Blank Stares

I’m a scaredy-cat. There’s nothing that I hate more than being left alone at night in a dark, rambling house. In truth I usually do okay. Stay in my chair, on my computer… watch horror movies and shows. I’m a scaredy-cat, but I kind of like being scared.

I was doing my usual routine. Watching things, snacking, waiting for my room mates to get home and bring the house to life again. Nature called to me and I abandoned my comfortable nest I made in the arm chair to wander to the bathroom. This room in particular is one of those modern examples of style. Big white space with mirrored surfaces, and the affronting display of the latrine tucked into its own small room with a linen closet behind a separate door.

It really bugs me, but whenever some one else uses my bathroom they always leave all the doors ajar. I never catch them so I don’t know who to scold, but they all know it bothers me. It’s probably why they do it. This was one of those occasions, where the toilet door was wide open and the linen door cracked just inside of it. Whatever, it’s not that big of a deal.

Stepping forward into the bathroom, past the dark crack between the wall and the other door… I froze. Out of the corner of my eye I saw… something. My startled brain tried to gather the pieces of the glimpse. It looked like a white face. Wide and bony, with dark pitted eye sockets and a Grinch-like grin. I saw it low to the ground, under where the door handle is located.

There I was staring at the back of the door, a creeping feeling making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. There’s nothing there, right? I have an over active imagination, and often “see” things at a glance but this felt… different. My friends warned me about watching so many horror films. I chuckled nervously at my foolishness, but… I reached out and closed the door any way.

Back to business. I unzip and turn to the porcelain throne. Still, that feeling of static down my spine. It feels like I’m being watched. Damn it, I can’t pee like this. I turned to face the closet again. Door closed just like I left it. For a minute or two I just stay there. Watching the door.

“This is stupid,” the sound of my own voice startling in the tense air. “There is nothing there and you know it. It’s just not logical to be acting this way!” With the little pep talk snapping me out of my unfounded petrification, I do as I need and leave… but you know, closing the door after me.

I just don’t like them open, okay? Wash my hands at the separate sink and head back to my room, closing the final door to the gleaming white (and utterly harmless) room.

Seriously, whats wrong with me? I closed out the show I was watching and opened a new tab to a meme site, needing something funny to take my mind out of my current state of agitation. Everything’s fine for goodness sake!… wait… was that the bathroom door I just heard?