At first, I thought I must have been going crazy.

On Friday night, after returning home from work, I left my front door open for a few minutes to let the apartment air out a little bit. It was pouring rain outside, so the sound of the falling rain was soothing after a long week of work.

However, that was apparently all a little brown mouse needed to weasel his way into my apartment.

Shortly after shutting the door Friday night, I began to walk into my bedroom and was stopped short by a small, shadowy movement at the foot of my bed. Because I hadn’t turned on the lights yet, I couldn’t be sure that I saw something moving. After a brief moment of looking around and not seeing anything unusual, I dismissed it as insanity. A stressful job, I reasoned, had finally worked its way into my head and taken its toll on my mental health.

Fast-forward to Saturday night. After a relaxing pedicure with my cousin (her birthday present) and a shopping trip to pick up a few essentials, I returned to my apartment once again. Having completely forgotten about the mysterious movement in my bedroom the night before, I was standing in my bathroom, completely oblivious to what was about to unfold.

As I prepared to brush my teeth, I happened to glance down at the floor where my bedroom and bathroom connect – and saw a minuscule brown mouse scurry into the bathroom from the direction of my closet.

Not really being the type to scream and jump on a chair, I stood where I was and watched as the mouse stopped, looked at me, did an about-face that would make any army sergeant proud and ran back out of the bathroom. After briefly looking around for the mouse, I determined that he was back in his hiding place, and I wasn’t going to be able to find him that night. Needless to say, I didn’t get a lot of sleep.

Sunday night found me in the pest control section of Wal-Mart. Not wanting to kill the precious little creature, I plunked down $1.57 on the Mice Cube, a darling little plastic box with a one-way swinging door that traps the mouse – alive – with the help of bait placed at the opposite end. The mouse can later be released by taking the box outside and turning it upside down.

Once I got home with the Mice Cube, I spread peanut butter on a cracker, as instructed by the package, and placed it at the end of the box opposite the door. I carefully placed the trap in the bathroom – near where I had last seen the mouse – and went to bed.

However, the mouse was still nowhere to be found Monday morning. Deciding to change tactics, I moved the box to the door of the closet (where I suspect he’s been hiding) and disguised the box by draping an old T-shirt across it. I still hadn’t trapped a mouse by the time I left for work.

I hope he’ll be waiting patiently in the Mice Cube when I get home after writing this column. Otherwise, I suspect the poor thing is already dead. In that case, I’ll be finding him soon, anyway.