In and Out of the Void

Here goes my weird story 2016 edition:

So not long ago and for the first time in nearly ten years, we saw a mouse in our house, and my mother was completely frantic about it because she wouldn't even let a mosquito in. And I, as usual, didn't care about it at all.

As long as it didn't cross my path, I remained undisturbed and unbothered by the mayhem my mom was causing because of the mouse and of course, the other way around too.

But it wasn't until I saw the mouse in my room, near the window AC which is fitted just two feet above the ground. And mind you, during the winters we don't use the AC, so I found out that the mouse was practically living inside the AC, going in and out of a little hole by the side of the AC. And it can't possibly climb two feet up the ground so it would climb up the curtains and there it goes inside the AC.

Every day it would travel from the AC to my bookshelf, and from the bookshelf it would move out of the room. I had gotten so used to its routine that I knew what places it’s going to go to once it’s in my room. And my eyes would always follow it, distracting me from doing my work.

But soon I got annoyed, as intriguing as it was to watch it move from place to place, the 4 A.M nocturnal behaviour of the mouse was definitely not music to my ears. And we did try to catch it, many times! And we did manage to get it out of the house, after chasing it in a locked room at midnight for about 2 hours with me going almost under the bed and my mother at the other end of the bed, with a broom in her hand. It went into the balcony.

We had an inkling that it could come back so I suggested an idea - to let it off of the balcony by using a broom. But then another thought followed the idea, of how it could possibly die by falling from the second floor, so I hurriedly shook the idea off my mind.

And guess what? It came back in the morning by gnawing a little hole in the balcony door. After that drooping chase!

When my mother told me about it, I had already fallen on the bed with a huge sigh because I saw the mouse in my room that very morning, inside the temple which has been kept in my room. I've heard that mice are very territorial and like to claim certain areas as their own. In this case, unfortunately, it was my room.

"Holly Hell!"

"Hello!"

So, my mother finally having had enough of all this bought a glue mat to trap it. We had never used a glue mat before so didn't know exactly what it could do. We thought, with me knowing the mouse's routine, we could place the mat once it's in the room and when it would get onto the mat, it'd get stuck and then we can free it somewhere in the park.

Patently, it came in the room again later that evening; I put the mat near my bedroom door, knowing it would again move out in seconds as I had pulled up the curtains so it could not go inside the AC. And exactly that happened; it started moving towards the mat.

It got stuck on the mat. But something unimaginable happened; it sorely got stuck in the glue and started making all kinds of noises. It could not move an inch and I started crying. We tried to get it off the mat but the glue was too strong for it. I thought it was going to die and I just couldn't stop crying at the sight of it struggling. My mother not being as helpless as me, took the mat outside, put a paper wherever the glue was so it would not get more stuck and then started pulling the mouse off of it by using a polythene bag and started removing the glue by using water.

By the time she was done, I was in my room, upset and in tears. My mother came back and told me that she had freed the mouse and it was now in one of her plants, though in a fragile state. I didn't believe her. I thought she was just saying that to make me feel better. So she forced me to come out of my room and see for myself. And I did, I saw it picking up bread pieces just beside the plant, with the glue stuck on its hairs. It looked kind of funny, I felt guilty, for having put the mouse in that condition.

But well, we thought that that was it, that it would not come in now.

And I was pretty bummed for a very weird reason. I liked to chase it, and watch it move effortlessly in the house, slipping out of our fingers every goddamn time. I also named it - Chuhi. That's just something which came out of my mouth at some point during the chase. Very appropriate, I know.

And I shared my feelings with my mother, she just laughed. She knows for how long I have been asking for a pet dog, especially after losing both of my dogs, Jimmy (4yrs) and Daisy (10yrs). Well that's another story. They were technically mine but we sent them off to my grandparents after they'd turned 2. So yes, I think she understood.

But guess what happened after two days?

Yes. It was Chuhi, near the AC, in my room, in a very good condition indeed.

My first reaction - Laughter (of joy!)

My second reaction - Not you again!

We swore to never use the trap again; in fact, we thought about just letting it stay, they only live for two years anyway.

And it was not because we were languid in our chasing but because we just didn’t want to trouble it anymore. But my mother said that she can't let that happen, she just found an unorthodox way. So once it was in my room again, near the bookshelf (from where it always followed one path to move out of the room) my mother got a garbage bag. I was sure she could not catch it, because there were a lot of times she let it slip away and when it was so easy to catch it!

There stood my mother near the door with a garbage bag. There I was, urging the mouse to go towards it. And in a flick of a moment, swoosh- In the bag or not?

I had no idea where it went, but then we heard something move inside the garbage bag.

My laughter- I couldn't believe it, after all this time...finally! Now we had to leave the mouse outside the house, I begged my mother for she had a weird notion that some bird will come and eat it once the mouse is outside the house. Thankfully I didn't have that thought so I urged her to leave it on the ground floor. I went with her and together we freed Chuhi on the ground floor, to become somebody else's trouble, probably.

It's weird, I know. But life is so fragile, when you see someone or something struggling with it, you know for a fact that it is. But I'm glad that the mouse got its second chance.

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