Ghost Stories

[slydon]

Exactly what it says on the tin... leave em here!

[ntw3001]

I... am a ghost! I am behind you right now! Story is over, do not look in the cupboard. It is full of ghosts... but that's a story for another day.

[slydon]

do not look in the cupboard. It is full of ghosts...

You bought me Pac Man cereal? NOW I AM SCARED!

[jvcc]

I can't think of any ghost stories, but I know a scary story that everyone's probably heard already. I'll try and jazz it up with some creative writing.

There was not so very long ago a young woman named Nicole who was studying to become an RN. Her last class got out very late and she had an hour drive to get back to her house, the meager headlights of her fuel-efficient car seeming insufficient to cut through the pitch-blackness of that overcast night. Her roommates were out of town, so she had the place to herself to relax and unwind. Once inside, she forewent all the customary rituals of entering a room, such as turning on the lights or adjusting the thermosat, and headed straight for the sofa, which she practically fell into, utterly exhausted. The necessity of removing the socks from her sore feet grappled with her instinct to turn on the television, so that she found herself awkwardly grasping for the remote with the last sock half-on, half-off. Eventually she succeeded in both, and prepared to absorb whatever banal reality show NBC was airing that evening until sleep overtook her.

It wasn't long before she realized that she'd need to indulge in a midnight snack then, or risk waking up absolutely starving the next morning. She pushed herself off the couch and made her way into the adjacent kitchen, turning on the light as she went. Within a few minutes she had made for herself a bowl of popcorn, which she eagerly anticipated eating. But upon reentering the living room she stopped dead in her tracks. The blinds her open on the window immediately behind the sofa, and through the glass Nicole could see a man standing there, staring at the ground just outside her house. His shoulders were slouched and he kept unnaturally still.

Nicole restrained her terror and quietly backed up into the kitchen where she had left her cell phone on the counter. As the number for emergency services rang she pulled her largest steak knife out of its drawer held it firmly in her hand. "Hello?...Yes, there's a man outside my house--right outside my house, outside my window." As she furnished the dispatch operator with her information, she peeked out from behind the farthest kitchen cabinet, and as her eyes made contact with the figure all the breath became trapped inside her lungs and her muscles tensed. The man was now staring directly at her, fixedly, from the same position he had been in. Clutching her knife even harder, she entreated the operator to stay on the line with her until the police came. The operator did so, and even tried to keep her calm by attempting to engage her in a neutral conversation, but she barely heard, her eyes and all her thoughts were locked on the man who refused to move or look away.

When the police did arrive, she ran to the door to meet them, thinking it prudent to set down her knife first. She stood by a senior officer in her foyer, answering questions while the remaining offers scoured the grounds outside. After the initial sweep, one policeman came to the officer and in hushed tones, darting the occasional look at Nicole, intimated that nothing had been found. The officer whispered back what must have been an order, and a second search commenced, though much more brief than the first. All the while she kept glancing around, expecting the man to appear at any moment.

"Ma'am," said the officer, awakening her from her fear-induced distractedness, "My guys can't find anything outside, but we can take a look inside to see if there are any signs of a break-in, if it'll make you feel more comfortable." She quickly consented, and two officers, a man and a woman, entered. She stayed firmly glued to the foyer floor, where see couldn't see their progress, but could hear their footsteps. Once she knew they'd entered the living room she heard an increase in their talking, and soon a garbled call on the police hand-held radios called in the senior officer and last remaining policeman until she was left standing alone in the foyer, hearing a buzz of activity just a room away from her.

After what seemed like an eternity but in reality could only have been ten minutes, the senior officer returned.

"So, you saw him standing outside my window? Is he still there?"
"Ma'am, there was no one outside your window," he paused, adjusted his cap, "What you saw was a reflection. That man was behind your couch."

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN.

[fanelian]

I'm having a hard time figuring out the angle of the reflection in relation to where she was standing when she saw him... and there's also the quality of the window's glass, given it was night time and at least one light was on inside, so she must have been really sleepy to mistake a reflection for something behind the glass. Maybe I'm just stupid and or over-thinking.

I also want to know what happened to the stranger. Did he vanish or the police knew he was standing behind the couch because they got them? Wait... He's standing right behind me, isn't he? I knew I shouldn't have traded my monitor for an anti-glare one

[jvcc]

I'm having a hard time figuring out the angle of the reflection in relation to where she was standing when she saw him... and there's also the quality of the window's glass, given it was night time and at least one light was on inside, so she must have been really sleepy to mistake a reflection for something behind the glass. Maybe I'm just stupid and or over-thinking.

I also want to know what happened to the stranger. Did he vanish or the police knew he was standing behind the couch because they got them? Wait... He's standing right behind me, isn't he? I knew I shouldn't have traded my monitor for an anti-glare one

I'm just extrapolating from an "urban legend" I read as a kid, which was only a short paragraph in length. It requires you to suspend your disbelief to a rather startling degree.

[ntw3001]

Epilogue: And the cupboard was full of Pac-Man cereal...

[Skimba]

Epilogue: And the cupboard was full of Pac-Man cereal...

Damnit, you beat me to it.

[fanelian]

[Skimba]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAaaaaaaahhhhhh*clears throat*
Very nice.