#“oh but it's unclear if saw is really supposed to take place on 9/10/01 or not” i don't care it's funny

[ciscowojciechowski]

[laseroy89]

Swimming at Night wasn't a Good Idea

My new home was an absolute steal - I was looking for a place near my office, and here came this unit with a price tag that was less than half of the other apartments in the area. One hell of a lowballer - I don’t know whether it was against regulations or not, or if there was some hidden catch, but I immediately snatched up the offer to look at the house. I wasn’t about to let a good deal go to waste.

When I arrived at the condominium, I was hooked the moment I saw the pool. It isn’t Olympic-sized, but it’s big enough for a relaxing swim after a tough day of work. It measures 2.5 metres deep at one end and 1.2 metres at the other. At the shallower end, there’s a slide that was built to look like it was carved into a boulder. It definitely won’t look out of place at a resort.

After that, I didn’t really catch what the agent had to say about the rest of the facilities in the condominium, or about the flat itself. You see, I love swimming, and the pool looked like the perfect match for my hobby. I am a man of simple things - my new home was cheap, had a pool for my favourite exercise, and was close to my workplace. What else could I ask for? Except of course, why the price was so low. According to the agent, someone had died in the apartment before, of which the circumstances were unclear to him. Most of the past tenants really didn’t like living in the unit - the most recent of them left after only a month, and the house has been empty for quite some time now. Since the landlord couldn’t find anyone willing to rent the place, he decided to sell it instead.

Yeah, I read horror stories a lot and enjoy the escape from reality, but I don’t really believe in the supernatural, or any superstitions about homes that have witnessed deaths. And I wasn’t keen on shelling out much more money on other places that probably didn’t have such a good swimming pool, so I signed the papers and got the keys as soon as I could.

I can’t go extremely fast, or swim non-stop for super-long distances, or even hold my breath for longer than two minutes. But what I can do, is enjoy myself immensely in the water. To me, nothing can compare to the feeling of waves caressing my skin as I slice through the water. No other liquid is able to effortlessly wash away an entire day of pent-up stress. As I swim, every stroke allows me to stretch my body and regain flexibility in cramped muscles. The incessant lapping of ripples against my body erodes away the tension built up by hours of hunching over in my office chair. Swimming is my perfect way to recharge after eight hours of downing stale coffee, getting buried in paperwork and facing annoying colleagues.

At my first swim at the pool, I found out many things. Firstly, my estimation of the size of the pool is correct - the pool is indeed big enough for a comfortable swim. Secondly, the best time to swim is from 6 to 7pm, when the sun is conveniently behind the block and the pool is shielded from the glare, but the water is bright and warm enough after an afternoon of blazing hot weather. Thirdly, the slide isn’t exactly smooth - I could stick out my feet to stop sliding, even with wet feet. Lastly, there’s a kid that likes to stare at me swim.

He swims fast, and is able to hold his breath for a long, long time. I watched in disbelief as he dived in and swam the length of the pool in one breath. Which is like, 35 metres? Damn, that’s some impressive lung capacity.

But most of the time, he just stands in the shallow end, watching me swim lap after lap. At first, I thought it was kinda cute to have some ten-year-old watching me swim, but when I took a break after my tenth lap, I realised he had been looking at me for the entire time.

I waved at him. He ignored my greeting, choosing to instead continue staring at me. It was strange how a young boy could have such a cold gaze that threatened to bore a hole into my skull. Most kids I came across are neither as still nor as quiet as this small guy. He looked at me so sternly, I found myself asking what I had done to piss off the little fella.

Before I could utter a word to him, the child got out of the pool, gathered his stuff, and left the area. What an odd neighbour. I wonder if he was a frequent user of the pool, considering his swimming prowess. Perhaps he was just taking some time to survey this new resident. But that didn’t explain why he gave me a look like I just killed his parents in front of him.

I didn’t really see him for the next few days, which didn’t really bother me because I was genuinely enjoying my life in this new place. Commute was a breeze, the window provided a good view of the city, there was good reception in this area, etc. I couldn’t find any fault with the unit, and totally didn’t understand why the past tenants couldn’t stand living here. This place was heaven.

