It's been almost four years now since I've attended this college and I still can't get used to the oddities that everyone always ignores. Waking up, it was that time of the morning that it always shows up. Out the window, a corpse was hanging by its neck. Without even looking at its face, I knew that it was staring at me. The limbs all drooped down seemingly about to fall off. The thought of it always staying with me forever has been haunting me for a while but now the sight of it even being in my peripheral vision gave me no fear as I dressed up for the morning.
Being my last year here I had worked hard so that I could relax later on in the year. Despite the long walk I only had two classes left, in those moments when I'm walking all by myself I can feel it behind me, always following. It wasn't only me who was being followed. Across from me, in the parking lot, a girl walked past me and with her was another, similar to mine. Hanging in the sky it was vaguely transparent to my eyes blending into the skies. From what I could tell it has the same figure like mine with some other features that are similar to herself. A few students have one, hovering over them. I let out a puff of air warming up my shivering hands. It was one of those cold days where my ears would have frozen off if not for my hoodie. Sometimes, with the Puppet that is right above me I couldn't help but get the feeling that on these specific days it would be breathing down behind my neck.
The Puppet wasn't the only thing that was strange about this school. A few cars that I always see passing through the parking lot always had faint faces inside. Some I could tell were just fogs that seemed to be made by people's own breaths and the others. The others I would see, sitting in silence in the driver's seat. Dead faced, no eyes, no teeth. Their skin, always wrinkled away. Nothing happens when they appear, it was one of those anomalies that I never bothered to figure out nor did I have time to care as they never bothered me unlike the one that always follows.
At this time as the day began the library was a comfortable place to be. Opening the side door to the library the lights lit up. The only ones that could be here are the librarians, me, and any early risers like me. Sitting down on a seat it looked like one of those seats that an old lady would have in their house. I sank into the soft cushion fully relaxed. Closing my eyes, getting a quick glance of the Puppet as I lean my head back. Every time I'm in a building it likes floating a few feet in front of me showing only half its legs. It stares, I couldn't see its eyes but I could tell it always wanted me to look at its face, nonetheless I don't. Thinking about my time here at this school it was always one anomaly to another.
Moving into my dorm when I first came here as I unpackaged my belongings a nice old janitor would sweep the floor that I was on. From morning to noon to the middle of the night. I always hear her, sweeping away, passing by my room. She always disappeared once I left my room for class. She must be cleaning the other floors, was what I thought. One day, maybe by some chance as I opened the door she sweeps right past my door. The only thing is I barely see her body. Her physical form was fading. I could see right through her. Blinking as much as I could, rubbing my eyes, she disappears. What was my reaction at that time? Nothing, I attended my classes thinking I was seeing things because I wasn't used to waking up so early in the morning. The sweeping sounds, it had stopped from then on. I was always curious what had happened to her but after all these I understood what she really was.
Opening my eyes from my little map it seems to be watching me from behind a bookshelf even though the bookshelves themselves were against the walls. It's in my peripheral vision but I can tell, its arms and legs extended way past its limits as its limbs were hanging from one side of the book shelf to the other. I could image it now as it's long arms and legs, the rest was just stitched onto the shelf of books. More than one of them exist within this library, some come out at night just laying its body on the second floor rails and stairs and some, like this morning, are behind the shelves that exist within here. From my days of observing from the side , as long as they have not been directly looked at they won't slither their elongated bodies towards me. I made that mistake one time but I got out of there before it could reach me.
No matter how many times I see its legs and arms, just poking out and resting on the floor it's disturbing. Getting up from the comfort of this seat I couldn't start off my classes without having my morning breakfast. Here it is again as I embrace the cold air again another anomaly appears before me as I step through the main entrance. The field, the huge patch of grass where people held events or played some sports from time to time. I could see it, some fellow taking a short cut through the field to arrive at their destination and just like them I head on down to cross it. The moment I stepped on the field of grass the feeling of my legs were warm. It felt like a warm hand to me. In reality, it was nothing like that. Taking each step across the field my legs stuck to the ground as if I'm surrounded by cement in the process of hardening.
There was no need for me to look at what was holding me down, as always, there was nothing to see but only to imagine. Every time this field is crossed by me a new abnormality occurs. The first time I experienced this I wasn't as calm as before. The first time I kept hearing sounds of people, people screamed and whispered into my ear. I couldn't stand the noise as I looked for where the sound came from twisting and turning my body in every direction I could hear it from. All of this was from below, under me, is what I thought. Running off the field and falling onto the concrete floor I scared a few passerby who almost tripped over me. That was the beginning of my paranoia. There was no way for me to figure it out but now, as I cross this field I regret my decision as if I had taken the proper path it wouldn't have taken as long.
Forcing my last leg off I once again fell due to the force of pulling my leg out. Luckily there was no one there to see this embarrassing moment. Heading up the stairs into the common hall other students and faculty members go on their days unbeknownst to what occurs at this college. Checking into the cafeteria as I going to pick some food this anomaly always blocks the way. People are everywhere and not just students but a few of the dead that are hungry for food. It was a slobber fest as the food that is normally neat and clean to others are spread everywhere. The dead with their bare hands grabbed the food, swaying their arms around to every section of the food area trying to put them in their mouth despite the windshield that stopped them. To those that can't see they automatically walk around these dead beings whether it was unconsciously or instinctively. The hardest part about them was that they always blocked the hotdog section of the cafeteria. I always had to reach around the dead to grab one which every person can clearly see I'm doing except for the dead blocking me.
