Bathroom Stalls



What started at me being cautious whenever I went to use the bathroom, turned into me being scared out of my mind, what I mean about being cautious is, I enjoy watching gruesome horror movies to see if I would get freigthed. I started doing this when I was a child; I could remember watching "Jeepers Creepers." along with other older movies. They never seemed to scare me much after watching them; I was just as entertained as a kid watching cartoons. I'm telling you this because it explains for me being cautious when sitting in the bathroom alone and vulnerable; with my pants or skirt around my ankles, a book or tablet in my lap, doing what people do when they use the bathroom.

When I was younger, (and believe me I was embarrassed about doing this) I used to open up the curtain for ths shower; checking to see if someone was behind there or keeping the door unlocked and ajar. At school I would flush the toilet, quickly wash my hands and run out of the bathroom. All this is terriying, right? No, at the time I felt ridicules about being scared to be vulnerable in the bathroom. What is the worst that could happen? I fall in the toilet and someone flushes me down; getting devored by swere alligators, never to be seen again? Of course that wasn't my fear. My fear consist of someone watching me, waiting to catch my in my most vulnerable place and murder me, but not by flushing me down the damn toilet.

When I got a little older I stopped running out of the bathroom, instead I'd take my sweet time, daring the thing watching me to come out. I'd look under the stalls checking if the person next to me is actually a person next to me. I was always proven wrong. However, I stopped being afraid at home. i would only feel a chill go down my spine whenever I was alone inside of a public restroom. I'm rambling on, aren't I? I'm not going to try to justify my fear any longer, I'll get to the point.

I never did tell a soul about what happened to me, I knew they would write it off as a hallucination or simply a trick of the mind. One evening when I was at the office, I felt the urge to use the bathroom; I always try to avoid using public bathrooms, not because of my silly fear but because they are quite unsanitary. Now I usually tell one of my fellow employees that I'll be away from my desk for a few minutes. I stretched my legs and arms; working out the tight muscles and looked around the cubicles near mind. Not a single soul. It wasn't strange to me or anything like that, I knew there were meetings all this week. I wasn't going to bother with walking down the aisles, looking for someone just  to tell them I'd be in the bathroom. I grabbed my kindle fire and headed that way.

I walked into the bathroom and quickly glanced in the mirror to see if there was any reflections of feet under any of the stalls; none. I swallowed and made my way to the last stall. '''You're an adult.' I think. 'You shouldn't be scared to use the bathroom alone, grow up!"'' I sit on the toilet seat making myself comfortable, flip my kindle fire on, and start reading. As I'm doing my business, I feel butterflies flutter in my stomach. I try my hardest to convince myself I'm too wrapped up in the book to notice the feeling, but fail. I stare at the door to the stall and then close my eyes tightly. I feel my pulse quicken. I take shallow breaths trying to calm myself after a minute I finally manage to get my heart to return to a steady pace.

I let out a sigh of relief and continure reading, ut out of the corner of my eye I see a shadow. You didn't see a shadow; there is absolutely no one in here. A cool wind seems to blow through the vents, I shake; must be the AC kicking on. SMACK! I jump at the sound; it sounded like the toilet seat's lid beside me. I bite the inside of my cheek, debating on whether or not I should peek under the stall. Afraid someone would catch me and claim I'm a peeping tom; I gather my long hair into my hand and slowly lower my chest to my thighs to see under the next stall.

My eyes are just barely making out the bottom of the toilet; I quickly lowered my head and peeked...Nothing. I let out a long breath. I sat up straight and yawned; as soon as I got comfortable again I continued reading my book.

I checked my wrist watch to see how long I've been inside of the bathroom; not too long. Just as I'm turning my wrist back to face the side of the stall wall beside me, I catch a relfection in the glass; I see a large pair of bare feet. That's not a pair of women's feet. The pair of feet are wide, they're hairy also, but not like a man's foot, not even like a human's foot. Not similar to anything I've seen before. The things toenails are long, ridged and yellow; as if they have never been trimmed or washed. The hair follows up the things ankles and most likely up farther.

I catch a scream in my throat and cover my hands quickly over my mouth; afraid that startling the thing would anger it. By doing this I drop my kindle fire in a loud; THUD! It echoes throughout the restroom. I squeeze my eyes shut; praying to God to keep me safe.

Mintues seem to drag by; maybe even hours, before I finally open my eyes. I check the floor to see if the kindle is still there; it's perfectly fine, there are not cracks in the screen and there's no plastic shattered. I use my watch to look under the stall this time...I see...Nothing. I snatch my kindle from the floor without hesitating. ''"This must be my mind playing tricks on me." I mumble to myself. Yes, just my mind play a cruel prank on me. Very funny. Ha ha.''

As I press the power button on my kindle fire, I feel a sudden feeling as though someone is watching me. I frown at the thought; almost sweating from the feeling. I feel like there's a dark shadow over me. Don't look up, do not look up. I repeat this sentence in my head a few ties.'' Don't look up, do not look up! ''Daring myself and trying to fight my fears; I force my head up. I gasp at the sight; there's long black, cracked nails attached to a hairy hand. The nails are digging into the metal, dinting it. I don't dare look farther up; I quickly yank my pants up, grab my kindle and blot out ot the bathroom. I never will use that office bathroom again, after what happened.