The other morning I woke about 6am to an unfamiliar sound: rustling, coming from somewhere to the left of my bed. I lay there in the darkness, trying to figure out what it could be. It wasn’t the kids getting up. It wasn’t outside (the window is on the right).

Having caught a cockroach in my room about a month ago, I wondered if it might be some kind of animal intruder. I cautiously climbed out of bed and went and turned on the light, then sat still and listened. The rustling continued. Surely too noisy to be something in my clothes, yet seemingly coming from the dresser. I know cockroaches like paper but I don’t think there’s any paper in there.

It had to be something alive. I don’t know what. It’s not like there’d be wind rustling through the dresser.

Part of the back of the dresser is coming away from it, leaving a gap, certainly big enough for a roach or a rodent to get through. I couldn’t see anything behind the dresser, even with a torch. There might be a hole back there in the skirting board though.

After a minute the rustling stopped, and didn’t return. I still don’t know what it was, but assuming it wasn’t just an extremely vivid dream, if I hear it again, I’m going to spray some Baygon bug barrier stuff around the back of the dresser.