Kitchen Creature

Two nights ago, I was doing the dishes in our kitchen. It was approximately 4 in the morning. My parents and brother were asleep, but my two sisters were awake. They were in the office at the front of our house, though, a good distance from the kitchen.

We don't have a dishwasher, so I was working on scrubbing a broiler pan by hand and was very focused on the work. It's important to note that I was not sleepy in the slightest. I'm a night person, naturally, and I find it easiest to sleep between six am and three pm, and be up the rest of the time. I take night classes in college because of this.

In our house, there are also seven cats. So when I felt a cat rubbing up against my legs, I didn't look down at first. It was probably just our orange tabby, Ziggy, thinking that I had food to give him. The bumping became more insistent and I sighed. I didn't want to kick him away, so I looked down, intending to tell him to go away. However, what I saw was most certainly NOT any of our cats (living or dead, as, in addition to the seven living cats, we also have four very active cat ghosts of previous pets that have passed away, whom I see regularly).

It was about the size of a cat, but its body was so solid black that it looked as if it was swallowing the light around it. We're talking black hole black. And looking up at me were two glowing red eyes. However, the most terrifying part of all was the head. In the blackness of the body, it was stark white... It was a skull. I have a lot of experience with skulls, as a paleontologist in training, and I can tell you it was not a normal small mammal skull. It had aspects of a primate skull, but also aspects of a skunk or raccoon skull. It wasn't feline or canine at all.

I choked, unable to scream, and leaped back away from the sink, slamming into the stove behind me, almost knocking another dirty pan on the floor. My eyes found the area the thing had been, but it was gone. I looked around the kitchen (it's also important to note that the bright lights were already all on in the kitchen so I could see and make sure the dishes were CLEAN - all of this didn't happen in a dark room, it was brightly lit), but the creature was nowhere to be seen.

Terrified, with my heart pounding, I quickly went back over, turned off the water, and ran through the dark living room into the office with my sisters, closing the door. I told them what I saw, and we agreed that we'd wait until the sun came up for me to finish doing the dishes.

I don't know what that thing was, but based on it's behavior, and despite its terrifying experience, I didn't feel like it was malevolent. I attract animal spirits regularly, but I still don't know what that thing was.

If anyone else has had experiences with something like this, I'd love to hear about them. Thanks for taking the time to read.