The Terror in the Shower

It was a cold, overcast night. I was house-sitting for my best friend's parents at their house out in the wilderness.

Alone except for a labrador retriever who loves everything that moves.

The night before, I'd been on a ghost hunting adventure with my journalistic co-workers. It was severely lacking in the paranormal, but laden with enough creepy stories to get under my skin.

Creepy stories like a murdered prom queen being found in mirror pond, still in her dress. Or a long missing man bobbing up, again in mirror pond, "like a cork."

And baby graves.

Well.

There I was, housesitting alone after a vigorous night of attempted scares.

Nervous about seeing a dead body or spectre in the mist, I first turned on all the lights, then locked all the doors, and finally closed all the blinds and curtains.

I needed to shower for church the next day. I sneaked down the hallway. After confirming that there were indeed no bad guys coming to kill me, I proceeded with my shower with confidence.

What a fool I was.

Halfway through shampooing my hair, I heard it.

A dreadful shrieking sound.

I almost panicked. Adrenaline rushed through my stomach. Shampoo ran into my eyes.

"Calm down, Bethany!" I thought to myself frantically, as the shrieking continued, "You have to think through this LOGICALLY!"

It had continued for all of thirty seconds without alteration.

Without moving, I attempted to identify the source of the sound. My eyes watered from the shampoo.

The water was getting colder and I for an irrational moment I feared I would die before I could rinse the shampoo out of my hair.

I listened around for the squealing sound. It remained unchanged still, after about a minute.

With a rush of knock-kneed relief, I identified where the wailing sound was coming from.

It was the faucet.

I turned off the water, and the sound ceased immediately.

I giggled maniacally with relief and embarrassment. I thought to myself, "Oh dear, I hope no-one finds out about this."

I turned the water back on and finally rinsed the shampoo out of my hair and eyes.

Most intense two minutes of my life.

I opted not to watch Psycho that night.