Looking back I still remember the moment I first saw that dark shape on the floor.
At first it was nothing.
A piece of trash.
Then it became a strange object.
Then it became something that might be alive.
Finally I discovered what it really was.
A leech.
The discovery itself lasted only a few minutes. The feeling stayed with me much longer.
Even now whenever I see something unusual on a damp bathroom floor I stop and look twice.
Sometimes the things we dismiss at first glance are not what they appear to be.
Once you have had the experience of watching a piece of trash move on its own you learn one very simple lesson.
Always take a second look.
The light in that bathroom had always been adequate for ordinary tasks. On that day the dimmer strip along the edge of the floor became the only thing I could think about. The object sat in that dimmer strip as if it had chosen the least visible place on purpose.
I replayed the earlier part of the day in my mind. I tried to recall whether I had heard a sound from the drain. I tried to recall whether the floor had been wetter than usual. I tried to recall whether a guest had come in from outside with damp shoes. None of those memories supplied a clear origin.
The pipes under the sink looked the same as they always had. The metal fittings the curve of the trap and the small beads of moisture on the joints were familiar. After the discovery those same details felt like possible routes. A gap around a pipe a loose cover on a drain and a film of standing water each became a subject of new attention.
I kept a wide space between my feet and the creature while I used the phone to search. Dark elongated body. Soft appearance. Damp indoor setting. Image after image brought the same identification closer. The match with a leech settled the question of what I was seeing. The match left the question of how it arrived unanswered.
Leeches belong in my mind to outdoor water. Creeks after rain. Muddy banks. Places where people warn children to watch their legs. A tiled bathroom with a familiar mat and a familiar soap dish did not belong on that list. The mismatch between the setting and the creature produced the shock.