With two plates of food in my hand and a drink the only place without them that I could have some peace and quiet was the extra part of the cafeteria where most people go if they wanted less noise. This was one of the few places where I could be unbothered by everything that occurs in this school. The only weird part about this area were the few pieces of talismans that are on the door and walls. From what is known about talisman it is a yellow piece of rectangular paper with written blood to ward off evil spirits and the like. I'm grateful to these people for creating such things. Eating up all the food on my plate I drop them off onto the conveyor belt leaving to head up to Clark hall where my classes are. Heading up the stairs on the outside it weirdly always had flies flying around. Strangely enough, I wasn't the only one that could see this as everytime people go up the flies fly away or the people decide to take a different set of stairs instead.
There were a bunch of rumors as to why they are attracted to these stairs specifically. Piles of bodies were buried underneath the stairs and some just think that a dead animal may have died in the burrowed hole under the stairs. The second one seemed more believable but from what I had seen the first one is possible also. Reaching the top of the stairs the Puppet seems to be much closer to me than usual. It's presence could be felt as it floats right besides me this time. This was only the third time that it has gotten so close and I could never figure out why. The first time, I had planned on heading out into the city to explore a little but then it appeared out of nowhere, slowly turning while beside me to show its face. It looked like it was going to force me to stare at it if I went out. The second time, I was just enjoying the night view of the sky but it floated there in front of me blocking my view. That night was dark, dark enough that I couldn't really tell what it looked like. Every time it has appeared before me something has always stopped me from fully seeing its body.
The third time, I had done nothing but head out to see my dad and siblings who live in a different city. It stuck to me like a magnet orbiting over me like a shadow. So many times I had come close to seeing its face on accident. I wonder why it decides to do it once again. Taking the elevator to the third floor quickly entering the class where everyone already was. The class goes by quite slowly feeding off the boredom that I was feeling. It was one of the classes that I took because it was a 4 credit class. Within the class not much had caught my attention except for what was outside the window. In my position I had a clear view of what was outside the window. It was one of the many ways I could spend time here. What had caught my attention was simply a squirrel running about. Jumping around to one side of the tree to another holding onto its little acorn for dear life.
At some point its attention focuses on biting on the acorn repeatedly to break it open and once it has done it goes to search for food once again jumping around and around a single tree. Watching the squirrel go about its day just trying to live it felt like I had a connection to the little guy especially if the reason it moves around so much was because of the ghost squirrels which it and I choose to ignore. I choose to believe that it can see them but it tries to ignore them all for its own sake. The Puppet that was so close to me has gone back to its normal position, deciding to float in front of me only showing its legs. Even though this has happened the fourth time it continues to stay a mystery to me. The class ends for today and my next class starts in an hour.
Sometimes, I ask myself how I spend my time in between when there are no due dates for homework or nothing to worry about. Like most people I get distracted by the internet, where you can find any answer for any question that you have. So, that's what I do. Even after all these years of living here a part of me still wanted to understand why this was happening to me. I have searched articles, looked for spiritualists to tell me why, why I can see them, I've even used this chance to write a short story of what I've experienced for the Halloween story assignment I had for one of my classes. Although, I struggled to add specific details of how I truly felt being in those terrifying positions seeing such things that no one could. The hour passed by and my next class was all the way down the hill inside the art and music building.
The way down was long and twisty as the stairs had all been placed at different lengths. I passed through the common hall diner and went down the stairs, passing by the gym room. It was another set of stairs to another, each stair was at different lengths whether it was short or wide. I still remember that one time in my 3rd year here a deer standing on its two legs attempted to challenge the long stairs. As I watched it take a single step down it immediately broke every bone in its body with every hit down. I watched from behind as the body started to turn into dust. With the class starting I go on inside the class and today we were trying out contour lines, lines that make up the shape of a person or object. I start my drawing on the canvas without looking as the professor has told me. Unique shapes would be created as I try to draw the object without looking at the line I myself am drawing. As time passed in class my canvas was full of lines enough to make some type of creature within it.
Sticking our canvas onto the wall as we said our peace on what we felt or saw within everybodies canvas I saw something within mine. The lines that I have created move to create their own shape. Each and every single line were all becoming untangled. The lines which have now become real life strings lay on top of the desk moving like worms. Struggling to take its own shape in this 3D world. I blink once and it all went back onto my canvas, except, what I had originally drawn was now gone. I could not tell what my own picture was now showing me. Because of that, I got seventy percent as my class grade for being unable to explain what I have drawn. The class is now over.
Today was like any other day and right now I found myself tired without even doing much. I wanted to head back to my dorm to rest but these stairs were the bane of my existence as I had to climb every single stairs all the way to the top and had to walk another 10 minutes just to get back to my dorm. It is still all a mystery to me. Why can I see them, why is it happening to me, why this Puppet is following me, and why am I the only one to experience it? To others this may be an abnormal life but this was just any other. I hope that once I graduate I won't have to ever experience this again. To be able to live without all these struggles of mine.