“People are afraid of what they don’t understand.”

That’s what they told you when you were growing up, when the house would creak and shudder at night. The floors groaned slightly, and you were convinced that a stranger was creeping up your stairs. That menacing hissing noise coming from the boiler room? Probably a snake with ten heads. And you would lie in the dark, frozen in fear. You didn’t dare turn on the light, open the door,venture down the hall to see where it was coming from. Because it really could have been anything.

But things are much different now. You’ve grown up. These childish fears are things of the past. If you got out of bed in the middle of the night, you’d find that that scratching noise is only the cat clawing at the wall. That creaking sound is only the breeze, coming in through the window, and pushing the door open in the next room.

But the funny thing is, you still don’t dare to get up and see what it is. Because you’re unsure.

“There’s a reasonable explanation for everything.”

But what if there isn’t? What if you walk to the next room to find that all the windows are shut? Or walk downstairs to find the cat asleep? Or what if the noise leads you into the darkest, dustiest corner of your cellar? Or to an old box hidden away in your attic, that hasn’t been disturbed for years? (Or at least until now.)

So you take your chances.

You close your eyes.

You choose to ignore.

“It’s only a noise.”

It’s only a noise.

Go back to sleep.