Things that Go Bump in the Night

I was up late last night, or early this morning, depending on how you look at it. I have frequent bouts with insomnia, and last night I was still awake at 5am, sitting on my living room couch. The TV was on (a rerun of CSI: Miami from earlier that night) and I was playing Bejeweled 2 on my laptop.

I felt the vibration in the same instant I heard the "boom". (Though it really wasn't a boom, that's the best word I can come up with.) I think my heart actually stopped for a second. I've heard people say that their "blood turned cold" and yes, that's a very accurate statement. At the time my blood froze every hair on my body stood straight up. I was terrified.

You see, I wasn't really sure what had happened. While it felt like a car had hit the house, there were no headlights or car engine noises. Then I thought someone was trying to steal the cars and had backed into the house. But my dog, Roxie, wasn't barking. Then I thought perhaps they drugged Roxie or killed her. Then I started thinking about serial killers and supernatural phenomena. I was too afraid to move from the couch. I simply sat there, in the glow of the TV and my laptop, and focused on breathing and curbing my escalating thoughts. Hey, Mallorie's bedroom was right above me. Maybe she fell out of bed?

After a few minutes of listening to nothing (I had muted the TV) I began to wonder if I had just imagined the episode. I was playing Bejeweled, and the gems do shake when you have no more moves...

Deciding I was beyond tired, I did go to bed. Mallorie left for school without saying anything and Cade never mentioned anything this morning. The cars were still in the driveway and the house was intact. All day I kept telling myself that I must have dozed off during Level 6 of Bejeweled. Even with that logical excuse I still felt uneasy. Am I losing my mind?

It was Mallorie that finally validated last night's occurrence. Apparently it was all they talked about in school today....


A 2.6 earthquake classified as "micro" rattled the Triad area this morning, though there were no immediate reports of structure damage or injuries, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

One resident said the 4:56 a.m. quake felt like a large boom that lasted just a second or two. The epicenter was estimated at 3 miles east-northeast of Winston-Salem.

"We haven't heard of there being any damage or anything, and typically you're not going to experience that" with a quake this small, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the USGS in Golden, Colo.

She said though unusual for North Carolina, a quake of this magnitude would not be noticed in earthquake-prone California.

Well, good. I'm not crazy. Still, I think I'll lay off the late night Bejeweled sessions.