Strangest thing you have ever witnessed?, page 1

great stories people! well here is mine:

at 18 i, like most other 18 year olds, moved out into my first apartment. i had 3 roommates, a good job, and a desire to get my life started. the apartment itself was fairly new, maybe 10 -15 years old and in good shape, overlooking a golf course with the rocky mountains in the background. i say this all to stress the normalcy of the situation. i wasn't troubled, i didn't drink (that much), hadn't the desire to experiment with or abuse drugs, and had good solid relationships with my friends and family.

up to this point i had witnessed a few paranormal things, lights switching off and on by themselves, shadowy figures in darkened hallways, even saw a ufo once. but i wasn't obsessed with the paranormal. it was after the first three days in this new house that i began to doubt myself, that i had read too much stephen king and peter straub.

the first thing i noticed was a gray to black blur that would quickly dart across the room, usually in midday. i figured it was the shadow of a bird flying by outside, there was a large tree next to our balcony. next came the inexplicable moving of objects, books moved from one bedroom to another, video tapes in the vcr when they should have still been packed away in boxes. still, i blamed the roomies, knowing full well that those girls i lived with were nosey and a little crass. food started appearing on the counters half eaten, looking as if it were picked at by an animal of some sort rather than eaten by a human. then i saw the cat.

i walked in the front door and there in the middle of our sparse (we were 18, we sat on milk crates) living room a gorgeous black cat stared back at me with brilliant yellow eyes. immediately it turned and ran to the back bedroom where my roommate was lying on her bed reading. i asked if she saw the cat, she looked at me like i was insane. we tore apart her closet and all the boxes she still had left to unpack. we checked the other bedrooms, the closets, the bathrooms. nothing.

for weeks after i was the only one to see the cat. then the nightmares started.

i would wake in a cold sweat, the image of a teenage girl soaking wet standing in front of me with accusing eyes still fresh in my minds eye. i couldn't sleep in my bedroom anymore, so i set up camp on our brand new slightly used sofa, which didn't quite make the roomies happy, but i owned everything in the living room anyway. the nightmares stopped.

finally, the one roomie that was never really home, admitted that during a lunchtime romp with her current boytoy she saw the cat, and he did too. they tore up the house just like i had before with nothing.

the sounds started around that same time. high pitched whirring noises coming from the walls, a thumping noise coming from the bathroom, a few times some muffled voices coming from one of the bedrooms. sure, its an apartment and the walls are never that thick, but my gut told me that it wasn't the elderly couple downstairs or the single mother above, nor from the empty apt next door.

in the coming weeks whatever it was decided not to be shy anymore. cabinets and doors would open and shut by themselves. something started flicking pennies under the door when someone would sit on the toilet in the bathroom. the electronics would turn off and on, digital clocks changing times by themselves, video tapes recorded over with god awful episodes of ally macbeal.

we lived there for just the 6 month lease and dealt with whatever would happen.

and now, whatever it is, the cat, the girl, the voices, have followed me ever since. i've learned to live with them, and all of my friends have seen things. i own a cat now, and she stares up into space and meows like she is greeting someone out of nowhere.

so i guess the strangest thing that ever happened to me is still happening

sorry to be long winded, but i could have told a lot more.