I was taking a break during my fifth swim, when I heard a voice above me. “You.”

Turning around, I found myself looking up at the strange boy from days before. He was lying down on the slide, but due to its angle, he was in an almost upright position. With the same frigid expression on his face. “Hey kiddo! Nice to meet you. I’m Matt, from -”

“#07-01.” He completed my sentence.

“Well, someone’s been paying attention.” I offered the most sincere smile I could muster, hoping he could warm up to me. We would be using this pool together very often, after all.

“#07-01 is haunted.” He continued with the same emotionless voice. He never blinked, his gaze never wavering in intensity.

“Oh, er, sure.” What else was I supposed to say when someone accused my house of being haunted? “What….what makes you think so?”

“My friend killed herself in this pool. She lived in #07-01.”

“Oh.” Well, this was something new, although I distinctly remembered the agent saying that someone had died in the apartment, not someone who lived in the apartment had died. Phrasing, phrasing, phrasing. I started to think if this was some elaborate prank. Well, if it was….there wasn’t any harm in playing along. “Well….I’m really sorry for what happened.”

“My brother died trying to save her.”

I was lost for words now. If this really happened, then it was really unfortunate. But then again, why would a young boy pour out his sob story to a complete stranger who just moved in? This introduce-yourself-to-the-neighbours session wasn’t going too well.

He leaned in close to me. “Please don’t swim at night.” He emphasised every word, dragging out each pause in between. It was the first time he dropped his monotone voice - his words dripped with fear. The little kid was making me nervous.

“Uh, I’ll take note of that.” I wanted to ask why, but felt it too inappropriate. He turned round, gathered his stuff and walked off in the same enigmatic way as before. I couldn’t figure out what to make of it. Why can’t I swim at night? Was the ghost of his friend gonna curse me? Was there some creepy monster that only appeared in the pool at night? Hell, what even counts as night? As soon as the sky gets dark, or late hours like 9 to midnight?

That odd encounter set the mood for following meetings with him. Being both regular pool users, we did see each other very often. It would normally start off with him swimming normally, until he looked up and saw me. I would then wave hi to him with a wide smile, and he would return that with the same impassive look. I would then proceed to swim, and he would proceed to watch me for the entirety of my workout.

With the increasing business that my firm was getting, it was inevitable that I would have to work overtime, to finish off that growing stack of work on my desk. This meant that I was forced to spend more time with irritating colleagues and nasty stacks of reports, and also meant that I would have insufficient time to de-stress in the pool. Bad combination.

After the first two days of overtime without my daily pool treatment, I was totally drained of energy, squeezed dry by my busy schedule. I couldn’t take it anymore: I needed a break.

Usually when I swam, there would be some people also swimming too, along with the strange boy, but at 10pm, the area was deserted. After all, it was the time when most people, such as myself, were more content with lying in bed, waiting for sleep to overcome us.

I stood at the edge of the pool. The pool lights were already on, and the fuzzy rays of light extended like skeletal arms into the inky blackness of the water. It didn’t look as welcoming as it usually did under the sun. The surface was still, the air felt stagnant, the bottom looked deeper - the tension was palpable, as if the pool was waiting for something to happen. For a brief moment, I felt like following the boy’s advice on not swimming at night, but….I shook my head and cleared all thoughts of him. Fuck that shit, I need to swim.

With a splash, I plunged into the water. Ah, there were ripples now. That’s normal. I started paddling, the tightness in my muscles dissipating. That’s normal. A breeze blew in my face as I started accelerating through the water. That’s normal.

But no matter how much I tried to convince myself that everything was as per usual, there was a general sense of unease that I couldn’t shake off. Yes, my body wasn’t as cramped or exhausted as before, but my mind was in a constant state of high alert. There seemed to be movement just out of the corner of my eye, and I found myself always scanning my surroundings like a cornered prey.

