An Unexpected and Uninvited Guest

    So, I had a mouse in my place last wee.  This is not the first time that it has happened at either my current residence or my old home, but this time was very weird.  I don't know how the mouse got in or how long it had been there.  A nearby place has been having some work done on it.  We were in the middle of a cold snap.  I've even seen a new cat in the neighborhood hanging by the front door a few times. Maybe the mouse got in when I wasn't watching from bringing the groceries or decorations in, or possibly when taking out the trash.  I don't know.  Last Wednesday, my mother saw a mouse dart in front of her and scramble from the bathroom to the laundry room.  A bit later, it darted back. She said it was mostly grey with a bit of brown. I almost had to laugh at her from the way she was panicking, but I didn't. I was fine for the rest of the night, although she was still a little scared. The next day, I had to drive her out of my way so she could pick up some rat poison.  The place no longer carried the brand she used to like, but she picked up some cheap alternatives. She put some out just before going to bed.  I was getting ready myself, finishing up, when I heard a rustle from just outside my door.  A little bit later, the mouse scampered under the door and into my room, scurrying around my bed to the far wall.  It would then go behind my bed, along the next wall, under my armoire, and then back under the door. Until that moment, I had never known a mouse to get into my room.  It looked about the same as what my mom described. It ran into the hall, but only to return and enter my mom's room.  She was crazy.  There was no way she was going to sleep in a room where there might be a mouse, even though it may have happened before without her knowing it. I spent over twenty minutes trying to get it out from under the bed, and all of the junk she stores there.  Finally, after making as much noise and movement I could while holding the broom my mom wanted to hit the mouse over the head with, it finally ran out of the room and into a spare bedroom. I managed to shut the door to the room and watched while my mom got some boxes to place in front of it to block the gap to try and prevent the mouse from escaping. I finally got to go to bed, after 12:30, but I took me forever to go to sleep, whether from the action or the worrying over the mouse, I'm not sure. I was up at 1:00 and then maybe 2:00 (I'm not sure if I had been fully asleep yet.). The next morning, my mother called someone who works for the utilities to come in before work to fix a mousetrap for her. I could have done it. My mom thinks it from a fear of hurting my fingers.  It is more due to not wanting anything too violent to happen to the poor mouse. He came in, and fixed the trap, with my mom placing it into a torn up cardboard box to make it easier to dispose of the mouse once caught. We went to work, only to leave early when the snow hit. (We took the longer way home, via the new road at Harold rather than Abner in case the roads got bad.  They didn't appear to be so, but it did feel slightly safer.) The trap was still empty, although there were some cat paw marks in the snow on the porch.  Later that night, about 10: 45 or so, I heard some metal being moved.  A few seconds later, there were a series of loud bounces. I got up and saw the trap.  It had gone off when the mouse was captured. It was such a strong bounce that it was over a foot away from the box where it had been. One of the mouse's rear legs was still twitching. My mom got to work disposing of both the trap, and then the box, placing everything in bags and taking them outside.  She then mopped the vinyl floors just to make sure there was nothing on them, even though she knew that the fumes could keep me awake. I would have helped, but I just couldn't look at the poor thing the way it was. It was sort of cute the previous night. I just couldn't do it.  There have been no sightings since, although the poison is still out just in case. At least if the poison works, I won't have to see its effects. I hope there aren't any more of them.  Please.