Man in the Dark

The addition to our home was only partially done, so the floor was still a pressed board sub-flooring and the switches don't yet have plates covering the wiring. The good new is, I have my own bedroom. The bad news is the path between the dining room and the hall is not open. So, I have a ritual to go make it to my bed room. I didn't always have this ritual, but a few nights before I saw a shadow which looked very much like a person.

I flip the first switch in the kitchen, illuminating the room. It is partially finished, cabinets in and drywall covering the studs. I walk quickly across the rough floor. I am looking around,but there is nothing tonight.

When I get to the switch on the other side, I don't flip it. I don't flip it because it will plunge me into darkness. I could flip the switch in the hallway, but there is no switch that goes to that light near my bedroom and my Dad frowns on lights being left on all night, so I don't. Instead I go right into my bedroom.

It was in here I saw him. Not all at once, no startle factor because, poof he's there. It was more insidious than that. I hear a light sound or stirring that caused me to look around the blues and blacks of a room lit by the moon. The closet is dark, dark enough the patterns are made of black on black. Then a look and the rounded shapes are about six feet tall. I am working out what it is that could make that shape. The shadow wavers, but doesn't step forward, just solidifies in my mind.

He is gone by the time I get to the light switch.

Once in my bedroom, I flip the switch in there and circle back to turn off the light in the kitchen. I am almost done. I am facing the door of my bedroom, the remaining light, when I turn off the kitchen light. In my room, I look the the floor and my bed. I look into the closet filled with only clothes and toys. I hit the switch and run, jumping into my bed. If the man is there, he stays hidden. I know, because I am watching.