Blood in the Attic

☆ 2. Rat ☆

"Holy shit!" Shrieked Amelia. Evan flung the bathroom door open with a sense of urgency. Amelia was still sitting in the bath, she looked up at him with terror in her eyes. Like a small child who had just woken up from a nightmare.

A large, furry rat scampered past Evan's feet and ran down the hall toward the staircase. Evan nearly jumped a foot in the air. He hated rats. Dirty, disease-ridden, dreadful creatures.

"I told you there's rats!"

Evan sighed, rubbing his temple. He would go to the nearby hardware story, he decided. Surely they had a variety of traps to choose from that would take care of their rodent problem. He looked back at Amelia, she stared up at him from her seated position. Long strings of wet hair stuck to her shoulders.

"Can you help me up?" She asked, pointing to her enlarged stomach that made movement rather difficult at her current stage of pregnancy.

Evan extended a hand toward her and pulled her up from the tub. She carefully stepped out and grabbed a towel from the rack that hung from the wall beside the door. She wrapped it around herself and shivered, huddling against Evan for comfort and warmth.

He brushed wet hair from her face and brought her closer. "I'll take care of it, don't worry. You needn't stress yourself."

Amelia nodded and rested her head upon his shoulder. Hot tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill down her reddened cheeks. Evan looked at her, confused.

"What's wrong, Amelia?"

"Nothing. It's just," she choked back a sob, "I miss mom and dad. I was just thinking about them. I'm sorry." She whimpered, now freely weeping onto her husband's shoulder.

Evan held her close. He stroked her hair and planted a warm kiss on her forehead. The loss of her parents had hit her hard. She tried her hardest to push her feelings down, to pretend that she was okay. She never had the chance to say goodbye. She remembered fondly how her parents loved each other, pure and genuine love. They rarely bickered and always had a solution to whatever life threw at them.

The two stood there for quite some time. Eventually, Amelia dressed herself in yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt with the word blessed embroidered on it. Evan kissed her once more and turned his attention to their unwanted visitor. He searched the house yet found no trace of the creature, like it had magically vanished. Perhaps it knew of a secret hole in the wall, underneath the couch or the grandfather clock. Somewhere hidden away within the aging house.

Soon after, he drove to the local hardware store. Tim's Tools 'N More. He was greeted by Tim himself. A large, round man with a beer gut. He was greasy like a slab of bacon, his hair was quite shiny. He had small piercing eyes, and square glasses that were too big for his face. He looked less like a handyman and more like a middle aged man who would work as a department store Santa.

"What can I do fer ya?" Asked Tim. He reached in his pocket and fished out a crusty handkerchief. He blew his nose and stuffed it back in.

Quite a charming fellow. Evan thought to himself. "I have a bit of a rat problem. My wife was in the tub and she found one crawling around in the bathroom. Nearly scared her to death."

"Ah," Tim chortled, amused. "Little lady doesn't like them critters, eh? Me neither. Got plenty of poison that'll do the trick."

He led Evan to the back wall of the shop, showing off a display of various mouse traps and boxes of rat poison. Evan selected a carton of Rat B Gone and handed Tim a lightly crinkled ten dollar bill. He gave Evan his change, the coins felt sticky in his hand. Evan shuddered.