Cricket

So.

I have a story for you.

It's incredible how much your day can change based on one small, little thing.  That inconvenient thing that you wouldn't give a second thought suddenly becomes convenient by one small action.

Now, I must say that I am a 'responsible' sleeper.  I tend to go to bed at around 9:30 or 10:00 every night and wake up at 6:30 on weekdays, 8:00 on weekends.  I keep it consistent, and when I don't get those certain hours of sleep, I don't necessarily function right.

I never go to bed in the wee hours of the morning.  I get my homework done before bed and go to sleep at the normal time.  I get eight hours of sleep and life is good.
Yay.

I am also a medium sleeper.  Not light, not heavy, just in between.  When I hear something normal (air conditioning, the wash, wind, rain, etc.) I can sleep.  Huzzah for white noise!  But, when something is...off, I'm awake almost instantly.

Unfortunately, my fate of sleep was in someone else's hands.  Er...claws.  And hands, I guess.  That comes later.

I go to bed at the normal time after reading a book like I always do.  Keeping it consistent.  Tucking in, switching off my light-up bed (yes, I have a light-up bed) and making sure my door is open, I roll on my stomach and fall asleep.

Approximately 3:06 AM, I snap into reality.

Chirping.  I hear...chirping.  In my room.  Coming from my closet.  Which I left open.  That is now chirping.  Annoyingly loud.

First I thought I was dreaming.  After blinking a couple times, realizing that I am, in fact, awake, I think I'm getting pranked.  Someone put a little sound player in my closet and it was set to go off at this time.

Then I finally get it in my head that I am not getting pranked, and I am not dreaming.

A cricket.  In my closet.  Chirping.  Loudly.  At 3:06 AM.

A cricket.

A cricket.


A CRICKET!!

A CRICKET. IN MY CLOSET. CHIRPING.  LOUDLY.  AT 3:06 AM.

Forgive me for using this overly-used expression, but I mean it in a different way.

It was unreal.

Not unreal like, "Aw, man!  That roller coaster was unreal!"

I mean unreal as in this should never happen to anyone.  Ever.

Un.  Real.

I angrily got out of bed, first smacking my closet door to get the stupid bug to shut up, and then stormed into my parents room.

"Dad...there's a cricket...in my room."

He stirred, and then sat up.  "It's in your room now?!"

Apparently, this cricket started in my parents room, but then immigrated illegally into my room.  Where it started chirping.  Loudly.  At 3:06 AM.

He got out of bed and went into my room.  I followed him, hitting the lightswitch and flinging open my closet door.  The chirping was coming loudly from inside.

We spent an hour--an hour--trying to find this cursed bug.  My mom then came inside my room and pulled me aside while my dad was flinging the contents of my closet all around my room.

She looked at me worriedly.

"I've debating whether or not I should tell you, but I'm afraid if I don't, you'll cry."

Fear shot through me.  "What...?"

She rocked back and forth on her heels.  "Well...you made it into Chamber Choir.."

[for those of you who don't know, it's the elite senior choir at my school. really hard to get in.]

"Uh huh..."

"Well, some-of-the-chamber-kids-are-coming-by-to-kidnap-you-and-take-you-to-IHOP-for-breakfast-at-four-thirty-with-the-rest-of-the-choir," she said really fast.

"You--why are you telling me?"

"I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't get another who knows how long amount of sleep before they come by to get you.  I didn't want you to get upset..."

She looked at me pleadingly, and then her face fell.  "I shouldn't have told you."

I'll admit, I was pretty upset.  I had seriously confided in one of my chamber friends who's in it this year that I've always wanted to have a surprise birthday party or to get kidnapped for breakfast about a week ago, and I just found out that it was going to happen to me today.  And my mom ruined it for me.

And I love surprises.

But, I knew she had my best interests at heart.

"It's okay..." I mumbled.

"I'm sorry!" she said sadly, and then gave me a hug.  "Sierra [girl in chamber] is going to kill me!"

"I'll just fake being surprised.  Don't worry," I told her.

I turned and went back into my room.

We finally found the stupid bug in one of my dress sleeves.  We took it downstairs into the garage and I had half-an-hour until they were going to come by and get me.

I stayed awake the whole time, just staring at my ceiling, waiting.  I rolled over and feigned sleep when I heard a car door slam outside my house.  About two minutes later, a flashlight was shined in my face and Sierra and two other girls were bouncing on my bed to wake me up.

And I pretended to be groggy and surprised.

I realized that they had to pick their way to my bed so they could wake me up, because of the destruction of my closet that we had made trying to find the stupid cricket.

"There was a cricket in my room," I said stupidly.

They laughed and passed it off for sleepiness, when I really was wide awake, and they took me out to their car where we went to IHOP.

I was exhausted.  I had to go straight to school after that, and I've been awake for over 13 hours now.

I am going to wipe out the entire worlds population of crickets by the end of the day.

And that is the story of how a minuscule cricket ruined my day at 3 in the morning.

But I'm not bitter or anything.