Sleeptalking

I won't insult your intelligence by claiming this to be a true story. Most people would never believe it anyway. All I can do is tell you what happened in my own words. And I'm sorry for the bad writing, spelling, punctuation (you name it). I'm not a writer nor was I ever good at it. But I think my story should be told in some form or other. This is what happened to me in my home...

There were four of us living in that house; my parents, my younger brother and myself. The house was just your ordinary suburban house in a small town - nothing special, but I did love how spacious it was.

I hated my little brother, he was the kind of person who no matter what he did, would get on my nerves and rile me up. Little things, like he would bang his feet on the stairs every time he ran up and down them, he would ALWAYS forget his house key even though I'd remind him all the time to take it, and he was in my eyes a greedy gluttonous pig - he'd have junk food and takeaways practically every other day, usually pizza, chips, Chinese and chocolate. His worst trait was his attitude and behaviour - typical spoilt little idiot with no respect at all in the home, but a perfect student at school.

Anyway for the past couple of months he'd started a new nuisance that would turn out to be more of a pain than I could have imagined; he'd started sleeptalking. Every couple of nights or so, in the early hours with no warning I could hear his mumbled voice rambling about something or other. I'm not a great sleeper so I just lay in bed for hours tossing and turning when I suddenly hear his voice, and to be honest, it gives me a fright as I'd been laying in a silent house since the TVs and lights were tuned off for bed time. My short-lived fright soon turns to annoyance and then I roll my eyes and think to myself "typical" before going back to attempting sleep.

I was told by my parents that I used to sleeptalk too, and even sleepwalk from my bedroom on one side of the house to theirs on the other side and talk to them before returning to my bed to sleep, but obviously I don't remember any of this. Guess I shouldn't judge my brother for it then if I did it too. It's just my parents were lucky to be on the other side of the house and my bedroom was right next to his. Oh and another thing I hated him for was that he got the better, bigger room. He had his own walk-in closet, an en suite bathroom and even a third room for storage that we didn't even need. All I had was a tiny bedroom with a wardrobe that took up most of the space. Yeah, I said I loved how spacious the house was, but my room was the unfortunate exception.

For weeks on random days I'd hear him sleeptalking and I started getting used to it, after all sleeptalking for a few seconds is far better than him snoring all night long. I should mention the reason I could hear him was because he never liked his bedroom door shut, and always had it wide open so that the hallway light (that we always kept on overnight) could flood into his room. I don't know why he was scared of closing it as in contrast to me, he was a very heavy sleeper. My door was shut but it was only a flimsy weak wooden door. I could probably even hear a spider rattling across the wooden floor on the other side if I wanted. It was that non soundproof.

Then one night something happened that to this day I regret not having noticed at the time...

I was in bed trying to sleep when I heard him sleeptalk again. Nothing out the ordinary right? I mean he's been doing this for months anyway, but this time was different. Unlike previous times after the initial fright, I didn't dismiss it and go to sleep. I didn't feel right. Inside my stomach I felt this horrible unease and nervousness, almost like I'd forgotten something very important. I happen to have OCD and my life is super organized, with calendar, diary and even daily to do lists and I HATE it when I forget something. I lay in bed thinking to myself, "why the hell do I feel like this". It was a combination of feeling like you'd forgotten you had an important event the next day you had to go to, and the feeling you might have before an interview or before you go on stage; intense discomfort, nervousness and even fear. I lied in bed and rationalised that it must be nothing and went back to sleep. Big mistake I found out on the next night.

The next day I did have an event, I went with some friends shopping (even though I'm obsessively organised by writing things down, my mind is extremely forgetful, and I always worry about dumb, trivial matters) I realised that I'd forgotten about it and that must be why I felt uneasy last night. When I get home in the afternoon I tell my brother that his sleeptalking is getting on my nerves. He said "I don't sleeptalk" and I thought to myself "You're such an idiot, how would you know if you did or not - you can't hear yourself" but I ended up just saying "Well I used to sleeptalk too and mum and dad told me so it's no surprise you do too" He just shrugged and went back to eating and giving abuse to the poor souls on the other side of the mic he talks on (He's an avid fan of PC and PS3 online games and loves being a douche to people on a headset)

That night he sleeptalks again and I felt okay this time, no inner worries or nervousness in my stomach, so I smile and then attempt sleep. But for no other reason other than curiosity and restlessness I decide to get out of bed, open my door slowly as not to make too much noise, and eavesdrop on his mumbled ramblings. I thought I'd find it funny...

