[ [ [If this story confuses you, click on the author's name for an explanation.]]]

[ [This incident happened last October, and at Tuesday's staff meeting T reminded me of it.]]

I have a confession to make: I’m scared of the dark.

When I was a kid I was truly, awfully horrified at the thought that light could be there, warming you and helping you, and then – suddenly – NOT be there. My pa just assumed, as I did, that this fear would naturally pass with time, but as I climbed into my teenage years and then into my twenties with no sign of “growing out of it”, I eventually gave up and just let it be.

In the engine room, this is not something I have to worry about. The lights are always on, the heart is always beating, and the soothing whirl of machinery drowns out the noises of .... other things.

I’m also afraid of the quiet. You see, when there’s “white noise” around it’s easier not to notice the creepy lil sounds that a station like ours makes. Whispers and creaks and groans. The engine makes noises too, but somehow, that’s different. I understand those noises.

I timidly crept into the break room. Zelda and Kay sipped coffee while T and Lil Bit laughed over cartoons on the TV. “Did y’all hear that?" I couldn't get my voice to go above a whisper. "Those.... scratchety sounds a few seconds ago?”

Kay snorted into his coffee, not looking up. “Whatever, Ellie.”

“Honey, it’s probably nothing,” Zelda told me.

I stomped my foot. “Don't patronize me! There is something ooky crawling through this place! Aren’t any of you going to do anything?”

T made a face. “Not to be indelicate or anything, El, but we all remember the fuss you made over the air conditioner turning on and off.”

“Nightmares of ice in the ice machine,“ Lil Bit chimed in.

“And the time you screamed like a girl when the doorbell rang,“ Kay added. I stuck my tongue out at him.

Scritch. Scritch. Scritchscritch. It was right over our heads, and so loud it