When I was 16 years old, I was invited to a sweet 16 birthday party of one of my classmates in the Bronx, NY. When I got to the apartment, an eerie feeling came over me. I walked in and put my coat down. While walking through the hallway, I noticed a weird picture hanging on the wall. It was a picture of my friend's mother. Of course, this by itself isn't what is weird about this photo. What's uncomfortable is her facial expression. The eyes followed you around the apartment. No matter which direction you moved, the eyes were there. It's a creepy photo and that creep-factor was even confirmed by my friend.
The birthday festivities went on as planned. We played games, ate cake, and told jokes. It was getting late, so I decided to spend the night. We all prepared for bed, did a bit of gossiping about people from school, and soon after, the room fell silent as everyone was fast asleep. I was awoken by this sudden urge to use the bathroom. I don't know how much time had passed, but I had to go badly. The bathroom was outside of the room I was sleeping in, and down the hall passed that creepy photo. I was so tired that when I went to sit on the toilet, I didn't even close the door, but everyone was sleeping so I didn't care. As I sat on the toilet, I saw two shadowy figures in the bathroom doorway. One of them was a young boy about age 6, and a dog, the silhouette of a German Shepard sitting next to the boy. I had to shake my head and snap out of the sleepy stupor to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. After 15 seconds, the two figures just walked away and disappeared. I'll tell you that I wiped my ass and got the hell out of that bathroom so fast you would think my name was The Flash. I got back in the bed, put the covers over my head and fell asleep just like that.
When breakfast was being served, I thought it appropriate to discuss what I saw the night before. No one seemed surprised, and I found this really odd. My friend's mother validated that what I had seen is real and that they see these shadowy figures often. WTF?! My friend and her mom explained that there had been a murder/suicide in the apartment before they moved in. The previous tenant in the apartment was a mentally unstable mother with her young son and their dog. One day the woman snapped and killed her child and slit the dog's throat. When she was done, she hung herself. "They aren't evil," my friend said. "They are just...there." I looked at her in shock. I also wanted to slap her silly for putting me in a situation like this.
On my way home I was annoyed. It would have been great to know that there are loose spirits just living with you and your family. I wish I would have known so I could have at least prepared myself. Does it matter that this happened in October? October 16, 2000, to be exact. I guess this was the perfect experience right before Halloween. It gave me a story to tell.