• Note: Not all of the freaky things that’ve happened to me in my life happend within the confines of Climax, therefor I’ve decided to change the name of this series from Creepy Climax to the very simple, yet effective “Fear the Dark” in order to accurately cover my bases.

This story isn’t so much a linear tale as it is a collection of events that happened to me and my roomate in our first college apartment. The complex we lived in wasn’t the kind of place that you would associate with the supernatural, it was a crappy college place built in the late 70’s, that had gone through just enough renovations to stay standing. We lived in a two story townhouse right next to the pool and for the first few months it was a college paradise. That is until we realized we weren’t the only ones living in our apartment.

I.

For awhile the apartment right next to us was empty. This was great for all the obvious reasons with the main one being the noise factor. You didn’t have to worry about being too loud or your neighbors bothering you when there are none. It’s this train of thought that made it a bit perplexing when we began hearing things from next door late in the night. I was out of town during the first part of these occurences and was told by my roomate some of the things that he would hear. If this happened during the day we would’ve assumed it was maintenance, but at 3 in the morning, noises from an empty apartment will peak your senses. I was skeptical until I heard it for myself.

The first time it happened I was alone. It was about 2 a.m. and I had just laid down to go to sleep. My bedroom shared a wall with the upstairs hallway of the empty apartment next door, and my bed was located relatively close to it so I could hear everything that went on. I was lying there for about 15 minutes when I heard the first steps. They were slow and methodical, and once what ever it was reached the top of the stairs it immeadiately turned and walked back down them. This process was repeated three times until any sign of life next door simply disappeared. The walking continued even when someone moved in next door. It just became easier to ignore when there were actual people over there. Regardless, I locked my bedroom door every night from then on.

II.

Sounds are one thing, as it’s easy for your ears to play tricks on you. Seeing something with your own two eyes is much more convincing. Especially something that has no business existing. Me, my roomate and a friend of ours were sitting in our living room watching television one night around 10. Our new neighbors were having a party next door so it was loud outside and people were walking around in the parking lot right outside of our window. As they walked by they would cast shadows on the opposite wall creating funny little scenes for us to look at and for the most part entertained us more than the tv we were watching. This went on for about an hour when we were all startled by something strange. The shadows had switched walls. They were now on the same wall as the window itself, also the same wall as the light source. If you know anything about shadows, physics and nature then this would also have seemed strange to you. The shadows then dances around the wall back to where they should’ve been. The three of us just sat there not really sure what to make of what just had happend. We still don’t.

III.

We had lived in this apartment for months and had zero problems with our circuitry. However there was a week in January when we some funny stuff started happening. The first, and probably most explainable was when lights in our apartment began flickering on and off a different times. I was cooking something in the kitchen one night when the tv in the living room started going crazy. It turned on, then off, then on again. At first this seemed like a power surge, but the other electronics hooked up to the same outlet weren’t affected. I walked back into the kitchen and the lights began to flick on an off. When it stopped the tv went crazy again. I finally just unplugged the TV while I continued to cook. I was weirded out, but the age of our apartments kept my mind in check. I called maintenance the next morning to have them come check our breakers to make sure nothing was broken. They came out, looked things over and said everything was fine. In fact, they said we had one of the better apartments in the complex, since it had recently been rewired. I didn’t think to much of it for the rest of the week, besides, power surges are a normal occurrence. Then came the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The next weekend I was sitting in my living room late one night. Nowhere in the apartment was there a single piece of electronics turned on except for my computer. It was dark and quiet, the perfect night to relax. All of a sudden I heard a booming voice from my bedroom. I ran up the stairs and opened the door to find my TV on with the volume up full blast. I knew for a fact that the last time I used my television it was on one of my input channels and the volume had been turned down almost to mute. I was perplexed as to how my TV could have changed channels and turned itself all the way up without anyone touching it. Power surges don’t do that. It takes some physical intervention to make those changes. I was sufficiently freaked out by the experience to say the least, but from that week forward there weren’t any other electrical issues, only bumps in the night and strange noises from the apartment next door.

IV.

The scariest thing that I experience while living in this particular apartment happened during the last month we lived there. There weren’t many nights when I was by myself in this place, but this particular night was one of them. It was a little after midnight and I was sitting in the living room once again, only this time there were plenty of lights on and I was playing Halo relatively loud. During a quiet moment I could have sworn that I heard the blinds on our back door rustle around. I ran quickly into the kitchen to check it out think maybe my roomate left the door unlocked so he could come in through the back door. I turned on the kitchen light and no one was there. The only sign of life was the gentle sway of the blinds as if someone had just closed them. I opened the back door and checked our patio. Nothing. Our patio gate was almost impossible to open without waking up the entire neighborhood and it was clear the door hadn’t been touched. But it was abundantly clear that something had messed with the door. I stayed standing out on the patio listening for anything around the outside of our gate. It was then that I heard a loud thump from the inside of the apartment. Something was walking around in my bedroom. The lights were off upstairs so I couldn’t make out any shapes. There were no voices, only steps. I made my way into the kitchen where the sound of the steps was much more clearer now. They sounded the exact same as the ones that moved slowly up and down the stairs, only now they were right above me, walking where I slept at night. I had no choice but to go up there. As I headed to my room I grabbed a hammer from under the sink and turned on every light that I passed by. I crept up the steps trying not to make a sound, stopping outside of my door to listen to what was inside, pressing my ear up against the door. I stood there for a few seconds before I swung my door open and turned on the light. My bedroom stood eerily still.

You know the feeling you get when you know that you aren’t by yourself in a room, or that someone is watching you. My roommate and I are still positive to this day that there was a presence in our apartment. We never felt threatened by it, but it was there, watching, and walking slowly in the dark.