The old man that died last year still peeks over my shower curtain. I know…you think I’ve lost my marbles, but nope. I’ve seen his ghastly rotten face there, every single time I take a shower.
It started a few months after he died. Old Man Bartlebee (or was it Winston?) was my next door neighbor. We never really spoke…but each time I walked by his apartment, his door would creak open and he would peek out. He thought no one noticed, oh, but I did. After a few times walking past his door, he noticed that I noticed him and he would flash me this eerie grin. From what I gathered, he either never brushed his teeth or used the same toothbrush since his 20’s (or the 1920’s.) You could honestly smell his humid plaque-filled breath through the walls.
I don’t know the full police report but rumors around the complex led me to believe he fell in the shower, somehow knocked the stopper into place with his shoulder. He drowned in his own blood & filth. Yup, his entire body apparently released all bodily fluids.
After a week of the watery stench mixed with the additional smell of his rotting teeth - the landlord came by & found Old Man Bartlebee’s severely pale & bloated body contorted in the bathtub. He had a massive hole in the left side of his forehead where he smashed it open on the way down. Police think it was caused by the tub spicket - due to there being hair and flesh matted to the top of it. Not something I really want to think about alone - so you’re welcome. Join the club!
Okay, yes, I know, I’m stalling. You would too if you had to re-tell this story. Okay, fine, sorry, let’s keep going.
So one night after getting back from the beach, I decided to wash off all the excess sand & sunscreen. You know the feeling. I hopped in the shower, closed the shower curtain and went about my routine. Let me interject real quick by saying he mostly peeked when I wasn’t looking. Whether that be when I was washing my face, my hair, pretty much any act that would involve me avoiding getting any soap or water in my eyes.
So…I was in the middle of washing my hair - and I start to smell something. Something familiar. Something vile. I glance up and there he was, staring at me. I thought I was seeing things at first. I finished washing the soap out of my hair and eyes and looked again. He was still there.
It seemed like just a silhouette at first, but I could tell it was him. That’s when the details came into focus. In what seemed like time-stopping fear, I saw everything. He was peeking overtop of my shower curtain where you could only see the bridge of his nose and his furiously wide eyes. Filthy dark brown water seeped out of the hole in his forehead. The same brown liquid gurgled down the side of the shower curtain, staining the pristine white curtain with mounds of oozing whatever-the-hell. His hair was matted down, still wet from his death, and his nose was so soggy all of the pores oozed out the same brown liquid that was coming from his gaping forehead. If I wasn’t frozen in fear I would have vommed right there on the spot.
He stared at me and I stared back. After what felt like eternity, I heard the most terrifying noise I’ve heard to this date and most likely will ever hear. He gasped in horror, water gurgling over the sound of his gasped breath. His eyes widened and burst as if a million blood vessels imploded in his eyes. His eyes shrunk to squints and he gave the most blood curdling scream, still staring at me with his squinted bloody eyes.
I was so scared that I shoved aside the shower curtain (which revealed an empty bathroom) jumped out, and ran into my room. I didn’t come out for days.
Eventually, I had to shower again. And when I did, I saw him again.
This time, I was determined to figure out what was going on. I stood there, staring at the shower curtain, until I finally saw him blink.
He slowly raised his head above the shower curtain, reached his hand over the rod, and tried to grab for me. Pale white skin, skin you’d only see after it was soaked in water for hours on end, was dangling off of his bony wrist. I screamed and ran out of the bathroom again. I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared that I honestly thought of breaking my lease. Unfortunately not an option.
I told my friend about but she seemed skeptical. She wasn’t the type who believed in ghosts or specters or even Big Foot, if we’re honest. She thought it was just work stressing out my day-to-day life.
I knew that wasn’t it. I knew I was seeing the old man. I tried to ignore him, but it was no use. He was always there, watching me, whether I could see him or not.
I started to have nightmares. In my dreams, not only would he peek over the shower curtain, but he would stare at me from the end of my bed. Lately in the dreams, his long smily bloated blue arms would slither under my sheets up towards my feet. I always woke up before he grabbed me.
I was so scared that I didn’t want to sleep, let alone take showers anymore. But I knew that wasn’t an option.
One holiday weekend, the power went out. It was the first time the power went out since Old Man Bartlebee’s drowning death. Almost everyone on my floor was out of town for vacation - except for Mia. Mia and I go way back. She’s been living here even longer than I have. She also was one of the first people to tell the landlord about the smell.
The afternoon was growing into night, so I knocked on Mia’s door like my sanity depended on it. She answered and after some small talk, she agreed to come over for a couple hours.
Mia helped me light all of my almost-waxed-out candles. We put them everywhere - the kitchen, the bedroom, the hallway, even in the bathtub itself.
With the hard work done, Mia suggested a card game. After a couple rounds of Rummy, we noticed a few of the candles had gone out. How odd.
I grabbed the lighter and struggled to raise myself off the pillow on the floor (I really need pick up cardio again.) That’s when we both heard it. Drip. DripDrip. Drip. Mia grabbed the mini LED flashlight on the coffee table and handed it to me. We didn’t even have to exchange words. The dripping was coming from the closed bathroom door - which was now slightly open.
It was too dark. Even the beam from the flashlight seemed to be engulfed by the darkness bleeding out from the bathroom. We couldn’t move. We stood there arm-in-arm just staring at the sliver of black.
That’s when the most terrifying moment of my life became a reality. The door slowly edged shut. It clicked. Mia & I let out a breath of relief. Not even a second later, the bathroom door slammed open, all of the candles snuffed out including the beam from the flashlight, and a ghastly figure covered in my now-unhung shower curtain crawled towards us. You could see the decomposition oozing through the pores of the shower curtain, filling my apartment with the stench of rot, shit, and vomit. The figure crawled leg over shoulder, contorting in unnatural ways until it stood with its back to us in the very small corner of my bedroom. As it slowly turned its head, the shower curtain slipped off, revealing the gaping hole in his forehead, his eyes white with death, and a mouth agape with a scream of pure terror.
That’s when Mia & I finally regained control of our legs. We ran out of the pitch black apartment with Dead Man Bartlebee still in the corner screaming - and over to Mia’s apartment.
I never went back. I hired movers the next week to transfer all my stuff to my parents place while I figure out my next move. I never told my parents the reasoning of my moving out. Only Mia knows. And that may be my fault. She told me yesterday that she started to hear a dripping coming from her bathroom at night. I told her that she’s always welcome to stay in my parent’s guest room. But the thing that scares me the most - is that as I’m writing this, I can hear a Drip. DripDrip. Drip. coming from my old childhood bathroom. It’s too dark in there. Wait is the an eye glinting behind the shower? No, get yourself together, you’re just letting my wild imagination get the better of you.
Anyway, if anyone else has experienced anything like this, please reach out to me. Things are getting worse and I think the drips are getting louder. Maybe it’s time for a bath to wash my worries away. Be back soon.