myself, but I wasn't fully convinced. The creaking coming from upstairs was loud enough to keep me awake for a good amount of time. During that time, I tossed and turned as I tried to block out the noise. Eventually, I stopped and simply stared at the ceiling of my room. Why did mom so firmly insist that I not look for the noises? What harm could it really do? I was about to step out of bed when I stopped myself. No. She had her reasons for telling me what she did. I shouldn't disobey.

After that first incident, I began to hear the noises on and off for the next couple of weeks. While I simply tried to ignore them, they began to frighten my younger siblings. My parents, of course, insisted that it was just because the house was old, and that there was nothing to worry about. However, they did continue to insist that we stay in bed. Once more, we all obeyed. For a while at least.

After two months of living in the house, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to see what was making those noises. So when my parents went to bed and I began to hear the noises, I slipped out of bed, pulled on some light (and quiet) clothes, and crept out of my room. With all of the lights in the house off, I could barely see four feet feet in front of me. And with the odd shadows of household objects leering over me, I began to feel a bit nervous. But I was too curious now. No one could have stopped me from sneaking a peek.