Chapter 13: The Thing That Hides In My Closet

From the very moment I stepped foot into this old farmhouse, I felt a dark presence that emanated from every corner. At first, I thought it was just in my head and because I was afraid of the dark it messed with my senses allowing paranoia to set in. The truth of the matter was much worse though. Running out of options, I bought the place because it was dirt cheap, and someone had just abandoned it, so they sold the old place within a few days. If I remember right, the closing was within a week of seeing the house in the first place. That should have been the very first indicator of a problem, but I was too blind to see it till later. My husband at the time, believed in things that went bump in the night but wasn't as scared as I have always been, so he would tend to make fun of me, even though he had never seen things like I had. The minute I took one look at this beautiful old farmhouse with original hard wood floors and that it was made in the late 1800's I fell in love with it. Back then it was only a few small rooms, and over the years the owners added on piece by piece. Eventually it became what it is today, my house. Of course, the best part is that the minute I drove by the place, I saw the huge barn by the side of the house. It was covered with ivy, and you could tell that it needed work, but it would be well worth it. Little did I know that ten years later, it would come down in a windstorm that shook the house, and I could swear to this day that it was a twister. Now that I have a new husband who doesn't believe in ghosts at all, not as many strange things go on that did when the children were little, except for a couple of things. Between the blood roots in the basement that poke through the cracks in the cement floor and spread to everything they encounter, to the shadow in my closet that moves in the night and has eyes that peer at me when I least expect it. There have been so many times when I wake up after hearing my name called out of a sound sleep. This is one of those times when every bump in the night does have a cause and it doesn't mean I am going insane, does it? I remember the other night when the moon was full and the clouds were so low that you felt like you could touch one, that the shadows in my room seemed especially ominous before I finally fell asleep at 1 a.m. Waking up to hear my name being called, I quickly sit up and I scan the room for one of my children. However, there is nothing, just the gentle breathing of my husband lying next to me in the bed as he is sleeping. Shaking my head, I try to calm down because my heart is nearly beating out of chest and then I see it. Sitting in the corner of my closet, just a shadow at first that shouldn't be there, but is. Then I watch as it becomes larger and darker than all the surrounding shadows before it's eyes slowly open. Screaming out into the darkness, my husband turns over but doesn't awaken and I am left frozen in place staring at something glaring at me through the space between me and the closet. Not daring to blink, I stare hoping that it will leave me alone and disappear before coming to get me. After a few moments, my fears take control as the thing just keeps looking. Fearing what will happen next, I swallow hard and watch as it still doesn't come closer but slowly moves around in the corner in the darkness. Mustering up all my strength, I turn my head to glance down at my husband before returning my attention to the thing in the closet, but when I look back over to the spot where it was, I am shocked because it's gone and then I question if I ever saw it in the first place. Wishing that my husband would just wake up, I finally reach over to shake him. When I do, I see something move out of the corner of my eye and then the blanket is torn off the bed. 'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" I cry out in a high-pitched squeal before shutting my mouth when I watch the shadowy figure peek its head from the foot of the bed. Before I can get out yet another, I freeze when it stands up and it is taller than my husband by at least 2 feet. All it consists of is a black silhouette of a human and two glowing eyes that peer at me like two hot embers in the fire pit. Feeling my husband start to stir next to me, I glance back down at him. But in the time, it takes for me to return my gaze to the shadowy figure, it has moved to the spot immediately right of me and I can feel it's hand on my neck. Cold spreads through me at a rapid rate, it feels like I am in a snow drift except it emanates from the spot where the thing is touching my skin. My heart beating out of my chest is no longer a matter, because now I don't feel anything except for the gentle throbbing of cold taking over my whole body. The creeping feeling that I had before, now intensified ten-fold and then just before I have a scary thought, it leans down and stares right into my eyes from about two inches from my face. That scary thought is that this must be how it feels to die, and you can't do anything about it. Realizing that perhaps this shadowy figure is death, and it is my time, I close my eyes after looking over at my husband one last time and thinking, 'I wish I would have had more time with him."