A few weeks ago my nine year old son broke the silence at the breakfast table by making the following comment.
"Dad, you don't have to stand by my room at night."
I was a bit confused, so I asked him, "What do you mean? I don't....." I stopped short of saying that I don't stand outside his door because sometimes I do like to look in on him.
He continued, "Dad, I see you standing there. I can hear you breathing. Just because you move out of the way I know you are still there."
I was scared by his statements for a number of reasons. First, I never hid from him. Second I always stood fully in the door and he was always fast asleep. Additionally, he said he could hear me breathing.
"How often do you notice me?" I asked with a smile. I didn't want to terrify him by explaining that I check on him once a night and only for a moment.
"Come on Dad! Every night!" He obviously thought I was joking around with him because he grinned from ear to ear and giggled. "I'm not a little kid Dad. I know you are there."
"I'm sorry buddy, I'll stop. OK?" He nodded his head in agreement and finished his breakfast. Then, we got up from the table and had a great day together. I spoke with my wife about what he had said. She mentioned that he was probably dreaming. Maybe he was half awake and noticed me or something like that. We knew there were no other men in the house for him to see. Soon the morning’s events were forgotten and evening came.
I had forgotten about the morning’s discussion but my wife had not. "Mike, don't you dare freak me out or I'm going on the couch with the cats and you can stay in here by yourself." She furrowed her brow a little and waited for a reply.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Oh, you mean the thing about him seeing a man by his room? Don't worry. I'm not doing anything except for going to sleep." I slid into bed. "But, I am going to stay awake for a while just to satisfy my own curiosity. I mean, I checked all the doors and windows and there's no way someone is getting in here. No way at all."
I felt my wife kick me under the covers, "I'm serious! You better shut up Mike!"
An hour or two later I looked up from my book when I noticed movement in the hall. "Hey buddy, come on in." I whispered. I put down my book, smiled and leaned forward to get a better look into the hall. What I saw wasn't my son but looked like the right side of a man side stepping into the darkness of the hallway.
I froze for a second, squinted and shook my head. Then very clearly came the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Every one of my senses told me someone was there. I felt the presence. What is more, the presence I felt absolutely terrified me.
My wife must have felt the bed shake as I stiffened with fear. She woke and looked at me, then toward the bedroom door. "Mike, what is it?" She whispered. Then we heard the breathing. There was no mistaking the sound. It was almost a gurgle. I looked at my wife and saw pure terror on her face. There was no reason to ask if she could hear it.
The next few moments are more of a blur than an actual solid memory. I bolted out of bed and dashed into the hall. It was empty, the only open door was to my sons room. So, I took three large steps, pushed his door all the way open and turned on the light. He was fast asleep. Nothing in the room looked out of place. I turned off the light and stood there for a moment longer.
I was tired, angry and confused.
Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw it.
Movement.
I snapped my head to the right and glimpsed the image of a what I thought was a man with short brown hair and thick dark rimmed glasses. He was wearing a green long sleeve shirt or sweater. Just as quickly as I saw him he was gone. In the time it took for my eyes to fully focus he was out of sight.
Was I going nuts? I checked the entire house. Not a single thing was out of place. I didn’t sleep a wink.
In the morning my son and I walked over to the neighbors to visit with them and their children. As the boys played I told them about my experience. They both became visibly pale and had the following to say, "Mike, the house you live in was the first home your landlord built. He lived there with his wife while he built the rest of the homes in this subdivision. They were on their way home from a bar a few years ago when they got into a bad motorcycle accident. She wasn't wearing a helmet. When we went to see her in the hospital we couldn't recognize her at all. She looked like a man. It was terrible. She died a few days later."
"Did she have dark rimmed glasses?" I asked.
"Um, no she didn't, but her eyes were so black and blue that it almost looked that way."
I shook my head. "Well now what do I do? I mean I can't just ignore what happened. I mean my son is seeing this woman on a regular basis!"
"Move out, Mike. For you sons safety you have to move."
We gave our landlord a 30 day notice on 10/11/2012. We signed the lease on a new house effective immediately.
Submitted by Mike Gonzalez
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