A Spirit's Touch

Two. A Bump in the Night

The first night was becoming quite an unsettling one. The mattress was nowhere near the comfort she was forced to leave behind with the ex.

10:33pm- Fuck this, Judith lasted thirty-three minutes of rolling around on the bed before sitting up and turning on the iPad and reaching for her glasses.

She immediately pressed on Safari and typed, online bed store into the search bar.

While waiting for the tablet to load Judith glanced down at the side table and smiled when she spotted some leftover wine begging to be drunk.

Twenty minutes later and a mattress with a good mixture of memory foam and pocket springs was ordered.

Judith collapsed backwards and stared at the ceiling while addressing the current bed, "Two weeks and you're out of here. Let's try and get along, shall we?"

Another five minutes brought the realisation that sleep would not be possible just yet; Judith adjusted her glasses and reached for her phone next to the empty wine glass and began flicking through Instagram.

She snorted at pictures of a woman she vaguely knew posing on a beach, "You won't see this one without layers of filters," she joked to the wine bottle.

Judith sighed loudly, I need more friends. She was usually with someone, this was the beginning of long stints of a solitary life. A fact she knew she would struggle with.

A loud clang from the other side of the room jolted her into a shock. Tense and frightened, she stared into the darkness, searching for the source.

"Who's there?" She spoke nervously. No response.

Judith pulled the quilt up closer to her body, unsure whether to ignore the noise or investigate.

It better not be a rat, she thought bravely as she built up some courage and stepped out of the bed.

The room was too dark to make anything out. Luckily, Judith had not started unpacking yet and she knew the floor was clear aside from the boxes piled up near the far window.

"Spook yourself on the first night, Judith," she whispered loudly.

She stopped suddenly when she saw a familiar shape on the floor, "Flops?" Judith picked up the soft rabbit plush. "But you didn't make that noise?"

Further investigating found a cardboard box on its side and her hair straighteners and rollers strewn across the carpet.

"For goodness sake," Judith whispered harshly before bending down to put them back in the box.

She cradled Flops back to the bed and pulled the covers over herself while still hugging the soft toy and resumed looking at her phone.

"No more late horror movies for us now," she whispered softly to the rabbit.

After scrolling through a few more posts Judith lowered the device and decided sleep would have to be forced.

She was still a little startled by the noise but found some comfort with Flops. She closed her eyes and pretended she was already on her new mattress.

***

The sun shone through a slit in the curtain landing right across Judith's face. She scrunched her nose up at the intruding light and grimaced at the poorly performing curtains.

She glanced over at the side table and could almost feel Flops laughing at her from his seated position.

Judith was a little confused as to how he got there, watching her sleep from his position. That was not a thought for the morning though.