The noise in the walls wasn't rats at all. I knew something else was living there.
I could hear them late at night, murmuring, humming and scratching away. I didn't want to believe it at all. Rats, squirrels, bats, any number of things could be living in those walls. The termites dragging the wood through their guts, the spiders hanging their webs; it could be any number of things, any number at all living in the walls.
I lied to myself, I let the sounds go. I pretended not to hear but then late one night, she came for me.