It's starting to happen..and I'm afraid there is nothing I can do about it...

I want to share these events with you. Perhaps it will help me make better sense of it all, or bring about some acceptance.. I don't know. I suppose I'll start with a little bit of back story first :

My boyfriend and I moved to this area about a year ago now. We were grateful to have found a decent apartment for a reasonable price. I love the location, and it seemed like a good place to start putting our new life together. Our cat (Potato) seemed to settle in quickly and contentedly as well. It's tough sometimes thinking about how far away my family is now, but my boyfriend and I needed a change.

I work very part-time from home at the moment, while my boyfriend works long hours and isn't home most of the day. As a result, I do most of the chores and errands with the extra time that I have. I rather enjoy the time to myself. I've always been one to need plenty of alone time to recharge, and can come off rather shy and reserved to anyone who doesn't have a close relationship with me. Because of these tendencies (in addition to still feeling relatively new to the area), I have not made any real friends yet. I'm maybe not the best at making new friends as an adult I've realized, and neither is my boyfriend. So, we mostly keep to ourselves.

Life was fine, and days flew by quickly as the 1 year mark approached. It was about a month ago when I started noticing some strange things happening though. I didn't really make anything of it at first, up until very recently that is..

I think the first notable event that sticks out in my mind happened when I was at the grocery store about a month ago. I had just entered the store and was fumbling with my grocery list, when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me. I looked up to find a timid-looking elderly man in front of me. His clothing was heavily wrinkled, and I caught whiffs of what smelled like gasoline coming from them almost immediately. His eyes were partially obscured by cataracts, and his grey hair hung in limp strands all around his scalp. He had a bit of a stutter as he began to speak to me :

"Scu..ex..excuse m-m-me miss..."

And then suddenly his stutter was absent :

"So sorry to bother you, but I must know. Do you..."

He trailed off, and his entire being instantly appeared to be in a frozen-like state. A couple seconds passed. I remember giving out a nervous chuckle (habit of mine in awkward situations), and my eyes darted around to see that everyone else around me was going about their business as normal. I started to panic a little, thinking this old man was dying in front of me or something. I was about to ask if he was okay, and had reached out a tentative hand with the intention of placing it on his shoulder, when he suddenly shivered and seemed to snap out of his state.

He just stared at me silently with a blank look on his face. Then he turned around without a word, and started shuffling away. I watched with confusion as he slowly made his way out of the store, through the automatic doors into the parking lot, and disappeared around the corner. I stood there for a long moment thinking how bizarre that was, and eventually chalked it up to the old man being mistaken and suffering from dementia perhaps.

A week after that incident, I was at home waiting for my boyfriend to get off work since we had dinner plans. It was just about 5:30 pm, and I figured he should be walking up at any minute. I went over to the door to look out the peep hole and see if I could see his car in the parking lot. When I peered out the hole, my heart jumped and I barely contained the startled gasp that wanted to escape from my mouth.

A woman stood directly facing the door. She wore a dull floral-print dress that had a very vintage look, and her brown hair was long and pinned to the side with a barrette. It was hard to tell her age - her face looked rather youthful, while her clothing and style seemed to age her. I squinted to try and focus better, but the peep hole lens made everything somewhat distorted anyway. I knew I hadn't seen her around the apartment complex before, but I thought maybe she was new. Her pale green eyes appeared to be focused at a spot right above the peep hole, which made me wonder if there was a note or something stuck to the door from either FedEx or the landlord perhaps. I was about to open the door and see what was going on, when something in my gut prevented me from doing so.

I don't know why, but the way she just intently stared at the one spot with a half smile on her face kind of creeped me out. Her expression and body did not budge. I slowly backed away from the door, careful not to make any noise. I got to the couch in my living room and just sat down, not understanding my sudden urge to start crying. Then I remembered my boyfriend should be home any minute. Before I could think or do anything else, I heard the door lock turn.

My boyfriend came through the door, and relief washed over me as I scrambled up from the couch towards him. I anxiously glanced over his shoulder at the opened door, while asking him if he had seen anybody going down the stairs (we live on the second floor). He looked up at me with a quizzical expression. I let out a little nervous laugh and just shook my head to say nevermind. After he started walking to the bedroom to get changed, I stepped outside and looked around the complex and parking lot, but saw no sign of the woman. I had decided not to bring it all up to my boyfriend that evening, the silly reason being that I didn't want to weird him out and think that I was "watching" for him to get home.

Later on during that same week, I was cleaning the bathroom and heard a loud noise come from the spare bedroom. Potato came bounding around the corner from the direction of that room, rushing to my side with his ears back. "Great...", I thought to myself. I assumed he had knocked something over and scared himself from the noise. I started to make my way over to the spare room.

About halfway there, I heard the noise again. I hadn't really registered the sound when I initially heard it, but now that I was closer and could hear a little better, I thought it sounded like something was being ripped. I curiously continued towards the room, and flipped on the light switch upon entering. After doing a walk-through, I didn't see anything that was out of place or suspicious. I was about to leave the room, when something caught the corner of my eye on the end table that stands by the door.