But standing in the lit hallway looking into his darkened room and seeing him fast asleep facing the wall, those horrible feeling I had the night before came back as I realised;

He wasn't in the house last night.

I realised that the one night I felt the horrible feelings he'd gone to stay at a friend’s house and couldn't possibly have made those noises. That's why I felt like that, I subconsciously knew he wasn't in the house, but why I never realised it that night still amazes me, guess I'm just very forgetful, should have written it on my calendar or diary. My parents couldn't have made the noises as they are way on the other side of the house. He'd gotten home before I got back home from my friends outing so I never realised that he wasn't in the bed when I woke up.

So after a few seconds of puzzlement and denial, I walked back into my room and lay down in the bed in complete confusion. Nothing but total and utter confusion. I tried desperately to rationalise it in my head; The rational part of me says it was a dream last night, after all he's sleeptalking now again and he's clearly home so maybe last night was just a dream, but that means that those horrible feelings was also a dream too, so was it just a bad dream (wouldn't exactly call it a nightmare - feeling nervous in bed) Another rational thought was that I was awake, but just mistaken, after all it was only a few seconds - maybe my mum or dad decided they wanted to use the bathroom in his en suite as he was out at his friends and made some similar mumbling sounds, but why would they? They have their own bathroom.

The irrational thought came into my mind last...

It must be a ghost.

I fought against my thoughts that maybe there was a ghost that haunts our house at night that makes noises from either the corridor or his room, after all he wouldn't hear it being a heavy sleeper, nor would my parents. But I couldn't shake off the prospect that there may be some freaky voice-imitating ghost that likes to keep me awake at night. So I decided to do something about it to finally put my mind at rest.

The next morning I told my brother about the sleeptalking and how I heard it when he wasn't there, He just laughed at me and called me pathetic, before again demanding that he doesn't sleeptalk. So we agreed to do the next logical thing, we'd record his room while he slept. For me it was peace of mind, for him it was a chance to hear his own mumblings as he was curious about what he says, but also a chance to prove to me he doesn't sleeptalk.

Anyway we set the camcorder on a desk opposite his bed facing him, then set it to record before going to bed and going to sleep. For the first time in a while (probably due to exhaustion) I actually fell asleep pretty quickly and thus didn't hear if he talked or not.

The next morning is when it came to a head... The next morning is when all four of us decided we ain't living in that house any longer.

My brother and I set up the camcorder to the TV. We made a bet that if he sleeptalks he had to give me some money. We both watched in anticipation, myself hoping to catch him and him wanting to both hear nothing so I had to pay him, but at the same time wanting to hear himself. As expected, it showed him falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. The video lasted all night, and no way were we going to sit and watch it all, so he lost interest after a few minutes and went off to play his games while I decided the best thing to do was leave it playing at high volume while I went on the PC to do my work. The high volume meant that we'd hear nothing but the silent night of sleeping until he finally talks, which we would hear and start watching.

So about an hour and a half into it, we hear it. I get off the PC to pause it and shout my brother to come hear it. "Guess you own me the money now" I said to him while very smug. We listen to the ramblings while he is asleep and laugh at it together, he wasn't making any sense.

Until something happens that terrifies us both.

He was asleep on his side facing the wall while sleeptalking and then turned to sleep upwards while his face faced the camera... His lips weren't moving at all but the voices were still heard.

A combination of being freaked out and both our parents being in work makes us scream "Oh shit" and dart for the door and run out onto the street. I'm freaked out and confused while he's upset and screaming at me saying I played a cruel prank on him. I tell him I swear I didn't and we decide to go to our friend’s house. When our parents came home we told them about the footage and showed them. They couldn't believe it and certainly didn't think it was a ghost.

Remember when I described my brother's room? How big it was compared to mine? Well you probably remember that I mentioned a third room; a storage room he didn't need and we never used. I think you get the picture. The police found a sleeping bag, cushions and empty wrappers and empty cans, and worst of all a kitchen knife, wire and tape. Turns out the intruder was the sleeptalker the whole time, or worse, rambling to him/herself in the storage room. He or she just sounded a little like my brother (or at least I thought it must be him as it came from the general vicinity of his room, after all it was an ordinary neighbourhood in an ordinary town - how could I anticipate that, a ghost would have been farm more believable to me)

We moved immediately after that and never found out who was there and why. My rational (aka hopeful) mind says a harmless homeless hobo but my irrational (and likely) mind says a creepy sadistic stalker/pedo/killer/psycho (you name it)

Glad I had the small room and god how I wish it was a ghost. So next time you hear sleeptalking, make sure to check it's definitely the person you think it is...

D.R.O