Written by Baby Rucelle Cogal
“Before you start getting afraid of the monster under your bed, maybe you should do something about the lady who watches you while you sleep first.”
One thing about being in college is that I get to move out of our house to stay in an apartment near the university and live independently. From here on, I will be all by myself… or so I thought.
On my first afternoon, while going home from school, I noticed an unfamiliar woman with long hair sitting in the apartment lobby, so I came to smile and greet her “good afternoon”, to which she replied with a subtle nod. She seems to be the same age as my mother, so I wonder whose parent is she since most borders from here were university students like me.
I continue walking to my unit when I noticed a child staring at me weirdly, so I tried to smile at him. He is holding a basketball and his clothes are somewhat dirty, probably from playing at the park outside.
“Hey little kid, are you lost or something?”, I tried to ask him.
But instead of answering, the child only stared at me fearfully then run away just to enter the unit 2 doors away from mine.
“What was that?”, I said to myself, confused. I may have scared the child so I will have to apologize and introduce myself to their unit tomorrow.
As I enter my unit, it is amazingly peaceful, very much opposed to the situation in our house. Just like my usual routine at home, I decided to change my clothes to do assignments. Around 7 PM, I finished doing my homework and decided to prepare myself to sleep. While laying in bed, it became unknowingly cold, probably due to the weather, so I grab my hoodie before turning off the light. I was able to fall asleep, but I woke up almost every hour just to feel that someone is strongly staring at me. I decided to brush it off since it was my first night staying here, so it may be because I’m still a little bit uncomfortable.
The next morning was Saturday, so I decided to visit the unit 2 doors away from mine to apologize for scaring the child since he may not be familiar with me, knowing that I only moved in. As I knocked on the apartment door, a girl around my age shows up and opens the door.
“Hey, are you the new border here? What can I do for you?”, she asked me with a smile.
“Good morning. Yes, I am from Unit 247. I just want to apologize for scaring the child here yesterday. Is he your little brother or something?”
She looks confused. “Brother? What are you talking about? I am an only child, and my roommate is also a university student.”
What did she say? I froze on my feet and felt cold sweats on my forehead. “W-what? So w-who was that child with a basketball that entered your unit then?”, I nervously asked.
“Maybe you got the unit he entered in the wrong?”, her forehead creased, but she suddenly beamed as if an idea popped out. “Oh! Maybe you’re talking about Lucas, he always carries his basketball with him. He is the son of Aunt Celia, they occasionally come to my unit to collect laundry.”
“O-oh. I thought of visiting today because I thought I scared him since he’s not familiar with me. He came running inside your unit when I ask him if he’s lost yesterday.”, I told her, feeling relieved. I honestly thought that child was a ghost or something, so funny. That was not good for my heart, it scared me.
“So that’s what it is about. You can tell him that right now, since here they are. Aunt Celia!”, she called someone from behind me. I saw Lucas hiding behind her mother when he saw me. We introduced ourselves to each other and I’m glad I was able to clear the misunderstanding.
“You’re weird”, Lucas suddenly told me as I was saying my goodbye and thanks. I laughed as her mother stopped him and covered his mouth.
“Why?”, I asked him, chuckling.
“You were talking to yourself yesterday at the lobby.”
My smile vanished. “I was greeting the woman though”, I told him as I pat his head. This child likes to make people scared, huh.
“But there was no woman there, you were alone when I saw you”, he firmly answered.
What is this child saying? I am pretty sure my face looked pale right now. What does he mean?
“Lucas, stop that. You’re scaring her”, Aunt Celia told him and says not to mind what Lucas said to me.
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As I was going back to my unit, I can’t help but think of what that child said. What does he mean that I am alone? Does he not see the woman I am greeting? What is happening here?
That night, I was still thinking about what Lucas said until I fell asleep. But around 3 AM, I woke up and felt the same chills from yesterday. It seems that someone is staring at me from the door. I gathered all my courage to look at my door and from the lampshade, I saw the woman from the lobby. And I shrieked from the top of my lungs.
She was indeed the woman from the lobby, but her face is different, totally different to the point that it was fearsome, scary, and gross. She was staring at me with those bloodshot eyes, long black hair that is unevenly cut, bloody face, and her creepy smile with crooked teeth. Her head is unnaturally slanted to the side and her one arm is missing. She was just there, standing while staring straight at me.
I was frozen for a second and was too afraid to get out of the bed since that woman was near the door. Instead, I grabbed my phone on the side table with my shaking hands which cause the vase to fall and made me scream again. I dialed the security and is shouting while telling them to hurry. I covered myself with a blanket and I am pretty much aware that I was shaking down to my bones. I did not dare to look at the door again. I keep praying under my breath and did not even care when I twisted the words.
Minutes passed before the security arrived and they were shocked at the mess I made. I keep telling them about the woman, but they insist that maybe I am just having a nightmare or a hallucination. But I knew it. I knew it was real, from the way I was shaking, I knew what I saw is real. The woman is real.
After that, I stayed with security until morning. When I had calm down, I called my mom and pleaded to transfer me to the university dorm. I never saw the woman again, but it was still a traumatic experience for me. When I was in the dorm, I heard from my dorm mates a silly rumor about the woman in the apartment near the university. It says that she usually visits people who sleep alone and just stare at them while sleeping.
So, if ever you are alone in your room at night, just know that you never sleep alone. When you’re fast asleep, she’ll always be there, in one corner of the room, at the foot of your bed, near your window, or sometimes at your ceiling, silently and intently watching you, with a pretty creepy grin on her face.
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