Brenna the dog woke me up at 4:30 this morning. I happily jump out of bed and tell her 'good dog'.
I know she needs to go out as I noticed she was taking an especially long time the evening before to do the deed.
I take her out and wait. I notice she starts eating grass. Well, I don't want her to eat grass because this leads only to one thing: grass comes back out the front door.
I scream a whispered scream "BRENNA! STOP IT!" Imagine, she does not listen to me and continues the buffet of grass.
I run down and shake my finger at her. This does not seem to work either. Finally, I resort to nudging her away.
It was about this time that Brenna and I both heard a horrible, horrible screeching scream.
WTF? Brenna said the same thing. I could see it her face. A face I have never seen before on her.
The screeching-scream continues. I am trying to place what possible evil incarnation it could be and how close it was getting to me...forget the dog.
It sounded like a cat being skinned alive. I swear. And the only other thought was a cat dying and screaming and writhing in pain. Yes, I have a demented mind that puts actual images of such things in my head. Especially at 4:41 in the morning.
These screeches continue for an agonizing 10-15 seconds in length, with approximately 2 seconds of break. And this went on for maybe a minute. Do I need to map out an equation for this event?
In my life, I have never heard of such a creature. I thought: maybe it's a wallaby (or some Australian animal). Don't ask me why I thought that (well, there is an escaped/kidnapped wallaby in the area, so that may be how the thought came to my mucked up mind) but remember, it's early in the morning...although by this time, I am wide awake.
I went back to bed pondering it more (and more and more and more...get to sleep, will you!). A screech owl. That must be it. That's why they are called screech owls. I go to sleep thinking I've solved the puzzle.
But I just checked and screech owls, apparently, don't screech. They hoot. Well, I heard one screech and it was a duration of ~3 seconds and in those three seconds, it sounded nothing like a cat being skinned alive.
Any other ideas?
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