It was a single red string, and it formed the shape of a spiral. I cocked my head and wondered what it could've been from. I was about to pick it up, when I was suddenly overcome by a strange sense of being watched. I glanced around my shoulder, and of course there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Potato hadn't even followed me to the room, I noticed. I quickly grabbed the little garbage can that was nearby and held it level to the end table. With a swift swipe of my hand across the table's surface, the red string was trashed and forgotten about.

Another week passed, and I started noticing that I've been progressively having more trouble falling and staying asleep than I normally do. I typically am a night owl, but now it takes me even longer to fall asleep than before, and I've sometimes been waking up 1-3 times randomly throughout the night for no apparent reason.

Earlier this week, I was in bed trying to fall asleep. I checked my phone on the nightstand and groaned when I saw the time read 1:23 am. I resituated my pillow and was about to try settling in again, when I found my eyes drawn towards the far wall of the bedroom.

My eyes strained in the dark towards the far wall, trying to make out if there was a reason for why they were drawn to it. All I could see were 3 tall shadows that stretched up towards the ceiling. They were shaped like long rectangles, but the edges were fuzzy and blurred when I attempted to focus harder on them. I didn't know why I kept staring at them.. It wasn't like anything had been moving or happening. I scolded myself for letting the dark get to me. I was about to close my eyes and continue my quest for sleep, when I suddenly realized what seemed out of place.

I had never seen those shadows there before. There aren't usually any shadows on that far wall. The only source of illumination in our bedroom at night comes from the soft, muted glow of a small night light near our connected bathroom door. The glow does cast shadows around the room, but is not at the right angle or position to create any shadows on the far wall. I looked over at the night light, but nothing had seemed unusual or out of place. I couldn't account for the 3 shadows, and firmly decided that I didn't want to try contemplating about them more. I squeezed my eyes shut and nestled in closer to my boyfriend for comfort, until sleep eventually came over me.

The following night, I saw that those shadows weren't there anymore as I stared across the room at the blank far wall. I was having trouble falling asleep once again, and the clock on my phone read 2:18 am when I checked.

I must've fallen asleep eventually, as I remember groggily opening my eyes while I felt pressure at the end of the bed. I knew it had to be Potato. He sometimes gets cuddly at night and wants to snuggle up between me and my boyfriend. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up to reach for my fur baby, but stopped when I saw him.

He was sitting stock still at the foot of the bed, facing me. His eyes were wide as they seemed to be transfixed on a spot above my head on the wall behind us. Sometimes he sees little flying gnats and likes to stalk them. I figured there must've been a bug on the wall or something. I turned around and followed his gaze.

Nothing.

I grabbed my phone and pressed a button to shine its light along the wall, scanning to find what he was so focused on. I still came up with nothing. I turned the phone light towards Potato, and he remained silent and still as he continued to stare in the same direction. I reached over to pat his head, but before I was able to touch him, he bolted from the room. I sighed with annoyance more than anything, cause cats are just weirdos sometimes. It took me awhile to fall back asleep again, and I woke up the next morning drenched in sweat from horrible nightmares.

It was last night when I really began to believe that it's starting to happen, and that maybe I'd been foolish in my attempts to dismiss the odd events from this past month. I don't know for sure.

I had been in a deep sleep when my eyes suddenly shot open, and they tried to adjust to the darkness. I noticed the little night light must've gone out. I felt extremely cold, and an unpleasant feeling of dread took over me.

I sat up and fumbled for my phone. I turned on the screen, seeing it was 3:36 am. I held up my phone, and proceeded to sweep the room in a half circle motion, bathing it in blue light - back and forth, back and forth..

Nothing.

I checked the wall behind us too for good measure, but nothing was there. Why did I wake up so suddenly? Potato was nowhere in the room from what I could tell, and my boyfriend was still by my side. I started feeling a little dizzy, so I rested my head back down on the pillow again to collect myself. I turned to face my boyfriend, and let out a startled high-pitched squeak when I realized his eyes were wide open.

"Geez, you startled me.. I didn't know you were awake..", I said as I laughed nervously.

No response.

Puzzled, I tried speaking again. "Honey?.. You okay..?"

Still no response.

What the hell.. I waved my hand with the phone light in front of his face, but he just continued to stare through me in silence. I was about to shake him, but then some unknown force stopped my hand in midair.

I suddenly felt pure terror coursing through my veins as I looked helplessly upon the face of the only person that I had felt like I was secure with around here. My boyfriend was my anchor and safe haven. My lips trembled as hot tears spilled down my cheeks. I curled up in the fetal position, putting as much space between myself and my boyfriend as I could.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I woke up this morning to find my boyfriend was gone.

I checked my phone and saw a text from him, saying that he had gotten called into work earlier than usual, and that he'd be home later on tonight.

He got home a few hours ago. We ate supper in silence, and now he is currently playing video games with his buddies online. I haven't opened up to him about everything yet, but I know that I probably should.

I can't sHake this terrified feEling I have though. I can't go to bed tonight. Something is definiteLy wrong, and I don't feel safe sleePing next to my boyfriend anymore. I wish I had a friend or faMily member nEarby. I'm so afraid.

I'm afraid there is nothing I can do about it.