For some reason the telescreen in the living-room was in an unusual position. What is more, the HDMI cable was missing. That is what both me and my grandma noticed upon returning from our long trip. “I don’t recall leaving the TV like this, was it you?”, asked my grandma, to whom I responded with a simple “No.” We moved on and she seemed to have dismissed this strange occurrence by the end of the day. But something was off, I could feel it in my bones. Had someone broken into the room while we were away?
A few years ago I visited my grandma, Maria, who lives in the country area of Sliven. She has a lovely house situated in a nice, partially remote place, where you can enjoy the scenery and fresh air. As usual, I was there to help her with the housework for about a week. I had to do the gardening, collect eggs from the hen house and feed the goats. Furthermore, I got to meet and play with our dogs, Buki and Suza, so it is safe to say I was enjoying my time there. But then, on my last day at hers, something happened; something that had probably scared me for the rest of my life, I suppose.
It was a particularly windy night. The sound of trembling doors was synchronized with the loud ticking of a clock near my bed. I was in my bedroom playing with a deck of cards – patiently practicing some card tricks. Suddenly, I heard a loud thump coming from the attic. “That’s odd. I should probably go check it out,” I thought to myself, but decided not to take action at first. A few minutes later I heard a second, even louder sound.
No sooner had I heard something again than I coaxed myself into going up there to investigate the noise, mind you – I was in my pyjamas and had no flashlight. I swiftly made my way out of the room and up the stairs, which made squeaking sounds of their own. There I was, right in front of the attic door, which had already been opened. I started creeping in slowly and my, oh, my, I was not prepared for what was about to unfold.
As soon as I entered the room, what looked like a big red walking bag started running at my direction. I turned white with fear and, not knowing what to do, I froze in place and hoped for the best. This “bag” knocked me down to the ground, made an atypical for an inanimate object sound and then started… licking me? Oh wait, it was my dog, Buki, covered under a red blanket! Who would have thought? I got up, looked around and immediately recognized something – the HDMI cable! Buki had not chewed on it, so I was able to fix the telescreen on the following day. What a traumatic experience!