Ghost Story, Part Three

It was the second semester of my junior year of college in Iowa City. I was living in a 1970's era apartment building with three roommates. I had recently moved into the third bedroom, vacated by Sue, who took an internship out of state.

I don't know if this is important to the story or not, but Sue left her old bed behind since she was living at her parents' house during her internship. This bed was taken from her sorority house after it closed, and I don't know how old it was, but it seemed very old.

One night shortly after I moved in, I awoke in the middle of the night, and sensed something was wrong. I looked in my doorway, and saw someone standing there. It looked like my other roommate Shannon. She was wearing black Converse All-Stars, rainbow socks (much like a pair of toe socks I owned), long black baggy shorts, and a sweatshirt with what looked like a sorority logo on it.

I was flustered and half-asleep, so I immediately said, "Shannon. What's wrong? Are you OK?" Shannon didn't answer. I looked closer and realized I couldn't make out her face, or a head at all, for that matter. Everything faded into darkness above the sweatshirt. "Shannon?" No answer. Then I realized it wasn't Shannon. I didn't know who the hell it was.

I was instantly awake. I froze and stared and hoped it would go away or vanish. After a while, I somewhat calmed down and realized I had to do something to make it go away. I dared not speak again; I knew I wouldn't get a response. I decided I would bunch up my comforter and throw it. I slowly gathered it all together, quietly and discreetly into a shape I could easily throw. Then I gathered up my courage and whipped the comforter at the doorway, scared as hell for what would happen next. As soon as the comforter hit the doorway, whoever it was vanished. I ran to the wall and turned on the light. Then I went into Shannon's room, woke her up and stupidly asked her if she was just standing in my doorway. "No, Karina," she said. "Obviously, I was sleeping." I told her what happened, and she dismissed it and told me to go back to bed. I went back in my room, got in bed and stared at the doorway until I fell asleep. I slept with the light on, facing the doorway for the rest of the semester. My roommates thought I was nuts. I never saw anything weird in that place again, but I was glad to move out.