Ghosts in the Shower

My parents are from a town about 170 miles north of where I grew up, or nearly a three hour drive. When I was a kid, my father used to get one weekend off a month. Without fail, we always went up north on his weekend off. My parents, my sister (who I'll be calling Liz from hereon out if I need to mention her), and I would stay with my mother's parents.

My maternal grandfather was a carpenter. Amongst other things, he built houses. Including the one he currently lives in, where I'd stay for the weekend once a month through my entire childhood. It was a nice house. Small, 3-bedroom, one bathroom. The bathroom had a bathtub/shower combination, with sliding doors instead of a shower curtain. The toilet was so close to the shower, you could put your feet up on the ledge of the tub while sitting on the toilet, if you wanted to do that for some reason. Next to, not across from. The sink was next to the toilet, close enough that you could turn on the water while sitting on the toilet, again, if you wanted to do that for some reason.

Every night I stayed in that house, for as much of my childhood as I can remember, I had a nightmare. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and get up to go to the bathroom. I'd get up and walk down the hall for what seemed like hours. I'd walk into the bathroom and turn on the light. As I stepped towards the toilet, the shower door would slide open. And the shower was full of ghosts. Nine or ten of them. They weren't little Casper ghosts or wearing a sheet as a Halloween costume ghosts. They were well-formed with distinct faces. You could just see through them. I don't think I knew any of them. One or two of them always had blood around her mouth. They never did anything. Ever. They just stood there, staring at me as I stared back at them. And then I'd wake up.

Last night, I finally got around to watching "Insidious." I'm not going to go into much of a review, because that's not the point of this babble. I will say, while I didn't love the plot, it was beautifully directed and Patrick Wilson is a bit foxy and should be on my TV more often. So, spoilers free, if I'm not the only person who waited three years to watch it, blah blah blah, stuff happened. There was a scene fairly close to the end where a character opens a closet door and it's full of ghosts (basically). That looked exactly like the ghosts in my dreams from when I was a kid. It was just eerily similar.

Living alone, I sometimes get a little freaked out in the shower. I sometimes go so far as to having to pull back the curtain and peak out into the bathroom. I bet this is related to those dreams. Or the fact that I rent an apartment at which maintenance can let themselves in.