Prompt
Some tiny little creature has been living in my utility room, and I know
it’s not a mouse. I got a good look at it once, and I saw intelligence
behind its eyes.
Botner
I think I’m scared to look at it again, because I don’t want to see just
another grisly rat corpse on my kitchen floor. Or to know what it is that
has been chewing up my animal crackers. The rats in the basement have been a
constant thing. I’ve bought things that deter rodents, and I put small
amounts of poison in the walls and floors. It’s always the same: for three
weeks, they are gone. Three weeks. Then they come back. The wads of mouse
poop in the utility room? I’ve never seen that before. I know I haven't been
in the basement for a while. There are doors in the walls leading into the
house, I think to keep me from getting killed. I think I should have all of
my meals in the kitchen. Not so much for convenience’s sake, but because
there are mice. I can’t find my glasses. I have one set, and one set that I
am pretty sure they aren’t in. I’m pretty sure that they are in the damn
utility room. And, you know what? I know my husband bought another pair of
glasses, and I...
Conclusion
...have to wait until my birthday before he’ll give them to me. He probably
hid them in the utility room too, which means, if I want to get a better
look at the weird creature living in there, I’ll have to go in there first
to retrieve the glasses. Even though I won’t be able to see very well, I can
still protect myself, with a long-sleeve shirt, and elbow and knee pads. I
look like an idiot, but I’m not taking any chances. If it turns out to be a
mouse, then fine. If it’s a rat, then not as fine, but I’ll still probably
survive. If it’s an evil alien bent on the destruction of the human race,
then...then I don’t know, but I’m not going in there unprepared. I have a
bat. I slowly crack the door, but then throw it open. It’s easier to see
tiny animals when they move, so I would rather it scurry away fast than
sneak behind me so I can’t even tell it’s there. Nothing. I see no movement.
I lift the laundry basket, nothing moves. I open all of the cabinets, and
shine a flashlight in them. Not there either. I open the dryer, but it’s
insane to think something that small would exert enough force to get inside.
I bend down to check the washer too, confident in the same assessment. It’s
in there, staring at me, not like it’s scared, but confused as to why I’m in
what it must think is its territory. It looks like a little furry human,
gray, with a tail. It turns its head slightly, and looks at me more with one
eye, which is something a person would do when sizing somebody up. It is as
smart as I thought, or maybe even smarter. Finally, it extends an arm. “My
name is Vatutotew,” it says politely. “Have I misidentified this room as
abandoned?”
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