Casa Rosales

Casa Rosales

Tuesday 23 April 2013

Midnight wrestling

Ruy woke us up last night saying he could hear Mateo calling for help. It was one of those nerve-racking moments when the whole body goes on alert, adrenalin starts pumping and options are assessed... but without contact lenses and still half-asleep, I could only manage to kick FR out of bed to go and see what the problem was.

Mateo has always had a tendency to wake us in the night with his nightmares. From a very early age, he had them. I remember using lots of sign language with Mateo because he was slow to talk but obviously very bright and imaginative. If he woke in the night in fear, I would put my hand to my head and then to his head and do a spiral shape coming out - to indicate that the thing he thought he'd seen was in his head - and then would waft it all away to show that it had gone. He soon understood what this meant and that his fear came from a dream not anything in his room. It didn't stop the dreams but he calmed down very quickly once he realised what had happened.

His nightmares have continued on and off all his life - though there is something much more scary about hearing a grown-up voice shouting in the middle of the night, rather than a child's - but they are quite rare now and he doesn't usually shout out for help, rather wakes himself up and then goes back to sleep. I don't know if he does the waving-thing with his arms...must ask.

FR dutifully went downstairs and there were some muttered conversations before the lights went out and everyone settled down again. But only moments later, Mateo came upstairs and said he thought there was something in his bed. Being wide awake by this time, I bravely went down to his room to investigate with him. He said he thought it was something inside his duvet cover. As we knelt on his bed and carefully undid the duvet cover buttons, he told me that he'd had the sensation that something was scrabbling about on his bed and he'd thought it was Darwin. He'd told him to get down whilst half-asleep and then realised that Darwin wasn't there but the sensation was so strong that he thought he must be dreaming and so called out - waking Ruy. At this point, we had the cover off - nothing to be seen - so we picked up the duvet itself and gave it a shake. I managed not to scream but an ENORMOUS evil-looking centipede fell out and scuttled under the bed before either of us had chance to thwack it.

Mateo was strangely relieved to discover a real-life reason for the scrabbling in his sheets - better, in his opinon, than a figment of his imagination. However, he came upstairs and slept the rest of the night on the beanbag in the kid's den.

Me? I didn't sleep again and lay awake with all types of bitter memories unaccountably stirred by this poor but creepy creature. I wrestled with a few of my own hidden monsters in the early hours of the morning and whilst they're not completely destroyed, perhaps when Mateo gets home from school and we hunt out the centipede, getting rid of it will be cathartic for me too.

This isn't ours, but it's a good likeness if you want to share the fear with us! Don't look if you don't!





16 comments:

  1. I would be shouting out if I found this in my bed!

    Good luck with your 'bug' hunt.

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    1. Oh, my reply disappeared! Weren't we brave? I think the huge dead thing I found later in the day was 'it' - and although it nearly blocked my vacuum, I did manage to suck it up and dispose of it completely. FR has done a sterling job checking Mateo's room and there's no sign. Fingers crossed that's it gone! Axxx

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  2. I think I'd be sleeping well away from that little beauty too....and not returning to the room until I was sure it had 'ceased to be'.

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    1. We are reasonably sure it has ceased to be now, Helen, and we'll be being brave this evening at bed time. Mateo is being quite sanguine about it and didn't even want a clean duvet cover, but I insisted.
      Axxx

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  3. I think you and Mateo were very self-controlled when you found that little horror. Yet I know what he means that it's better to learn that there really was something than that it was all in his imagination. I hate spiders and as a child when I dreamed of them I would wake up to find myself sitting bolt upright trying to brush them off.....

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    1. Mateo is very short-sighted and didn't have his glasses on at the time - he thought it was a snake! I could see all its horrible legs and knew it was a centipede but we've looked it up and realise how lucky he was. A bite could have been very painful and would probably have needed hospital attention. I've found a dead one today - and we've checked thoroughly, so that should be we've found it dead. There won't be two...will there?
      Yes, I think we were very brave too actually.
      Axxx

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  4. Poor Mateo. I wonder how on earth it got in there. I suspect that he ( and you) will be doing some inspecting of corners and other potential hiding places before he sleeps in there again. Good luck with the search and destroy mission. Jxxx

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    1. Living in the 'campo' means all sorts of 'bichos' can get in if the door is left open and unattended for too long in the evening. This is what happened. We have to get used to it and make sure we are careful. It could have been a snake or a scorpion too...and yes, we are checking nooks and crannies but having found a dead one, I am hoping that all will be calm this evening.
      Nasty, it was. And not in the woodshed.
      Axxx

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  5. We have these too and I hate them. I get a spray from the vet (Chrysamed, active ingredient Permethrin) which I spray regularly across all door steps and fire places so that any nasties either refrain from coming in or are zapped as they do. The vet says this spray is safe for dogs, but not cats.

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    1. This is really useful information, Annie. I shall have a word with our vet and see if we can get something similar here - it would ease a few minds! Luckily, we don't have cats - much to Romy's disappointment but I am very allergic to them.
      Thanks! Axxx

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  6. Heavens, how brave Mateo is! Our youngest, 25, moves to another room for a month if he sees a wee English spider. Luckily he has a new girlfriend to keep him safe at the moment!

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    1. Mateo is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to identifying and knowing about creatures - land or sea - and knew exactly what this was and how nasty its bite when he saw it (properly, with glasses on!) He was more fascinated than repelled - unlike his father who has banned the discussion of events - well, at the dinner table anyway!
      I'm rather fond of spiders (and 25 year olds...;-) )
      Axxx

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  7. Oh goodness - I'd be on the plane back home!!!

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    1. To be absolutely honest, Sophie, whilst I wouldn't want these things in my house again, it was English woodlice that used to turn my stomach, set my teeth on edge and bring me out in goosebumps. I have a bit of a phobia about the poor things - really bad. In fact, I have done very well even writing this and have been pulling the most awful faces as I've been typing!!
      Axxx

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  8. Oh, dear, that would be a fright in the night. I'm glad you found it and it was, er, disposed of. Scary things at any age to have happen in the night.

    Our eldest had nightmares. In fact, she was also a sleepwalker, which gave us a few terrors over the years.I appreciate your use of sign to communicate with Mateo when he was young. Our younger daughter does this with our grandchildren with such beauty and ease. Here's to some restful nights, Annie.

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    1. Strange that, isn't it - that scary things have to happen at night!

      Signing was a very important part of our early communication and is fantastic with a responsive little one. I made my own signs up but I do know there are ones that can be learnt.

      We've all slept quite peacefully since, though FR has put some draught excluder around the door so nothing can get in, however small.
      Axxx

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