Footsteps

True Story: 

I hate attics and basements. They are dark and scary and appear in way too many scary movies. Our new house is old and creaky and I refuse to go up or downstairs without implementing the buddy system (which really means Paul goes with me because Trixie is a big chicken and won't go into either the attic or basement even with the two of us). So when I awoke to heavy, creaky footsteps in the attic at 3:30 this morning, I was absolutely terrified. I was hoping it was just a bad dream but I didn't want to risk it, so I hurried up and woke Paul. I thought he would tell me "You're just hearing things, go back to sleep," but he didn't. In fact, as soon as we heard more footsteps followed by a few loud thumps, he sprung out of bed, ran to the bedroom door, and told me to call 911. I grabbed my phone and stared at it. I was frozen. My imagination was starting to take over.  When I snapped back to reality and started to dial, Paul whispered "WAIT" and looked at me. Too scared to say anything else, we just looked at each other in fear. We knew we needed to slow down a minute and think rationally. We decided to wait and listen a little bit longer to be sure. All this happened in only about 1 minute. And yet those few seconds of waiting and listening felt like hours. But we were right, there were definitely heavy footsteps slowly moving around above us.

1st thought: our new house is haunted

2nd thought: someone broke into our house 

3rd thought: where the heck is our security dog?!   

My mind quickly went to Trixie. We tried quietly calling for her, but couldn't hear her anywhere in the house and she wasn't in the bedroom with us like usual. I figured she'd be growling or barking or at least making some noise if she heard a stranger or saw a ghost. Thoughts of what could have happened to her flooded my mind (have you ever seen Paranormal Activity 2?). But I forced those thoughts out of my mind as I continued to listen. 

Our attic isn't very big at all, so it sounded like the footsteps were just walking in circles. That, and the fact that there is absolutely nothing but empty boxes in the attic made the situation even more confusing. Just as we tried whispering for Trixie, the steps grew louder. Then they came down the stairs. This time the footsteps sounded different, and were followed by a faint jingling sound.  Still frozen, we were both sitting on the bed staring down the hall in anticipation of what was about to happen next.   

And then we saw. . .

                    . . .Trixie?  

She comes prancing in the room, ears back, tail wagging, clearly excited, and probably thinking, "oh goody, you guys are up too!" 

And we about died laughing. 

Well,  until it was time to go back to bed and we couldn't. Probably because we both knew we didn't really have any answers. Was it really only Trixie's footsteps we heard in the attic? If so, what in the world was she doing up there all by herself in the middle of the night (especially when she won't even go during the day with one of us)?  Was there something she heard, like a mouse?  All I know for sure is that we both lost sleep and I'm really wishing that we only have a mouse in the attic.