After getting separated from my first wife, I moved into and old ranch my landlords converted into two apartments in the Brooklyn section of Raleigh. If anybody knows Raleigh, it is referred to Glenwood South. Super close to downtown and you could walk to just about anything you needed. This house was built in the 20s and the entire neighborhood had that old feel to it. The neighbor that was in the second apartment was an elderly man who just rented it out to have a place where he and his lover could escape their marriages for a night or two out of the month. I mean to say is that I really didn't have a neighbor.
My apartment kind of became the bachelor pad considering a lot of my friends and my brother could walk to it and it was really close to the bars. A lot of late nights with darts, video games, and foosball tournaments. Even the neighbors across the street would join us from time to time and there was no one on either side of me at that time, so we weren't bothering anyone. There were some good times in that old house.
Anyway, late one night after a foosball tournament, one of my friends asked if he could crash on the couch after he went out to the bars while another friend of mine settled in for a game of Madden. I told him that wouldn't be a problem and I would just leave the door unlocked. You could do that kind of in Raleigh back then. After the game of Madden ended, my friend did not come back from the bars so I just crashed.
I got up the next morning and I went in to do the dishes and clean all the beer bottles up. From my bedroom I could access the game room and the kitchen without going through the living room. The apartment was just one circle with the kitchen and the living room separated by a bar. I have my back turned to the bar and I'm doing the dishes. The fridge was old and made a loud sound when it cycled and the lights would dim. When it cycled, I looked at it for a second and I caught something out of the corner of my eye, and then I felt it. I wasn't alone. The image I caught was a tall man with his arms outstretched on the bar. He was leaning over the bar at me like he was trying to tell me something or just trying to get closer. I could feel his presence over my shoulder. Immediately I thought my friend had come in while I was asleep, and he was trying to scare me first thing in the morning. "You are going to have to work harder than that to scare me, Sean." I said before I turned around. When I turned around, no one was there. I thought he crouched down so I walked around the bar. No one. I walked to the front door and turned the knob and it was locked. He couldn't have come in if he had wanted to earlier in the morning. "Hung over." I said out loud and I thought nothing of it.
Two nights later, I fell asleep on the couch. Chinese take out from the Beansprout was on the table getting cold and congealed, but it still smelled good. I woke up in a panic. Someone was in the house. I could feel them in there, and the hairs on my arm and the back of my neck stood up. The air inside grew cold. It was an August night in North Carolina, and the HVAC was crap. I would sweat sometimes in my apartment just sitting there on the worst nights, but it was colder now, and I remember thinking that it was freaky. Cold and dense like a cooler in a restaurant. Damp and wet, but chilly. "Who's there?" I said. Silence. All I could here was the fridge. "I have a gun." I blurted out not even thinking that they could have had my gun by now. I grabbed my bat I kept behind the front door and did the circle. No one.
A couple of nights later, I found myself in the same predicament except it was the remnants of a sub and some waffle fries from Subconscious that was slowly deteriorating on the table in front of me. The same feeling came back. I wasn't alone in the house. I have had some experiences in the past, and I'll write more about them if you guys happen to like this one. So, at this point, I knew I had upset something by moving in and changing things. I sat up and said, "It's my house now." Silence filled my ears like foam. I could taste it. "You hear me?" I said in a normal tone. It sounded like I was more reassuring myself than speaking to, you know, it. After I said that, I turned over on my side facing the couch and immediately felt four taps on my shoulder. Four quick taps just letting me know that he was there. I was freaking petrified. I sat up immediately and yelled, " This is my house now! I live here! " I took a couple of hastened breaths and then yelled, " Do you hear me, sir? This is my house now!"
I went to the freezer, and the fridge cycled. I opened it up and grabbed the jar of apple moon shine a neighbor had brought me from the mountains. I poured a shot with shaking hands. The coldness was abrupt, but the warmth that followed was soothing. I'm glad I quit smoking, but I hadn't at that point. I sat on the porch in the night smoking and remembering what had just happened.
I did manage to sleep. Not sure how long or what time it was when I finally nodded off, but I slept. The next morning, I get up, shave, take a shower getting ready for work. As I walk the circle I notice something is off. It's really too quiet. It's then that I opened the fridge for some colder water. The fridge was dead.
I never had another problem in that place. I continued to live there for about three years, and never even felt a strange thing.
