It was 3am, the morning of my TP II paper, and I was awakened by a very screechy sound somewhere around the corner of my room. Usually, these kinds of sounds do little to bother me, but I was especially nervous due to the exam and I was not exactly sleeping well to begin with. I could feel the rain outside, its smell must have seeped through the cracks in the walls of our old flat, tickled my nose awake, such that I felt compelled to get up and draw open the curtains. I wanted to see the rain in the emptiness of the night.
The roads below were empty. The lamp posts shone brightly. I was reminded of home, of the little road just outside. Wet wet wet. Quiet. But really, wet wet wet. Calm settled in me, perhaps because I felt so familiar with what I saw. With a sigh, I decided to carry on reading more of my notes. Another round now. Maybe I'll remember better.
One, two, three pages. Then, that sound again. I thought it was merely the wind, thrashing against my window. I ran to the curtains again, tearing them apart, and as I did just that, the sound stopped. Wow, it was as if I could will it to stop! Not bad! Alas, I got back to my notes, and within a few seconds, I heard the sound again. Ughhh...
Oh! Realization hit me. It's Mr. Mouse isn't it, scratching against the wall by the corner?!!
I quietly moved to the corner of my room, squatted down, peeked at the little hole just there. Lo and behold, guess what I saw?! Mr. Mouse, just looking back at me! In fact, it was giving me that challenging glare!
"Come and get me will you, woman?!"
I felt so helpless, there it was, just a few feet away from me, at the corner of my room and I could do nothing about it. The sheer annoyance! How dare you torment me, you little prat, give me another stare like that and I promise you, you'll wish you had never dared to even lay a finger on my walls, you little prat! (Does a rodent have fingers by the way? I am unsure myself but you get what I mean). In a really really bad way, Mr. Mouse reminded me of him. The shape of it's face, it's parasite like nature, reminded me of him. Manipulative, dirty, opportunistic, weak, timid, alone, scared. Eww... I was disgusted to say the least. But then, yes, indeed, that person was weak, timid, alone and scared in the past and I stupidly catered to those needs because he needed me. Simply because he needed me.
But I shouldn't distract myself from the source of discontent right under my nose. I don't know how I managed to sleep that night finally. After all the noise and frustration. I took my exam in the day, came back home and set up the trap, almost immediately, with relish. Using peanuts as a worthy weapon upon a gluey mouse trap, I smirked in delight while preparing Mr.Mouse's ambush. Sadistic, cruel, revengeful? Or perhaps was I trying to vent out my anger towards the image of a certain someone that the mouse had formed in my mind?
Last night, I stayed up late again with another set of notes. (Gosh, exams are never ending, I'm avalanched under work!) It was almost 2am and I heard a struggling noise where Mr. Mouse used to scratch.
Yesssss, I knew I had caught it!!
I dashed out of my room to check the spot where I laid the trap and indeed, the mouse was there. Quickly, I took a plastic bag to dispose of the pest, but when I tried to lift the trap, Mr.Mouse bit so hardly on a piece of wire nearby, literally clinging on for its dear life- that I had to tug so hard just to get it into the bag, feeling super grossed out all the while! I could feel it struggling about in the bag as I ran downstairs to dump it away into the bigger rubbish bins outside.
Upon returning to my room, I thought I could then continue on with my notes in the peace and quiet of the night. But, for the longest time, my thoughts lingered upon the patch of blood on the trap resulting from Mr. Mouse's efforts to disengage itself from the trap, and how it reminded me about him. Manipulative, dirty, opportunistic, weak, timid, alone, scared.