I didn’t like this. Not one bit. I wanted to recharge, not to be startled at random intervals. It had probably been only 10 minutes, but I moved towards the shallow end, intending to leave.

Then I saw her.

There was somebody else swimming in the shallows. It looked like a young girl with extremely pale skin and extremely long black hair. I would have felt relieved at some company, except that I didn’t see or hear her enter the pool. Even though I had been facing that direction.

Spooked, I continued swimming towards the shallows, keeping an eye on her and giving her a wide berth. She swam gracefully, with long, smooth strokes.

Just as I was about to swim past her, she turned her head to look at me.

She seemed to be roughly fifteen years old. Her face was as white as paper, with droplets of water clinging to her pale cheeks. A sharp nose half submerged in water. Her hair trailed behind her, floating like a huge black cloth. But what struck me most was her eyes.

They were red and puffy, as if she opened them in the water for too long. She stared blankly at me without blinking, her neck stretching to unnatural angles.

The only reason why I didn’t scream like a little girl was because my mouth was underwater. I increased my speed drastically, all the while feeling her gaze raking the back of my head. Upon reaching the pool edge, I literally jumped out of the water.

She was swimming towards me now.

I sprinted for the elevator, which was thankfully idling at the ground floor. God bless the elevator algorithm.

I slumped down at the foot of my front door right after I locked it, trying to process what just happened. For the first time, I’ve seen a ghost.

That was quite unexpected, and extremely frightening. It did put my disbelief in the paranormal into perspective. I heaved a sigh of relief, trying to calm myself down. At least the ordeal was over now. I lifted my right hand to wipe cold sweat from my brow, only to realise….there was a pale white hand that interlaced its fingers with mine.

I leapt away immediately, too shocked to make a sound. There were now two hands reaching through the slit under my front door, creeping slowly into my home. The rest of the body followed, flowing through in the form of a white mist, which coagulated and gradually took the shape of the young girl.

I backed away, petrified at the ghastly sight before me. She was wearing a drenched one-piece swimsuit, which dripped water incessantly as she approached me. The rhythmic sound of water trickling and hitting the cold marble floor echoed in the silence of my living room. Behind her, I could make out the shimmering of a growing puddle as water followed her in from the lobby outside.

Her gait was slow and awkward, as if she was nursing several cramps. Even though she had more or less trapped me in a corner of my living room, her pace remained excruciatingly slow. Her bloodshot eyes never blinked once, and was totally devoid of expression. I cowered against the wall as she stopped at my feet and started bending down towards me.

We just stared at each other. I wanted to look away, but there was an unseen force holding my head in place and keeping my eyelids open. I didn’t know why, but water had appeared in my nostrils. My nose and throat tingled as the liquid trickled down my airways. I couldn’t blink - I could feel more and more blood entering the capillaries in my eyeballs, straining to burst out -

A light behind her momentarily dazzled me. It shone so brightly, I thought my eyes had exploded. It turned out to be my front door opening. Even though my eyes remained fixed on the spectre, I could discern two out-of-focus figures standing behind her.

“Sabrina, please don’t hurt him.”

She broke off her stare, turning slowly to face whoever said that. The force around my head remained, but I could move my eyes now. After blinking furiously to regain some degree of comfort, I found myself looking at my strange neighbour….together with another older boy who bore a startling resemblance to him.

“He’s sorry to disturb you. Come, let’s continue swimming, shall we? I know you love the pool.” The older boy beckoned to her.

Sabrina didn’t smile, but I could sense a change in her mood. She got up, her stiff limbs cracking. I stared after them as they both made their way towards the front door unhurriedly.

“I did tell you not to swim at night.” My neighbour sighed. I looked at him in confusion, then turned back towards my front door, only to realise that the two had disappeared.

“You’re lucky that I saw you, so I called my brother. Otherwise….she may have started.”

I rubbed my nose, water streaming down all over my face. With my still blurry vision in the glare of the lobby lights, I could see pink blood trails mixed with the water. I don’t think I’ll be able to work overtime the next day.