Stories to keep you up at night

The Shower

"In college, I worked as a supervisor at our fitness facilities. There were two gyms, about a mile apart from each other. One was newly constructed and the other was an original campus building, so it was about 90 years old.

It was a summer semester so we were operating on a limited staff. I was charged with closing the older building up for the night, but a nasty storm was coming in (think potential for tornadoes) so I sent the other employees home early and went through the process alone. I had to walk top to bottom in the four story building to ensure all the doors and windows were locked and while I wasn't crazy about it, I also wasn't scared because the building was very familiar to me. I kept in contact with my counterpart at the other building via a radio and went about my business.

Nothing was out of the ordinary until I made my way to the women's locker room on the first floor. I did my sweep — checking all the shower and bathroom stalls, closing lockers, etc. Something I'd done a hundred times before.

I had just reached the exit and flipped the light off when I heard the unmistakable noise of a shower curtain being pulled back on a metal rod. I stopped. My heart started to beat faster and I knew I needed to go back and check even though I didn't want to.

I stepped outside, gathered my nerves and went back in. I flipped on the light and made my way down the shower bay. I could see that the curtain in the final stall was pushed all the way to left. I questioned whether or not it was actually closed when I walked by the first time, and pulled it shut again. I walked back to the exit and as soon as I turned off the lights I heard it again — the sound of a shower curtain sliding on a metal rod.

My heart was beating uncontrollably at this point and I felt my knees get weak. I stepped outside and radioed my counterpart at the other facility. Hoping he was going to say someone was playing a prank on me. Instead he told me that they were closing down because of weather and I should try to get home as quickly as possible. With that, I was convinced that no one else was in the building with me.

Being the macho 21 year-old that I was, I decided to go back in the locker room and check the shower bay one more time. I flipped on the light, walked to the showers and saw the same curtain pushed to the left. I quickly closed it and half-jogged to the door. As soon as I turned off the light, the sound of the curtain opening met my ears. Suddenly not feeling very brave, I ran to the main entrance, set the alarm and ran from the building as quickly as possible.

—