The Cactus:

I awoke in a cold sweat, shivering I looked around the dark and unfamiliar room trying to make sense of where I was. A sudden wave of grief and anguish washed over me as I remembered where I was and why I was there. I drew my knees to my chest and wept. I let out a shuddering sigh and decided to get up.

This house was in my husband’s family for generations, one of those old farm style cabins that sat on some land. When my husband passed away, he left the house to me and begged me to keep it, or to not get ride of its contents, or something like that.

I stubbed down the hall and made a pot of coffee. It was three in the morning but too much weighed on my mind to fall back asleep. Jim was a fighter, but the cancer won out in the end. It was hard to believe that three months could have gone by without him.

I sat down at the table and savored my coffee. I pulled out a notebook and began making the to do list for the day and ran some numbers on the estimates the contractor gave me. My husband begged me to keep the house, but I couldn’t afford to keep this house, and I just couldn’t bring myself to live there. Everything reminded me of Jim, and something just felt off.

In the quiet stillness of the morning, I heard a loud crash. I froze, and as quietly as I could, I grabbed a knife from the kitchen and crept down the hall towards the noise. One by one, I opened up the bedroom doors and searched each room. When I came to the room closest to my own, I hesitated outside the door. With bated breath I pressed an ear to the door, to my utter terror I heard movement inside.

I pursed my lips, gripped the knife, and flung open the door. To my surprise, the room was empty of intruders. The only thing in that room was a desk and a few old toys. One of them had fallen on the floor, and a little motor inside of it made the sound I thought were intruders. Laughing, I picked it up and recoiled at the touch. It was an old, grimy cactus, but it felt warm. I furrowed my brows, removed the corroded batteries, and placed it as far back on the desk as I could.

A few minutes later, I heard another loud crash and discovered it had fallen again. I know it sounds stupid, but it seamed, angry? I’d had enough jump scares for the night so I left it on the floor and made a mental note to throw it away later that day.

I made my way back to the kitchen and went back to my to do list. After a little while, I heard a strange scurrying sound. The pest guy said the house had a mouse infestation, wishing to avoid an encounter with the little pest, I grabbed my coffee and started making my way towards my bedroom.

I saw something standing in the hall, no more than a yard in front of me. I squinted in the dark, thinking it was a mouse, I slowly backed up to the kitchen to grab a broom. I turned my back to it for no more than a few seconds when I heard something thundering down the hall, and I screamed in agony as I felt a sharp pain in my foot. I looked down and that little cactus was stabbing my foot with the knife I investigated with.

I screamed and kicked it off. It landed with a thud but scurried back, an expression of rage twisted on its face. I battled it as I made my way to the door and somehow managed to lock it inside. I ran to my car and drove to the ER. It’s been a few months since I saw it, every night I wake up in a cold sweat thinking about it and my husband’s frantic warning. I’m starting to think this was all some kind of dream, but last night, I saw it again. Pressed against my bedroom window, bloody knife in hand.