He Used To Live Here

This took place about a week before the events in "This Scared Me Silly... Not Sure Why".

As was my habit, I'd stopped up at my mother's apartment to have dinner, and visit with her for a while-she lived in a government-owned highrise in downtown Lorain. The residents were mainly elderly people, with a recent smattering of younger folks on some sort of disability.

Ma and I sat watching tv and talking until about 12:30, when she decided to go to bed. For me, the night was still young, and I planned to stop off at the bar across the street from my building, and have a beer or two. I signaled the elevator, and got on when it arrived.

The car reached the lobby, and the doors opened. The office was closed, and the lobby empty, the lights dimmed, the tv off, and no one to be seen.

I'd crossed half the distance to the door when I got the strong sensation of being watched... I turned to look behind me, and there, standing between me and the elevators, was a tall, elderly man, white-haired, wearing steel-rimmed glasses, a white shirt with a blue sweater, and tan slacks. I knew many of the residents by name, others by sight, but he was a stranger to me. There was no way he'd come down in the elevator, as it ran rather noisily, and I would have been aware of its arrival.

He stood there eerily still, like a hologram, his expression neutral, eyes locked upon me, piercing, but at the same time, empty, as if there were no life in them. That sense of not-rightness hung in the air between us, and out of nervousness more than anything else, I spoke to him. "Hello", I said.

"Hello", he replied, and the uneasy silence got even more intense, as the seconds ticked by. He did not move, or change expression.

"Do-do you live here?"

"I used to..."

Still with no change, save the uneasiness, which got stronger. I stammered out a goodbye, mustered all my fortitude, and turned toward the exit, briskly stepping out through the double doors.

As I started down the walk, something struck me... Had his lips moved when he talked?

I began to turn, to go peek back through lhe window, but decided I should leave well enough alone, and kept walking.

The next time I was at the highrise, I described the man to Ma and to other tenants-no one recognized him.