Ghost Story 2

The year is 2012. The location is Atkin Hall, a building that houses many an ISU student. There have never been any recorded instances of death or of employee suicide but if you read a few articles you will learn a chilling truth about this student residence hall. There have been many instances of workers and students having “issues” on the 11th floor. Often it manifests as a feeling of dread or anxiety, the chills or a sickly stomach. Though nothing has ever been seen, there have been other such occurrences. Noises that sound like doors slamming are often heard even when all the doors on the floor are locked. Workers on the 11th floor reported the sound of paint buckets moving when there were none to be seen. The desire to leave is instantly realized when you cross the threshold from elevator to hallway. Some students refuse to go up there in the first place; employees dread going back.  What or who could be up there? A floor formerly dedicated to student housing now only holds supplies and equipment for the dorms. I don’t know but maybe this “literary reenactment” of a story from a recent worker could shed some light on the subject.

2008: Inspections were the worst. They last the longest and they always make you gross afterwards. Working in the dorms in the summer when the A/C is off and the temperature keeps rising, it’s pretty darn ridiculous. Let me tell you, of all the dorms I’ve worked on for this collage this building is the worst. I reluctantly go back every time because the pay is decent and I have two kids at home.

Anyway, I stepped off the elevator onto the 11th floor of Atkin and instantly felt goose bumps cover my arms. I looked to the mechanic, a guy named Joe if I remember right, and he gave me this look. We both knew that we felt the same thing but neither of us wanted to admit it. After all we had a long 30 minutes ahead of us and the heat was getting intense.

We worked quickly and didn’t really stop to do any of our five minutes. You know the five minutes where you fuck around just because you can. Anyway, we were working quickly and efficiently because the less time we had to be up on the floor the better. It didn’t take to long before we started hearing stuff. I swear I kept hearing doors opening and Joe kept asking if I was shutting them. And then there were these whispers. Had no clue where they were coming from but they were what really started my anxiety. Every time I turned my back there was a whisper coming from behind me. And Joe almost had a heart attack; he came down the hall white as a sheet saying he swore I had just walked in the room behind him with two cans of paint sloshing around. And let me tell ya, I was at the other end of the floor. We managed to finish up and get onto the elevator right as we both heard another door slam.

I haven’t been back up there yet this year but I am not looking forward to it. I thought about getting an assistant so that he can do the 11th floor but that almost seems cruel. And I will tell you this, the instant that elevator door shut it was like a weight lifted off my back. But don’t even get me started on what happened in the basement….

A story for another time perhaps, currently we have a different place to visit, a place with no name and no face. So we will simply have to call it the fraternity. -- Christina Renner