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Just Passing Through... I Hope

 

A series of thunderstorms blew through my part of Texas several weeks ago. Since South Texas was in the midst of a devastating drought and an outbreak of wildfires when this happened, the storms were a welcomed relief. That night, as the storms raged, I sat down on my couch in my living room and settled in for some "alone time" with my laptop and a plate of oatmeal raisin cookies, the sounds of the storm playing softly in the background. Unfortunately, my "alone time" was about to be rudely interrupted.

I had been sitting on the couch, staring at my laptop screen and drooling like a moron when the storm suddenly began to intensify. The wind made an eerie whistling sound, the thunder and lightning seemed more frequent and the rain beat down on my kitchen window harder than I had ever seen before. Then, as my luck would have it, the lights began to flicker, and within a few seconds the electricity was completely out. I was slightly annoyed by this occurrence (as I've never been one to enjoy complete darkness - it creeps me the **** out) but not completely disheartened. After all, our wireless internet router has a backup power source that lasts 12 hours in case of power outages, and as long as I could surf the internet, the apocalypse could come and go and I wouldn't care less. After about an hour of more mindless internet surfing I realized that my laptop battery was getting low, so I turned it off and went to hunt down a flashlight or some candles and matches.

Suddenly, it happened!

...I hit my knee on the coffee table.

Those of you who have ever hit your knee on a coffee table know the feeling. For two whole minutes I lay on the wood floor of my living room, writhing in pain and muttering enough curse words to make a whole ship full of sailors blush. Momentarily vanquished in my flashlight-seeking efforts by a wayward coffee table, I laid there motionless on the floor and waited for the pain to subside. As I focused my eyes on the kitchen windows where periodic flashes of lightning shone through, I noticed something strange. I wasn't sure of it at first, but I thought I saw the silhouette of a person standing in front of the window each time the lightning lit up the room. It was so dark, and my mind was so discombobulated by the pain that I didn't know what to think. After a few more minutes, I got up and hobbled over to the kitchen to see if someone was really there, or if I was just going batspit nuts. My eyes adapted to the darkness, and sure enough, standing directly in front of the windows was some sort of humanoid figure. I can't remember much about what it looked like, aside from the fact that it was about my height (5 ft 7in), pitch black (like some sort of human-shaped void in the darkness) and featureless.

I froze, mostly out of sheer terror and partly due to the fact that my knee was still throbbing like a psychotic drummer's bass drum and it hurt to move. For a moment - and I kid you not - I thought that the nun from my previous story had returned to wreak her horrible vengeance for some unspeakable transgression I had inadvertently committed. Fortunately, after a few seconds I was pretty certain this was not the case. This thing had a different "feel" to it than the nun. I can't really explain what I mean by that. It just "felt" like it was a different entity, and for some inexplicable reason I got the feeling that it was lost. What gave me that feeling, I can't explain. I have no idea how long it had been standing there, or how it got there. I watched it as it stood there for about 30 seconds, and then moved in sort of a gliding motion toward the back of the house and disappeared.

I should emphasize the fact that my house is probably not haunted. In the 19 years I've lived in this house I've never had any indication that it was haunted. My father died here in 2003, but I'm pretty sure he didn't stick around, and being the man he was I'm not sure he'd want to pay any of us a visit either. My best guess as to why it was here is that this entity was lost in the storm and was just passing through, perhaps taking temporary shelter in my home. There was a fatal car accident earlier that evening not far from where I live, and I've had this nagging feeling that this incident may be related. I hope I'm wrong for this poor soul's sake. It really did seem lost. I haven't seen the entity since, and I pray that it isn't simply hiding in my home.

If that's the case, it had better not get too comfortable...

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, brainlessbandit, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Argette (guest)
 
13 years ago (2011-11-17)
BB, I have found that in times of severe stress, I am more receptive to things of a spiritual nature, and I don't mean religion. I mean, a lot of my experiences with clairvoyance came in periods of extreme stress and worry. Is it possible extreme pain could be the same?

I've never had a really frightening experience, but when I did have experiences, I was always in a depressed or down state.

I don't think I'm being very helpful here. But I am intrigued...
brainlessbandit (2 stories) (27 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-11-17)
Thank you Argette!:] And yes, it sure does hurt. I was sore for days after that. Haha. Nothing weird has happened since, and I hope it stays that way!

Jammydodgerman, good theory... Except I don't think it could've been my reflection in the window, considering the blinds were closed. I guess I should've mentioned this in the story, but we have yellow Venetian blinds on all our windows that we keep closed at night. They're not exactly translucent but they're thin enough so that lights from intense light sources (such as floodlights or lightning) can get through. Also, I'm pretty sure the figure was standing in front of the window; I remember seeing its "body" extending below the window sill. I have half a mind to believe your theory on my, um... Altered state of mind though. It could be that instead of seeing stars when I'm in pain, I see ghosts. Haha. Thanks for your input:]
Argette (guest)
 
13 years ago (2011-11-17)
What a great writing style you have! You had me from the plate of cookies to the very end.

That being said, I have to agree with Jammydodgerman (great names you guys have!) I could be some sort of shadow, some trick of light. It's the gliding off part that throws me and my theory out the window.

Has anything else weird happened?

And, oh, my Brainless (I doubt it!) Bandit, knocking your knee on anything hurts like crazy!
Jammydodgerman (2 stories) (13 posts)
 
13 years ago (2011-11-17)
This may sound silly, but I like to think out all of the rational options of all the stories I read before pointing the finger at dead people. This requires a scientific and spiritual open-mindedness so bear with me:)

You say the power went out, so you were without light? Perhaps the shape was nothing more than a reflection on the window pane, and you also mention standing right at the window, and saying the figure was the same height as you- this again points to reflections- a reflection of you to be exact. You also say that darkness scares you, and adding to this you were in pain. Your body's senses were on high alert, making you more susceptible to picking up on things.

Please don't think I'm being critical of your story, I'm just trying to put you at ease. Thanks for the story 😁

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