Medicine cabinet and my close encounter with Freddy Krueger

In a blog somewhere I saw this awesome little medicine cabinet that someone had put in their laundry room. It was the old metal style cabinet but they had etched a medical cross on the front mirror and looks so neat. I had a couple of other etching projects in mind when I came across it, so I threw that in with my "crafts to do soon" list. It also appealed to me because I need more storage space for meds. With Honey and Ms. Thang having asthma, the inhalers, nebulizer, and allergy meds don't leave much room for band aides and neosporin.
It was sort of odd, as I was thinking to myself that a medicine cabinet would never show up on Craigslist, when I looked and there were four of them. Two were high-end and $50 each. 2 were old, claimed to need a little tlc inside but that the mirrors were still good. That's just my style. I emailed the guy and he said I could pick them up anytime, they would be sitting outside on the porch. I only needed one, he said that I could take both if I wanted.

Well I had planned to pick them up yesterday just after dinner, but time got away from me and it was about 8-9 before I finally had a chance to leave the house. I had used google maps and the location looked easy and was only about 5 minutes away from me. I grabbed the keys and headed out the door. Here is where my terror story begins.

I drove down a main street knowing I needed to make a right onto a particular road. I knew I had gone too far when I came to a certain intersection and had somehow missed the sign. I pulled into a dark parking lot and called my Honey.

"I'm lost already."
"Already!? " he laughed.

He looked it up and said I actually needed to turn down a different street that later turned into the road I was looking for.

I was in a dark parking lot, feeling like the map was simple and straight forward when I checked it before. Hmm...

So I do as my husband suggested, and found myself on the darkest street in town. I found the house and it looked a little run down. I noticed the medicine cabinets on the porch, leaning up against a large paned window with blinds that had seen better days.
No porch light, no street light, and no cars out front. The yard was unkempt and the shrubs were a few years over-grown. It felt abandoned. I admit, I had a slight case of the hebe-jeebees. The large mirrors reflecting the eerie scene wasn't exactly helping.

I got out and grabbed the closest of the two cabinets, knowing right then that I was only going to get one. I was trying to be super quiet because it was later than anyone would have expected me to be there and I didn't want to disturb anyone (if there was anyone) inside.

The mirror was heavier than expected. It was dirty and rusted a bit around the outside (the part that actually goes inside the wall) and was awkward to get a grip on and carry to the van. I was trying to carry it with a light touch, scared of tetanus if nothing else. I was practically running to the van. I was imagining decades of dust and spider webs that I was probably touching and I was just about ready to drop it and drive away. *deep breath, you're a grown woman!* so I opened the back hatch and was illuminated with light. I felt better already. The medicine cabinet looked a lot less scary and dirty propped up next to the familiar items in the back of the van. It's hard to be scared when your surrounded by a stroller, a kids bicycle and 10 reusable grocery bags.

I inspected the cabinet and although it was ok, it was pretty rusty inside and it had an old toothbrush which totally grossed me out. I looked over at the remaining cabinet still on the porch. I decided to make a swap and promised the scared part of me that I would live with the other cabinet, even if it's condition turned out to be worse than the one I had now. I left the trunk open, for the little light it provided, and quickly carried the other cabinet back to the porch to make the trade. I was being super quiet and careful, taking my time to put the heavy thing back as gently as possible without making any noise.

I had to strain a bit to lower it quietly because it was heavy and apparently shut my eyes for just a moment to do so. When I opened them, I was inches away from the window, bent almost 90 degrees and my heart stopped as I noticed the pull string from the blinds inside was swinging rather violently back and forth. I held my breath as my mind raced a mile a minute and I tried to rationalize what was happening...
Did I somehow bump it through the glass while I set the cabinet down?
Could an inside fan be doing that?
Is someone here watching me?

I slowly raised up from my kneeling position and that is when I noticed the pale, veiny, moon-lit hand visible through the broken blinds. I impulsively stood straight up and was inches away from a matching hand pulling the blinds slightly to expose the shadowed face of an old man.

I was frozen with fear. I have never been so scared in my entire life. He immediately came outside, apologizing for scaring me and trying to have a little conversation, but my pulse was racing and I just wanted him to go back inside and leave me alone. I made some sort of small talk as I grabbed the other cabinet and thanked him trying to force a smile through lips that wouldn't move.

He was harmless, and in hind-sight, probably as startled as I was. I found myself singing entirely too loud, to a song I didn't know the words to, as I headed home and fought off tears. I hate being a girl sometimes, but you know, thinking about it, how many guys would have gone through that and actually come home with the medicine cabinet in tow?

I hope to have it done before the weekend is over. I started cleaning it up as I told this story to my Honey last night. He pretends to beat himself up over letting me go out at night alone instead of doing it himself, but we both know he is laughing on the inside. The medicine cabinet is ancient but in pretty decent shape. No toothbrushes in this one and it did end up being the better of the two that were out on that creepy old porch. One thing that is kind of strange, is a little slot on the back wall of the cabinet with a sticker that says "Razor Blades" where you apparently are supposed to discard your old razors right into the wall. Knowing that old house has a wall possibly full of old razor blades makes it all seem more creepy doesn't it? I took a picture for you...


I did a little research and the blades actually were thrown right into the wall of the house. Renovations in older homes sometimes expose walls with literally thousands of blades. It's also rumored that during the war, people would open up their walls and donate their large stash of metal to the war. Strange.... I'm tempted to tape over it while painting and save that little sticker and slot. An odd piece of history and a reminder of the time I was almost murdered by Freddy Krueger.