When I was in my senior year of high school, we went on a trip to visit colleges around the province we might be interested in applying to. When we got to the first city, a local elementary school offered the use of their gymnasium and one classroom (boys in the gymnasium, girls in the classroom across the hall. Like they didn't trust us or something
) to sleep in. Well, after the chaperones finally had us settled down and the lights were out and everyone was asleep I drifted off. I am a very light sleeper and I dream only if I have had a stressful day. A 6 hour bus ride culminating in an afternoon visit to a large shopping mall with my buddies does not constitute a stressful day in anyone's book.
Anyway, I drift off to sleep. I am awakened at about 2 a.m. (this is longer ago than I care to mention, so some of the details are fuzzy)by the sound of footsteps. No big deal. Probably just one of the kids getting a drink or a chaperone making sure we are behaving. I have always had a keen sense of hearing honed during spring and fall hunting, so I listened and determined the foot falls were a bit too heavy for a teenager. I heard them cross from the far side of the gymnasium to the door. Then they stopped. I had an odd feeling, but shook it off. As I was closing my eyes, I realized what was bothering me. No light had spilled in from the hall. The lights, we had been told, were not shut off in the hall in case of emergency. I slowly sat up and peered into the darkness. The only thing I could see was the sliver of light from under the door, illuminating just enough of the gymnasium for me to see about half of the room. I could see no one by the door. And everyone had pitched their sleeping areas on the side I had heard the footsteps originate from.
I am not prone to spook easily. I was brought up by a mean old hardass who scorned men that allowed their emotions free rein. I have stood nose to nose with a black bear, been stalked by a grizzly, and had a sow grizzly charge me. I am an avid outdoorsmen and used to strange sounds in the night. I have been awakened by the screaming of the red fox. It will chill a man's blood. So, when I could see no perpetrator of the footsteps, I shrugged it off as being in the dark in a strange place.
Until the sound came again. Louder. A large man's footfall. The chaperone's were all women. I sat upright immediately, the adrenaline from my fight or flight response causing my heart to race. I strained my eyes to find the culprit. I could hear the footsteps. Click. Click. Click. A man in dress shoes. At 2 a.m.? Click. Click. Almost at the door now. I could see mounds of sleeping students further away from the door than I estimated the sound to be. Why could I not see the intruder? Click. Click. He couldn't be more than eight or ten feet from the door at this point. Still, no sight of him. Click. The footsteps stopped. A door creaked. No door opened. A shadow passed across the light from under the door.
I spent that night wide awake, clutching the knife I carry with me everywhere out of habit and being raised in the country. 6 a.m. rolls around. People start waking up. I am with the first group into the shower. As my friend, E, and I are shaving he turns to me. E is Chinese, and, as a consequence of his upbringing, a lot more open to, shall we say, paranormal occurrences. E turns to me and says "Did you notice anything really weird last night?"
"Like what?" I ask after an awkward pause.
"Well, I woke up at like 2 with the feeling someone was right beside me. So I rolled over and there is a man's face right in front of mine, staring at me, like he was laying beside me. I blink in shock, and he is gone." I recounted my experience in brief detail. E can not recall hearing any footsteps, even though he said he was so shaken he was awake for another two hours after his "vision." A couple of overactive imaginations? What do you think?
