Fear Files

A One-Time Visit

I was 7 or 8. I lived with my mother, father, and little brother. My father was in the military, U.S. Army. My mother was unemployed. We lived on a military base in Kansas. My mother told my brother and I that we were going to Mississippi to visit our family. At the time, my father was deployed overseas in Kuwait or somewhere in the middle east. He was a part of the first operation in Iraq.

The day before we made the trip to MS, my mother, along with my brother and I, stayed at a friend's house. This friend was Miss Tina, as we called her, she also stayed on the same base as we did. Miss Tina had two daughters, one was 16, the other was 7, I believe. Miss Tina had a husband, he was also deployed overseas. So we had two boys and four girls under one roof that day. That night, I stayed with the younger daughter in her room. She had a bunk bed in which I stayed on the bottom bunk. Now, this room was a typical girl's room, pink with a lot of Barbie stuff. We had gone to bed with the light on. I was 7 or 8, so it was necessary. In the middle of the night I woke up. When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a tall figure standing under the light. I could not see any features of this figure, other than it was tall and thin. Without thinking I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.

The next morning I had remembered what had happened. I asked my mother and Miss Tina if they were in the room last night. They laughed with their answer which was a no. I pondered that moment realizing that this figure was tall. Nobody in the house was over 5'1". The figure was unnaturally dark in a lit, pink room.

I have never had this happen since. I have never mentioned this to my mother since. Do you think I should talk to her about it now that I am older or should I put it off like I have for the last 10 years?