7 hours ago
12
Knowledge is power, in all cases except this one. I used to think that tales like the one I’m about to relate were urban myths. I was definitely happier then, in the days when there was still the possibility of experiencing another moment’s peace.
Not a friend of a friend, or a colleague’s auntie’s neighbour, but a member of my extended family, a fully trusted source, recently went to the loo upstairs in her home, lifted the lid, and found a rat in the bowl staring back at her. Obviously, she slammed down the lid, packed her belongings and immediately emigrated. (Kidding, miraculously.)
I interrogated her on the details, of course, hoping to uncover a complete lie that could never, ever, ever happen, but her story stood up – just like the rat had – and, anyway, it was instantly clear from her demeanour that this was real. She had a new, haunted expression that has proved contagious. She is now the Pied Piper of horror, spreading wild panic and shudders wherever she goes.
The awful thing – although not the worst, because the worst is the rat – was that none of the people she lives with believed her at first. In the same way that everybody she tells initially refuses to accept it’s true, because we do not want it to be, because if it is, how are we meant to go on?
Gnaw marks were discovered under the sink – rats have to bite constantly to stop their teeth growing too long, another fact I have acquired that has reduced my quality of life. A bloke who identifies as the Rat Man was called, turned up, and supplied further nightmare-provoking information about how rats get upstairs (they climb waste pipes) and what they eat when they are in there (somehow worse than you’re imagining, but also that). Plus, as we learned from rodent propaganda documentary Ratatouille, they’re never solo artists. Shiver.
What has stayed with me the most about this terrifying tale is that which was left unsaid. What would have happened if the lid had been open?
Polly Hudson is a freelance writer
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