I stood, frozen and heart pounding looking at the empty hallway. Fear paralyzed me and my breath was caught. I inched forward into the corridor, eyes scanning quickly. As I looked toward my left, I saw something dart to my right. My hands brought the curtain rod up again in defense, but once again there was nothing. I could still see my breath in the air as I shuffled closer to the opening on my right that led to the rest of my apartment. My hands shook and I listened intently for any sound. As I did, I heard a creaking noise behind me, which, under normal circumstances, I would be more inclined to investigate immediately. Instead my neck was stiff as I forced myself, hyperventilating, to turn. My room was empty, the light spilling in unaffected. As I turned back, the door behind me slammed shut, sending me running forward in reaction. I slapped the wall frantically looking for the light switch as I reached the next room. Light flooded my living room-kitchen combo, dirty dishes illuminated by the harsh overhead bulbs. The room was small enough that I could see every corner from my spot in the doorway. I'm not sure if it was more reassuring or less that there was no intruder. I swung my body around and backed away from the hall I came out of, noticing it was warm in the living room. Unbearably so.
Tears began to form on my cheeks as I yelled "Who is there? LEAVE. Get out!" to the empty air in front of me. The subsequent shuffling behind the wall left me petrified. As the shuffling sound made its way closer to my position, I threw down the rod, hearing it hit the floor with a loud clack, and sprinted towards my door, tripping slightly over a stained white shoe that I had forgotten to put up earlier in the evening. Rushing past my cardboard box-made-in-to-TV-stand and yanking the my keys off the hook on the wall, I slammed the door behind me. I continued to run to the end of the hall, turned and looked behind myself. Nothing.
The pale green hallway had generic looking landscape paintings hug for decoration along the spaces between tenets doors and the window overlooking the street and parking lot behind me looked desolate, abandoned by the night. There were sets of stairs on either end of the long hallway leading both up and down. I stood against the wall, sliding down and bringing my knees to my chest as I stared down my door a few yards away. I was shaking and couldn't bring myself to move from the spot. As I steadied my breathing, a string of curses came from my mouth. I felt light headed and my body was drenched. I waited for what felt like hours for the door to move, for a head to pop out from my residence, but none came. Eventually fatigue pushed my eyelids further down. I rested my head on my knees, taking my eyes off the hall for a few minuets. I felt sleep invading my mind, and tried to push it away, reminding myself that I was not allowed to sleep in the damn hallway of my apartment complex, that's why I paid rent- to sleep in said rented apartment. I tried to make myself stand, but my body was heavy and tired, so I gave in and allowed myself a few minuets of shut eye.
I awoke to a gentle nudging on my shoulder and a quiet, raspy voice whispering "I'm sorry" as the hot rays daybreak blinded me. I raised my head to see my leg sprawled in the walkway and several people walking past me in groups, a few mom's and children clearly headed to school, a man in a nondescript gray suit trotting quickly down the stairs. One of the children turned around to look at me, with a confused look on her face. The girl's caretaker tugged her forward and she asked a question I couldn't make out, only to be shushed loudly.
I groaned loudly and stood up, stretching my body while looking around once more. I walked toward he door to my apartment. It was still shut, and didn't look to be tampered with at all, nothing out of the ordinary-not that I was expecting much. The real issue was what happened on the other side of the door. If I had any pride at all, I would have been more embarrassed to have been found by my neighbors in my too-short pastel pink night shorts and burgundy college shirt, however given the night I'd had, I was rather grateful for the sleep to be honest. I heard the giggle of children with the loud thud of more footsteps coming down the metal stairs from the floor above and decided it was time to open the door. I cracked the door slightly to peer inside.