Burlington, Vt Specter

So, I'm a traveler. I've lived a lot of places, and as a result I have friends in all of them. I also keep a journal, so this is written based off the entry I had made on July 23, 2008, the morning after the event below. It was summer 2008 that I found myself homeless, as a matter of fact, and sort of living out of my van and couch-surfing with my cat, Jezz, whom I've mentioned previously. By sort-of, I mean we always had a place to park or camp, and I nearly always had access to running or fresh water and we usually could get some good food.

We had the luck of staying with a friend in Burlington, VT for a few weeks in July, as his roommates were away on break between "Summer Sessions" at Uni. Because his roommates were a bit neurotic, and my Mum and Pop raised me to respect boundaries and privacy, Jezz and I were to sleep on the living room couch. This was a nice change since we'd been hunkering down in my van for about a month, and I think she, as much as I, looked forward to something soft to lie on. We were there about a week before anything strange happened.

I was working at the laundry mat across the street, and had been racking in a fair number of hours. The owner paid cash, and most nights he brought my coworker and I a "thirty-rack" of beer. This was a Tuesday night, my buddy was out for the evening, and I was pretty tuckered (and booze-free), so I took a quick shower, scarfed some leftovers, and hunkered down on the couch for sleep. Jezz was all right with this - she hopped right up onto my legs, curled up, and slept through this whole experience.

I kept my cellphone plugged in charging next to me every night, as a nightlight and also because I had grown accustomed to not having electricity for periods and wanted my cellular to stay charged. I remember distinctly waking up to a door opening, and looking at the time on my cellular, out of pure habit - it was 4:18AM. Thinking maybe it was my buddy home after all, I called out to him and asked how his night was. No response. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I called his name once more after hearing light footsteps in the bedroom directly in front of my feet from where I was positioned on the couch - the "foot" of the couch was directly in front of a bedroom doorway.

I knew that the bedroom closest to me shouldn't have anyone in it, and as I thought this, I also realized that the door should be shut - it was open, wide as could be. I was about to get up when I saw a form in the doorway. I wear glasses, and am near-sighted, so anything at that distance looks fuzzy to me. Again, thinking it was my buddy, I asked what he was doing in his roommate's room - what was up? I distinctly remember having cocked my head to the side, kind of like dogs do when they "don't get it."

The form quickly flashed from the doorway to directly in front of my face - It didn't walk, it didn't glide; one second it was in the doorway, and then the next - I had in front of my eyes this long-nosed, squinty eyed THING cocked ITS head in the opposite direction, mimicking me. I don't know how long I sat there staring at it, and it at me, but after awhile I blinked and it was gone.

I flashed on all the lights, stuffed my glasses onto my face, and did a thorough look-about in the flat - no one was home. No one. Not a single living soul. Just me, and Jezz, who had remained asleep on my lap throughout the entire experience, and was quite disgruntled to be so rudely awakened. Needless to say, we didn't stay in the apartment the rest of the night. We went straight to my van.

The next day, I told my friend I was skipping out to Maine sooner than expected, and have not been back to the apartment since. I've never talked to him, or his roommates, about what I experienced, and as far as I know they still live in the same apartment, four years later. Maybe I'll wait until they talk to me about it:)