Thursday, March 3, 2016

awakened

This month I will participate in the Slice of Life Challenge!
My goal is to Write. Share. Give. each & every day of March.  
Check out Two Writing Teachers for more info!


I was awakened out of a dead sleep in the wee hours of the morning--about 3:00 am--by the sound of a woman screaming.  In those strange surreal first moments, I wasn't quite sure if it happened solely in my dream, or if I had actually heard something.  

And then the wild screeching scream sounded again.  Awake, I know without a doubt what I heard. There is an unmistakable eerie haunting sound that a bobcat makes.  Once you've experienced it, you never forget it.  

This wasn't happening in the far-off woods, folks.  This cat was right outside our bedroom window. I jumped up, and banged on the window with three rapid strong beats----and the noise stopped.  I didn't hear it again the rest of the night. (okay, so the woods aren't far off--until the logging trucks showed up a few months back we had a lovely woods right beside our house that now resembles a war-torn cornfield---but you get my meaning.)

Daughter the eldest mentioned she heard a child screaming the other night. Honestly, I just thought she was dreaming.   She has a history of very intense, vivid dreams.  I suppose the thought that it could be more crossed my mind briefly, but I pushed it aside with a "don't be silly" thought. I know better now. 

We've lived here 15 years and never in that time have we had such close encounters with these large creatures in our neighborhood.  

It is unsettling. 

3 comments:

  1. Holy moly! I've never seen a wild cat, although my husband once encountered one on a mountain road. We have coyotes in our suburban neighborhood, but I can't imagine hearing a bobcat outside my bedroom window! Keep your pets in at night, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I know that sound. Primal. It's so jarring. I'm a city girl who's been in the country for 20 years and I'm still unsettled by certain things.like the bobcat shriek.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This city girl gets excited when a turtle is in our backyard. I can't image a real wild animal!

    ReplyDelete