Mini Curiosity: Bumps in the Night

Current Curiosities
​
​[Reading] Howard the Duck by Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones

[Listenin] ​Why Won't You Date Me with Nicole Byer (ft. Bruno Alcantara)

[Watching] The Real Housewives of Potomac 


​What's Lurking Under My Bed???

For as long as I can remember, I have been afraid of some thing lurking under my bed, waiting to grab my ankles. I have no idea where this fear came from or why it persists. (Could it be growing up on the same block as a funeral home???) Occasionally, I still take a running leap into bed to avoid even the slightest chance of an arm, connected to a hand reaching from under the bed to snatch my legs.

For three summers during graduate school, I worked as a camp counselor for a STEM program designed to encourage Indigenous middle and high school students to pursue medical careers. The camp, Indians into Medicine (INMED), was a partnership between the state medical school and Indian Health Services (IHS). We stayed in dorms, ate at the dining hall, and the campers learned in labs and lecture halls. On the weekend, we visited IHS clinics, state parks, and science museums. We had talent shows, water fights, and bonfires. To this day, INMED is my favorite job. 

Anyway, sometime in the middle of our ten-week program, the counselors gathered to watch Paranormal Activity after all the campers went to bed. We met on an empty floor of the dorm and watched the movie. The movie — as well as the silence and darkness of the nearly empty dorm — scared the hell out of me.

When the movie ended, I headed back to my room, pulled a chair next to my bed to use as a desk for my MacBook, and sat down on the bed with my feet dangling. I began checking Facebook (it was 2010 after all), when SOMETHING GRABBED MY ANKLES. 

I screamed and sat there and thought well, I guess this is how I go. I didn’t even consider fleeing. Or fighting back. I just froze, resigned to my fate. My greatest childhood fear had been realized.

Then the bed started bouncing up and down. And finally I heard the laughter. One of my campers was hiding under the bed and there wasn’t a lot of room between the floor and frame for him to breathe — or laugh.

Immediately, I knew who it was and yelled, [redacted name], get the heck out of my room! Laughing uncontrollably, he scurried out from under the bed and left. (Don't tell [redacted name], but he was one of my favorite campers.) 

I did not sleep at all that night. I started locking my dorm room door. And I began checking under my bed. (Something I still do, especially after my annual Halloween slasher film rewatches.) 

My greatest childhood fear had been realized. I survived like any final girl, and like any solid franchise, it’s only a matter of time until it happens again.

Thank you very much for your time. If you have recommendations or curiosities, please fill out this nifty contact form.

Sending y’all supportive, well-caffeinated vibes, 

Creighton 

Today’s Pen(cil): Rite in the Rain No. BK13 [Mechanical Pencil]