We have a mouse in the apartment and it’s freaking me out.

It’s not the first mouse we’ve had – I caught two or three a few months ago with glue traps on the floor. But this one is different, because it’s gotten into our food cabinet. The middle shelf of our food cabinet, actually. We have no idea how it gets up there. Can mice fly?

I first realized we had an uninvited guest several nights ago, when I went to the cabinet to take out a bag of M&Ms. As I picked up the bag, several M&Ms landed on the floor. Puzzled, I looked at the bag and noticed a small hole in the bottom. I felt my stomach begin to turn. I threw the whole M&M bag in the trash.

The last few mornings, I’ve woken up and approached the cabinet with trepidation. We have numerous small bags of candy that I think came from the gift basket for my brother’s wedding last summer, and every morning or night I keep finding little chewed-out holes in them and little pieces of plastic bag strewn about the cabinet. The mystery visitor also got into a bag of bagel chips, a box of cream of wheat, and, sometime last night, a packet of hot chocolate. A few nights ago I set up glue traps right next to the food, but they’re not helping. In the morning I find the traps untouched and more evidence of mousery.

As morning arrived today, I kept dreaming about mice in the cabinet. I dreamed that I went to the cabinet and saw them, little and gray. I woke up anxious, went to the cabinet, and saw the torn hot chocolate packet and some loose chocolate powder on the shelf. I felt ill.

I want to find and trap the damn thing. As I said, it’s really starting to freak me out. I think in part it’s because I don’t actually see the mouse. It’s invisible, which just makes it more mysterious and freaky. AND IT’S GETTING INTO OUR FOOD.

This morning I finally looked at the base of the cabinet (it’s a floor-length cabinet built into the wall) and saw a small hole. That could be where it’s coming from. So I put a glue trap right in front of the hole. It better work. If it doesn’t, I really don’t know what I’m going to do.