Avery dropped her hairbrush onto the ground of her friend Sara's studio apartment. They had just gotten back from a walk to 7-11, and had enough junk food to last them the night, or as least as long as they tried to stay awake.
"Oh my God you'll never guess what happened this week. My grandma was at my house and-" Avery stopped suddenly as a small rattling noise permeated the air. It was decently late at night, and Avery was especially paranoid.
"Dude, did you hear that?" She asked. The fear seeping through her voice was obvious.
Sara laughed. "It's just the guinea pig. His cage rattles when he drinks from his little bottle. His name is Popsicle, here, I'll show him to you," Sara began to walk over to the other room to get him but Avery grabbed her shoulder.
"No no no it's fine... I just hate rodents. Nasty little things," Avery said, making an excuse for getting scared.
"Whatever, man. Now get back to your story."
---
Several hours later the girls decided to watch a movie. About ten minutes in, the rattling noise was once again present; this time longer and more ear-wrenching to Avery.
"Are you sure that's the guinea pig? How can a creature that small make such a racket? It's louder than the goddamn movie!"
Sara gave her an annoyed look.
"Can you freaking chill man? His cage is hella squeaky. You gotta stop being so paranoid."
Avery sunk down in her seat.
"Look, I'm sorry I've just had to deal with this squeaking noise for two years, I'm used to it and you're kind of annoying me a bit, okay?"
--
At about 2 AM, the two of them were tired and beginning to drift off on the couch. The rattling continued, and it sounded more like something rattling about outside the cage rather then a fat guinea pig drinking water.
"Is that guinea pig okay?" Avery turned face down on the pillow trying to block the noise out of her head. "That amount of noise. Can't. Be. Good. Please can you just humor me and check on that little monstrosity so I can get some sleep."
"Maybe he's just hungry or something, I don't know I'll give him some hay so you can sleep." Sara got up and waked to the door. Avery closed her eyes and tried to take her mind off of the noise.
She became lost in her thoughts, so lost that she barely noticed when it had been a whole two minutes since Sara left.
The rattling find not stop. Avery decided to man up and go see what Sara was doing with that guinea pig.
Avery walked into the room to find Sara frozen in fear, staring at the wall. She was confused at first, but when she looked towards the guinea pig's cage, she found him sound asleep.
That's when it hit her. She turned her head and saw the lock on the door shaking, rattling louder than ever, and she too became paralyzed with fear. She might as well have been glued to the floor as they watched the lock click out of the locked position and the door crack open.
