The Cloud

I arrived in Atlanta in 1988. I moved in with a roommate who had an apartment in a building circa the 1940s. The apartment was pretty small; it had 2 small bedrooms, a small living room, and a small kitchen. My roommate had the living room set up so that, when you walked in the door, there was a sofa on the right, the entertainment center on the left, and a Napoleonic-era dresser directly in front of you. The first month I was there, I would stretch out on the couch and watch television. If I was facing the dresser against the wall, I always felt fine, just another night watching television. If I was on the couch facing away from the dresser, I had feelings of terror, as if someone were watching me. This went on for a month. I dismissed the feelings of terror as my imagination.

One night, I was lying on the couch facing away the wall where the dresser was situated. For some reason, I turned around. I saw a black cloud materializing directly in front of the dresser. I was about my height, 6'2", and shaped like those twisters you see on the news. It started moving in a circular motion across the room. It came to a halt directly in front of my face. I suddenly felt as if my life were a total loss. I wanted to kill myself immediately. It was in front of me for about 2 minutes. I have never felt so despondent in my life. Some clicked inside of me. I crossed myself and said a prayer. The cloud turned in circles and moved back toward the wall where the dresser was. When it reached the wall, it disappeared.

The next day, I told my roommate what I had seen. He said that he had seen the same thing, but not all of his roommates had, so he didn't bother to warn me. He had been living in the apartment for 5 years. Six months before he moved in, the girl who had been living there had committed suicide by hanging herself on a ceiling fan where the dresser on the wall now stood.

I didn't need to hear any more. I moved out the next week. I spoke to my ex-roommate periodically until about 3 years ago. He said the same thing kept happening....he couldn't keep a roommate. Finally, he moved, too. I drove past the building a few weeks ago. It's still intact. I wonder if the spirit is, too.

DEVKAANN
devkaann@aol.com