lørdag 1. januar 2011

Smile and Wave

Posted by: Uberbr00m

Back in the day, my mother ran an apartment complex. The seat of power was a two floor cabana in the middle of the place from which you could look out over most of the units. Now across from the break room where the staff would gather each morning to bs and work out who got stuck doing what each day, was the apartment of this middle aged, obese single dude who made a habit of smiling and waving at everyone as they'd congregate each day.

For around four years this would be the daily routine. Everyone would stumble tiredly in each morning, wave to the guy, pour some coffee and get on with their job. Now one day they all notice the guy for once isn't in the window, a little odd but no one thinks twice about it. Next day, still no guy. Same with the next, and the next.

Now people start wondering what the hell is going on, but before they can go investigate they get a call from the neighbor downstairs. They say theres a terrible stink coming from smileyguy's apartment and it's literally choking the shit out of them. The staff immedietly suspected the worst, and as they approached Smiley's door the unmistakeable odor of rotting flesh confirmed their fears. They slowly enter and as they get to the living room over half of them immedietly vomit and have to rush out.

The poor guy had apparently had a heart attack and died underneath that infamous window. The foul kicker was this happened during the middle of the summer, and being as the shades were never drawn the sun had been beating down on the guy for days. To put it bluntly, he cooked and then he popped. All those fun human juices had soaked through the carpeting, the pad and into the building itself and it was an unholy job cleaning the place out.

So after weeks and weeks of third party purifying, it was finally deemed livable again and it was time to move someone in. So my mother goes to work that day, lays her stuff down and heads into the break room as usual. She walks in, looks out the window, grins and waves at Smileyguy and pours her coffee. Shes about half done when she realizes what just occured, drops the pot and races back to the cabana window. Guy isn't there now, but she knows damn well what she saw. She decides to keep her mouth shut and gets her leasing agent to show the apartment to the prospective renters that day instead of her. No one rents it.

Over the next week the security guard, and two maintenence men both individually come to her and report they've seen Smiley waving at them on multiple occasions since the apartment was emptied, and she admits the same. The next morning they bring it up to the rest of the staff and most of the ten or so people all say they've seen him in that window, smiling and waving too. A couple skeptics blow this off and say they're just fucking with 'em and go on with their business. Couple days later everyone is going over reports in the morning and the cleaning lady's eyes suddenly go wide and she points out the cabana. Everyone looks out and clear as day theres the guy in the window, smiling and waving. So what does the staff do? Well they smile and wave back. Guy turns around, and simply walks back into his apartment. The skeptics apologize and over the next month everyone sees him at least a couple times. The story doesn't end there though.

Now still no one will rent this apartment. Couple people admit it gives them a creepy feeling, but most just say its not for them and settle in in a different building. The staff of course sure as hell aren't gonna tell the renters what happened. Someone finally says yes, and without drama moves in fine. No one sees Smiley anymore. Around a month later the renter storms in, furious. Shes yelling about how someone on the staff is coming into her apartment while shes at work and moving her collection of ceramic whatsits around, and now that she found some of them shattered against the wall she's threatening to press charges. So my mother and the security guard explain the situation. The woman of course doesn't believe them, rants more and thumps off. Weeks go by and no lawyers are called. Eventually the woman(notably more humble this time) comes back in and apologizes. She claims after seeing objects being pulled across counters and similar fun enough lately that she knows no one on staff is fucking with her. Supposedly after moving her bureau of ceramics away from next to the window, theres been no problems.

I was only 11 or so at the time and since I had a big mouth no one informed me, but a handful of years later she told me the tale and doubting her I spoke with some of her staff that had moved jobs with her from back then, and they all basically told the same story. Interesting stuff.

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