A rustling sound behind me?!
Little Sam shivered, thinking of a bad situation.
Could it be... the farm owner's ghost, right behind him.
He turned his head trembling.
There was nothing behind him, only the desk shaking slightly, making a crisp creaking sound.
Looking down, he saw that the mat under the desk leg had been knocked aside.
The desk in this house is an old piece of furniture, said to have been used for decades, existing even when little Sam's mother was alive. Regular waxing kept it outwardly intact; but the nearby lake means damp air seeped into the desk over the years, making its core somewhat soft and erosive, causing a desk leg to be missing, making it wobble. After moving in, little Sam put paper mats under the desk leg to keep it steady for reading.
Now, the mat had been knocked aside. Perhaps he knocked it over when he tripped earlier.
The missing mat, combined with his bump, is what caused the eerie rustling earlier.
