Killer Vacuum

Horror movies aren’t my cup of tea, and I especially don’t like the cheesy ones made forty years before my time. I’m 13 now, and the year is 2013. Tonight was an exception because my aunt Jessica wanted to show me one on Netflix called ‘The Killer Vacuum’. What it is about is self-explanatory- a vacuum that, instead of sucking up dirt, dust, and tiny garbage- it sucks up people and kills them. And it wouldn’t keep me up for three hours if it wasn’t for the fact that the vacuum in the movie has a scary resemblance to the one that my aunt bought at a store called Tickle Your Fancy before I came down to visit her for the summer. I should know that there is nothing to worry about –because there isn’t- but I think I’m allowed to feel scared for just one night. Because of the insomnia I’m feeling, I decided to go out into the living room and watch some of my favorite shows on Netflix while I sat on the couch. My aunt’s dog, Franks, laid down next to me with his head on my leg.

            In the middle of the second episode I watched, I hear it. Frank does too because he lifts his head. It’s the sound of the vacuum- like someone had turned it on.  I know it’s not coming from the television because the two main characters are in a car, and vacuums don’t just make sounds in a car. Just like they don’t suddenly make sounds at three in the morning. My blue eyes looked towards the right corner near the door, where the vacuum was. Then the noise stopped. I saw that the cord was unplugged. I just imagined it, I thought, relieved. Yet I wasn’t too sure it was my imagination.

 I breathed out, not realizing I was holding it. My body felt shaky as I hesitantly pressed play on the remote and continued the episode. Eventually I fell asleep on the couch, but not before I heard the vacuum noise again.

            “Good morning, Elise,” my aunt greeted, already eating, as I stepped into the kitchen. It was small and had a folding table with two plastic chairs.

            “Good morning Aunt Jessica,” I replied, and took a seat on one of the chairs. I filled my plate with eggs and started eating.

            “What were you doing sleeping the couch? Is the bed too uncomfortable?” she asked. I shook my head.

            “I was watching some tv and fell asleep before I could back to my bed,” I answered.

            “Did the movie scare you?”

            “Not really.” What I wanted to say was no, but the noises your vacuum made last night did.

            “I have to go work soon. You’ll be okay without me right? Don’t forget to walk Frank.” I nodded, and watched as my aunt rose from the table and put her plate into the sink. I finished up soon after and waited for my aunt to leave before I grabbed my cell phone from by bedroom and dialed my brother’s number. When he answered, I told him about what my aunt and I had been up to and was listening to him talk about his latest soccer match when I heard it again. The vacuum. I pretended it was my imagination until it happened again after my brother and I ended the call. That’s four times, I think as I walk out the back door of the house, located in the middle of one of the kitchen walls between two counters.

            I walked next door to where my friend Isaiah lived, and knocked on the door. He was the only person I could tell who would think I was crazy, but would give me a chance to prove I wasn’t. I knocked on the door and he was the one to answer.

            “Hey Isaiah!” I greeted. “I think my aunt’s vacuum is haunted.”

            “Hi Elise,” he replied. He looked at me with a surprised expression. “Why?”

            “We watched a movie last night about a murderous vacuum, which looks almost identical to the one my aunt has, and it keeps making noises but it’s not plugged in and no one was touching it.”

            “You’re imagining it.”

            “Probably.  Will you come over and help me figure out if it’s a vacuum out to kill me or not?”

            Isaiah agreed and the two of us walked back over to the house, going in the front door this time where the vacuum was sitting in the corner next to us. It was still unplugged like last night.

            “I’ll plug it in,” I said as I unwound the cord from around the vacuum and took the plug and plugged it into the nearest outlet. The switch was off so it didn’t do anything. “Can you flip the switch?”

            Isaiah nodded and flipped the switch. Slurp! I watch in trepidation as my friend was sucked in the vacuum, and immediately pulled out the cord. This didn’t stop the vacuum from chasing me around the house. I ran to my room, which was out of range for the vacuum cord- I still shut the door- and I called my aunt. I could hear the vacuum ramming against the door of my room. Whack! Whack! Whack! I told her what was going on and she would be here in ten minutes. I looked for a way to escape. The window. There’s only one floor to the house, so I didn’t have to worry about injuring myself much.

I went back to the front of the house and waited anxiously for my aunt. The vacuum was now just inside the door. It didn’t pound against the door, but I could hear it- like it was taunting me. My aunt arrived a few minutes later and ran to the door. We were going to do what they did in the movie to stop the vacuum and save everyone. She would open the door and I would quickly as possible flip the switch to reverse -which is a strange option for a vacuum. We did this successfully, and Isaiah came out, covered in dirt and dust. He coughed ferociously and had to rub the dirt out of his eyes.  My aunt went inside and got him a glass of water. I turned off the vacuum and unplugged it. The three of us got rid of the vacuum and wondered where Frank had gone to. After searching the floor with no luck, we tried the basement and found him in a corner, obviously scared by the vacuum. Isaiah, Aunt Jessica, and I all took him for a walk to get out of the house and away from the horrible vacuum.